Six months of the year—May through October—St. Louis is home to hundreds of outdoor shows of music in styles and genres that include reggae, country, oldies, swing, Sousa marches and more.

St. Louis is rich with outdoor venues that range from natural amphitheaters like the long, narrow slope of Bluebird Park in Ellisville and the panoramic landscape of Faust Park in Chesterfield to vintage business district venues like Main Street in St. Charles and North Gore Avenue in Webster Groves. (I love the acoustics of contained spaces created by two story buildings lining these venues.) Multi-purpose locations like the gazebo in Tower Grove park and the Station Plaza in Kirkwood, (there’s nothing like witnessing a freight train rumbling by behind the stage there), also have unique appeal and charm.

In a conversation I had recently with my friend and branding specialist Buzz Phelan—creator of the Free Concerts St. Louis logo—the idea of a tag line came up. When I launched this site I plugged in a placeholder that addressed one of our motivations for FCSTL; “Get out and enjoy yourself.” Yes, that does promote the idea that this outdoor concert season must be enjoyed. It comes from the anti-stay-at-home culture of our empty nest. With the choice between staying home and watching TV and being entertained with live music while communing with the hundreds of like-minded folks who just want to get out, we choose getting out.

However, we still haven’t settled on a tag line. Deb and I have been hashing about a tag line centered around the concept of freedom. Freedom as it relates to free outdoor concerts is begging for a blog post of its own. Please stand by.