BOSTON (WHDH) - This weekend’s Fourth of July spectacular will mark the first time that conductor Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops will perform in front of a live audience since before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020.
The Pops will perform their annual Independence Day concert at Tanglewood in Lenox this summer, while the fireworks finale is slated to be held at the Boston Common.
“It’s a really great lineup. It should have that kind of excitement and impact, I hope, that our concert normally has,” Lockhart told 7NEWS.
Lockhart will lead the concert from 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. and the fireworks finale will follow. The event will air on Bloomberg television and it will be broadcast locally on WHDH-TV.
Lockhart added that he can’t wait to be back in front of a live audience, even though the crowd will be much smaller than the typical 400,000 people who flock to the Esplanade.
“The 9,000 people are even so important in terms of the energy that they bring to the concert as opposed to doing the concert in studio,” Lockhart explained. “We’re thrilled to have them.”
Tickets to the Tanglewood show were first offered to first responders and frontline workers who played critical roles during the height of the pandemic.
Lockhart noted that there will also be a solute to military members.
“They can expect the traditions that we’ve come to cherish with this Fourth of July concert. The ‘1812 Overture,’ the ‘Stars and Stripes Forever,’ a patriotic sing along, a salute to our armed forces,” Lockhart said.
Lockhart and the Pops had just five weeks to prepare for this year’s big celebration.
(Copyright (c) 2025 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)