About LIVE FROM THE AMP & Saturday in the Park McLaren

LIVE FROM THE AMP is a series produced by "Friends of the AMP" which is fiscally sponsored by SF Parks Alliance.

The free concert series ‘Saturday in the Park McLaren’ was envisioned in 2005 when, Friends of McLaren Park (FOMP) created a separate group specifically to focus on bringing more performance art to the underused John McLaren Park Amphitheater. This advocacy group called themselves FACE (Friends and Advocates of Crocker Amazon and the Excelsior). Their first foray into offering free live concerts started in August 2003, when the first Jerry (Birth) Day concert was celebrated in the unnamed Amphitheatre with performances by several well-known tribute bands, cake and ice cream.

After more than 10 years FOMP and FACE successfully lobbied the City to name the park’s amphitheater in honor of the iconic lead singer and Excelsior native Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. The date of October 29, 2005 was set as the Amphitheatre’s Dedication and Naming Celebration.

For this City dedication FOMP and FACE created a free concert headlined by the Jefferson Starship and joined by several local bands. Immediately following the success of this concert and the interest of city leaders, neighbors and local talent, the advocacy group “Friends of the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater” was created to activate the venue, lobby for funding and improvements and design an annual free music concert series.

FOMP and the Friends of the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater increased their lobbying City Hall to fund improvements to John McLaren Park and tirelessly worked through the many hurdles of bringing this lovely outdoor Greek-style Amphitheater back to life and to the attention of locals, many who never knew this great performance venue existed. FACE continues to advocate on behalf of the Amphitheater, along with supporting John McLaren Park and all of the neighborhood groups.

In the fall of 2013 the first 6 afternoons of free, family-friendly concerts named “Saturday in the Park McLaren” was presented at Jerry Garcia Amphitheater. Each of the professionally produced performances featured a diverse line-up of national and local performers and grammy award winners like Bill Ortiz, Wake the Dead, Alvon Johnson, The Alphabet Rockers, Fantastic Negrito and varied musical genres. In 2018 “Saturday in the Park” began offering Saturday and Sunday concerts and introduced its new name: Live From the AMP.

Free Live From the AMP concerts exist to celebrate community through music, dance, art and collaboration. Our community welcomes everyone to take some time out to enjoy art, music, youth and children shows in San Francisco’s 2nd largest park, John McLaren, soon to celebrate its centennial in 2026.

Live From the AMP volunteers offer the music and performing arts community a place to perform at an affordable rate and is committed to welcoming you to enjoy this jewel of a place.
 
NOTE: The "Friends of the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater" is the official advocacy group for the Jerry Garcia Amphitheatre. They are NOT the same as nor affiliated with the similar sounding “Friends of Jerry Garcia Amphitheater” or “McLaren Park Summer Stage”