Chicago-born rapper, actor and multi-award winner Common will headline Navy Pier's Chicago Live Festival on Saturday, Sept. 19, closing out the free two-day event with a lakefront performance followed by fireworks. The sixth annual festival, running Sept. 19 and 20, will bring together more than 100 artists across five stages along Chicago's lakefront.
Navy Pier President and CEO Marilynn Gardner said Common “embodies the creativity, talent and spirit celebrated by Chicago Live! Festival,” according to NBC 5 Chicago. Gardner added that the festival “celebrates the creativity, talent and spirit that make Chicago unlike any other city,” and that this year the event will “welcome a Chicago artist and make the experience free and accessible to everyone,” per the same report. Common, born Lonnie Rashid Lynn, holds three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award for “Glory” in 2015, and a Primetime Emmy Award for “Letter to the Free” in 2017, putting him one Tony Award short of EGOT status, according to TheWrap.
A Festival Born From Pandemic Recovery, Now the Midwest's Biggest
Navy Pier launched the event in September 2021 under the name “Chicago Live! Again,” created to mark the return of the city's performing arts sector after a 16-month pandemic shutdown, per PR Newswire. That inaugural event featured more than 40 cultural groups across two main stages. Since then, the lineup has grown from 43 performing companies to more than 100 artists and organizations this year, a scale Navy Pier now describes as the largest free performing arts festival in the Midwest.
Gardner told NBC 5 Chicago that artists and audiences from across the city will gather at the lakefront for two days. That growth has been underwritten in large part by the Pritzker Foundation, which has served as the festival's primary presenting sponsor since its 2021 launch and has committed millions in grants, including $2 million over the event's first three years, according to Navy Pier. Corporate sponsors such as Ferrara Candy Company have also provided major support for the event, which remains free to attend.
Saturday's Headliner, Sunday's Wind-Down
This year's festival runs from noon to 9 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, according to Broadway World. Saturday's longer schedule accommodates Common's headlining set and the fireworks show that follows, which Navy Pier has called an award-winning display. The show extends the pier's bi-weekly summer fireworks series, which typically wraps up on Labor Day weekend, making the Sept. 19 display a late-season addition to the lakefront's usual Wednesday and Saturday schedule.
The broader roster mixes Chicago institutions with high-profile newcomers. The Joffrey Ballet and Second City are among the marquee names appearing alongside Broadway actor Anthony Rapp, musician Nico Segal, and RuPaul's Drag Race alumni Utica and Denali. Roughly one-third of this year's participating performers are making their festival debut.
Neighborhood Workshops and Accessible Staging
Before the main event, Navy Pier and partner arts groups ran a free Community Engagement Program from Aug. 28 through Sept. 18, offering pre-festival workshops and classes across Chicago neighborhoods. The outreach let neighborhood residents take free classes led by festival artists ahead of the lakefront gathering, extending the festival's reach beyond downtown.
Navy Pier has also built accessibility into the festival's staging, providing American Sign Language interpreters and live audio description services for low-vision attendees on selected stages. Those features have become a standing part of how the pier presents the event as it has scaled up in size. Navy Pier itself, which opened in 1916 and stretches more than six city blocks into Lake Michigan, operates as a non-profit cultural venue drawing between 8 million and 9 million visitors annually, a volume that regularly supports major civic celebrations and outdoor concerts along the lakefront.
