This summer, East Rutherford just may be the entertainment epicenter of the world. That’s thanks to the efforts of MetLife Stadium, which is set for a banner season starting with a two-night stand by Kendrick Lamar and Jersey’s own SZA this Thursday and Friday. “It’s going to be epic,” Ron VanDeVeen, President and CEO of MetLife Stadium, told NJ Advance Media. READ MORE: 59 concerts in 2025 that you cannot miss, including Billy Joel, Beyoncé & Luke Bryan Epic may be a bit of an understatement. This summer will be the stadium’s busiest season since its 2010 opening, as it will play host to a record 24 concerts, the FIFA Club World Cup soccer tournament and a total of 39 summer events, including World Wrestling Entertainment’s SummerSlam. There will be two Shakira concerts on May 15 and 16, five shows by Beyoncé on May 22, 24, 25, 28 and 29, three nights with The Weeknd on June 5 to 7, a three-concert run by Zach Bryan on July 18 to 20, a rare American engagement from a reunited Oasis on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 and, in a staggering logistical feat, five concerts by four acts in six days: Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks on Aug. 8, followed by My Chemical Romance on Aug. 9, then the Jonas Brothers on Aug. 10, and finally Chris Brown on Aug. 12 and 13. “The only reason we can have four different acts play five shows in six days is because they will all share the same basic stage,” VanDeVeen explained. “We can do that because we worked closely with (concert promoter) Live Nation who in turn, talked to the acts and their agents and management to make this happen. VanDeVeen detailed how the bands will customize their performances with a thrust or second stage, and their own lighting, sound, video and floor seating configuration. But by using the same main stage, New Jersey’s largest venue saves multiple days in steel and stage build. A custom stage takes three to four days to load in, VanDeVeen noted, and another day to load out — add the shows themselves and that’s typically six to seven days for one act. “We are now doing the turnaround after the first concert in less than 24 hours, and we will do that three times,” the executive said. From the top rope “We’re a product of our own success,” said Steve Sansonese, vice president of the stadium’s facility operations and events. “We have shown the ability to seamlessly conduct stage shares with multiple artists but never on the scale of this summer.” But, before that banner week, the stadium will welcome back WWE for the first time since WrestleMania 35 in 2019 for SummerSlam, happening Aug. 2 and 3. “The planning (for SummerSlam) has been underway for over a year now,” said Sansonese. “This will be the first-ever two-day SummerSlam and the requirements and build are extensive. We will be working around the clock in three eight-hour shifts to get everything done.” The last time WWE was at the stadium, VanDeVeen noted, WrestleMania drew fans from 50 states and 68 countries, and in 2013 WrestleMania 29 generated $101.2 million in economic impact for the New York/New Jersey region. How has the stadium, also the home of the New York Giants and New York Jets football teams, become such a hub of sports and entertainment? As Sansonese tells it, MetLife was built for this. “The stadium is set up to be a multipurpose stadium,” he said. “It’s designed to have multiple entrances and exits that can assist loading events in and out of the stadium very quickly. We are also fortunate to have multiple spaces that can host not only sporting teams but large-scale concerts and all of the different components that they bring. The biggest asset that we have is an experienced staff that knows how to move events in and out quickly and efficiently. If it were not for the staff, we would never be able to do what we do here on a consistent basis.” And then, as VanDeVeen said, there’s the location. “We have New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Philly to pull from,” he said. “We are less than 10 miles from New York City, the No. 1 media market and (designated market area) in the country.” MetLife Stadium also offers the most permanent seats in the NFL – a seating capacity of 82,500. Thinking about the magnitude of this summer, VanDeVeen looked back to East Rutherford’s former Giants Stadium and the summer of 1994, which he described as “the craziest summer we ever had.” He was working in event operations at the time, and there were some familiar names on the calendar, 31 years later, including FIFA and Billy Joel. “The (FIFA World Cup) semifinal between Italy and Bulgaria was at 4 p.m. on July 13 and our first concert was Pink Floyd on July 17. We had less than four days to remove the grass field and load in a stadium show,” he said. “As soon as the match ended, the crew moved in to start ripping up the field. Once the endzone was clear, forklifts were bringing in the steel to start building the stage, so you literally had equipment ripping up the field in one endzone while building the Pink Floyd stage in the other endzone. We worked 24/7 to get it all done and will do that again this summer. Coincidentally, this year’s Club World Cup final is also on July 13 (31 years later) but this time, the stadium gets an extra day to get ready for Zach Bryan’s first show on July 18. “We need that time because the scope of the event has grown so much. We will have a lot of exterior areas to break down also (security perimeter, multiple tents, fan fest areas, etc.) but the priority is the bowl where the fans will be seated,” VanDeVeen said. I lived it in 1994 and (am) excited to do it again on a grander scale this summer and again in 2026. Next year will be another very busy summer with the World Cup and another slate of concerts.” MetLife Stadium’s 2025 schedule Kendrick Lamar and SZA: May 8 and 9 Shakira: May 15 and 16 Beyoncé: May 22, 24, 25, 28 and 29, The Weeknd: June 5, 6 and 7 FIFA Club World Cup: June 15, 17, 19, 21 and 23; July 5, 8, 9 and 13, Zach Bryan: July 18 to 20 Premier League Summer Series: July 26 WWE SummerSlam: Aug. 2 and 3 Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks: Aug. 8 My Chemical Romance: Aug. 9 The Jonas Brothers: Aug. 10 Chris Brown: Aug. 12 and 13, System of a Down and Korn: Aug. 27 and 28 Oasis: Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 More entertainment news Legendary singer opens up about cancer battle. ‘I want to keep going’Rock legend won’t let feud go, says his old drummer is jealous. ‘Just leave me alone.’Iconic rock band has grown apart. ‘He’s not the guy I started a band with.’Legendary rock star, 77, collapses on stage, is hospitalizedIconic rock drummer is still haunted by ‘getting beaten up outside a hotel’ 2 years agoLegendary classic rock band’s drummer ‘shocked and saddened’ over being fired after 30 years Alex Biese may be reached at abiesewrites@gmail.com.