Billy Rice Band to kick off Savor the Sounds concert series Saturday

This weekend, Longboat’s new Town Center Green starts getting put to use, courtesy of the Billy Rice Band.

The site of the former Amore Restaurant at 555 Bay Isles Parkway will host the Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce’s Savor the Sounds outdoor concert series, which Rice and his country-rock band will open on Saturday. Gates open at 4:30 p.m., and the show is scheduled from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Rice has opened for musicians from Eric Clapton to Tommy James to the Moody Blues. His band recently released an album called “Just Sayin’.”

General admission tickets cost $15 in advance and $25 at the gate. Pre-sale tickets can be purchased at the Longboat Key Chamber offices at 5390 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Suite 102 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. VIP tables, which seat eight and include two bottles of wine, are $250. Besides the VIP tables, there is no permanent seating, so attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets. Beer and wine will be available for purchase.

Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Gail Loegfren said the Town Center Green is “looking pretty good.” It’s being watered to encourage further grass growth, and turf or sod is likely to be added some time after Saturday’s concert. Other than that final step, it’s completely set up.

“This is sort of an introduction to the location,” Loefgren said.

That introduction will also mark the return of Savor the Sounds to Longboat for the first time since 2016, which was the town’s 60th anniversary. This time around, the town’s goal for the concert series is to show that Town Center Green can be “a major part of the town center,” according to Loefgren.

As of Tuesday, Loefgren said about 150 to 160 people had bought tickets. One person who bought a VIP table is bringing fancy china to go along with their food and drinks. Loefgren said they’ve modeled Savor the Sounds on other outdoor concert series where people can bring good linens, candelabras, lay a blanket on the ground or decorate their VIP tables.

“People were beginning to get it [at the end of the 2016 series],” Loefgren said. “If you bought a table, you brought your good china and your wine, and it was very fancy. Some of the people were beginning to compete with each other.”

The concert series is the product of about eight months of planning. Loefgren said the town has thought ahead and finalized as many details as it could, but she still expects there will be a learning curve from the first concert.

“Then the next concert in March, we will hopefully be able to correct what we didn't do right,” Loefgren said. “And if we did everything right, then we're good.”

Savor the Sounds was originally supposed to begin a month earlier, but it was postponed when one of the musicians came down with an illness. The other three acts are scheduled as follows: March 28 with Doug Deming and the Jewel Tones; April 25 with the Tim McCaig Trio and their salute to Neil Diamond and May 30 with Kettle of Fish.

The series is presented by Michael Saunders & Co. Supporting Sponsors are Cadence Bank, Grant’s Gardens, Secur-All Insurance Agency, Veteran Air and WrightWay Emergency Services.