Boyz II Men's free Eisenhower Park show breaks attendance records
Shawn Stockman, Wanya Morris and Nathan Morris of Boyz II Men, seen performing in 2021, played a free concert Saturday at East Meadow's Eisenhower Park. Credit: Getty Images / Terry Wyatt
Saturday’s concert by Boyz II Men at the Harry Chapin Lakeside Theatre in East Meadow’s Eisenhower Park set an attendance record for a show at that venue, with an audience of more than 40,000, said Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.
This significantly topped the previous record of 26,000 for the July 30, 2022, concert by Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and longtime Long Beach resident Joan Jett and her band the Blackhearts, according to Blakeman’s office.
“Boyz II Men crushed it last night, in Eisenhower Park, before a crowd of 40,000 residents (a new attendance record of our free concert series),” wrote Blakeman, 67, on social media Sunday.
The trio is the most commercially successful R&B group of all time, according to AllMusic.com, citing the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Boyz II Men — originally the Philadelphia foursome of Michael McCary, Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman until McCary’s departure in 2003 — was the preeminent R&B group of the 1990s, with four Billboard No. 1 hits: “End of the Road” from the movie “Boomerang” (1992), “I'll Make Love to You” and “On Bended Knee” (1994) and “4 Seasons of Loneliness” (1997).
The RIAA has certified the four-time Grammy Award winners’ album “Cooleyhighharmony” (1991) as 9 times platinum, meaning 9 million units sold, and the album “II” (1994) as diamond, meaning 10 million units sold. “II” went on to sell 2 million more units, resulting in 12 times platinum certification.
Nassau County’s annual free concert series at Eisenhower Park continues through Sept. 11. Additionally, a noontime/midafternoon senior concert series, specializing in music of the 1950s and '60s, runs through Aug. 30. Free family movies screen through Aug. 23. NYU Langone Health is sponsoring the concert series.
