Waterfront Concerts, one of Bangor’s biggest seasonal attractions, generated $601 million in economic impact between 2010 and 2025.
That’s according to a new report by Professor Todd Gabe, the director of the University of Maine School of Economics, who studies the economics of arts and culture and provided his research to the city pro bono.
The research quantifies the significant economic activity generated by the venue, which has brought more than a million people to the Queen City since its inception. It also points to the possibility of future development that could help the city better accommodate the many visitors who travel here for concerts.
Gabe used several data sources, including revenue, employment and payroll information provided by Waterfront Concerts, concert attendance data and taxable retail sales from the area reported to Maine Revenue Services, to measure the economic impact of the summer concert venue.
This year’s study is an update to work Gabe started more than a decade ago, when the venue first opened. It’s changed a lot since then, transforming from a temporary setup beside the river to a fully developed venue now known as Maine Savings Amphitheater.
Bangor’s Waterfront Concerts venue hosted its first show, featuring Celtic Woman, in July 2010. It held about 245 concerts between then and 2025, drawing a total attendance of about 1.6 million people, according to the study. The best-attended show was Imagine Dragons in 2018.
Gabe’s study measures the concerts’ economic contribution, which comes in the form of jobs, labor income and economic output. That work incorporates ticket sales, minus the share given to artists, but it also factors in other spending that occurs in the area because of the concerts, since concertgoers often travel to Bangor and spend money at restaurants, hotels and other businesses.
The estimated $601 million economic output and $158 million labor income generated by the concerts includes a multiplier effect, which represents indirect economic impacts in Penobscot County. That includes benefits to businesses that supply goods and services to the concerts or that serve concertgoers, or the household spending of workers who are paid by Waterfront Concerts.
Just in 2025, the concerts generated about $67 million in economic output and about $15 million in labor income, which is about on par with the previous two years, according to the study.
“It’s amazing, the number of people that flock in,” Anne Krieg, Bangor’s economic development director, said. She noted the venue’s proximity to downtown, adding that the city becomes so busy on concert nights that it can be hard to get a hotel room or a table at a restaurant.
Much of what drives the venue’s economic impact is the lineup of artists set to play there, according to Gabe.
“The more shows and the better known the artists, the more people they’re going to draw,” he said.
Gabe reviewed ticket data from 2025 and found that about a third of ticket sales came from counties at least 200 miles from the venue, meaning a significant number of people travel great distances to attend shows in Bangor.
He also noted that economic impacts on the hospitality sector are some of the most visible. In some summer months, 10% or more of sales at restaurants and hotels are attributed to the concerts, he said. He’s working on doing more research to determine the impact of concerts on hotel room rates and availability.
Alex Gray, who owns Waterfront Concerts, said the report checked out with his company’s own estimates.
In terms of potential future development, Gray noted that the venue’s original plans included an additional building that is still in the works.
He also thinks adding more upscale hotel options in the city would help raise the concerts’ economic impact in the future.
“We’re missing that premium component,” he said.
Another hotel would be the most important piece of building up the concerts and the waterfront area as an economic boon, Krieg said.
The city’s economic development team is looking at city properties that could possibly be used for hotel development, she said. No particular location has been identified yet, although Krieg said another downtown hotel would be ideal.
She noted that local hotels fill up, especially when Waterfront Concerts hosts an event at the same time as the Cross Insurance Center across the street.
“And the good news is, we have a lot of people that want to be here,” she said. “We want to be able to accommodate that.”