We simply live in Taylor Swift’s universe.
Swift, the 35-year-old pop music powerhouse, has added another honor (of a sort) to her long list of accomplishments. Among her many Mount Olympus-sized statistics is her status as the highest-grossing live music artist of all time, having earned $3 billion to date.
To view it, visit the home page of the Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center website on Palm Coast, where the 2025–2026 season has been announced.
It doesn’t matter that Debby Boone, whose 1977 smash song “You Light Up My Life” lasted 10 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart (a record at the time), will be on the Fitz on February 7, 2026.
Never mind that Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, whose Top 5 singles, Woman Woman, Young Girl, and Lady Willpower, helped them sell more records in 1968 than any other band (including the Beatles), will be featured on the Fitz on January 15, 2026.
It doesn’t matter that on December 7, twin brothers Matthew and Gunnar Nelson, the sons of the late musician Ricky Nelson and the grandsons of TV celebrities Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, will pay tribute to their family history by entertaining the Fitz with their nostalgic, multimedia presentation, Christmas with the Nelsons. (TV nerds will remember that from 1952 to 1966, ABC ran the quasi-autobiographical sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.)
But it’s a blank space. Star billing on the Fitzgerald’s main page is the Taylor Swift tribute. Attention, all Swifites (the term used to describe Taylor’s horde of admirers): On November 8, an attribute act—not Swift herself—invades the Fitzgerald Theater with singer Olivia Mojica.
Fitzgerald season subscriptions, which run through August 31st, cost $700 and include 20 shows. However, the season membership package does not include seats to the Swift tribute. (The price range is $44 to $70.) Tickets for a single show go on sale on September 16. The Fitzgerald will offer tickets for its three free military band concerts on its Facebook page and in its email. (Note: The venue redesigned its performing space as the Fitzgerald a few years ago, while it is still occasionally referred to as Flagler Auditorium and has a flaglerauditorium.org website.)
According to Amelia Fulmer, director of the Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center, Swift’s 2014 No. 1 electro-pop song, “Blank Space,” which features the singer responding to tabloid rumors about her romantic life, is a tribute on steroids. But according to Fulmer, presenting this specific tribute is a major risk, even though Swift has a Midas touch in the music industry (see this TMZ story on Olivia Mojica of Blank Space).
According to Fulmer, the Blank Space tribute, which will feature a full band and six dancers, is a huge hit. When we discussed what we might offer the younger audience, we came up with the idea of a Taylor Swift homage, which is why I’m so proud of the board of directors (and its show committee, which decides which acts to book).
Fulmer states, “We went all the way, even though it’s outside of our target audience,” despite the fact that there are smaller-scale Swift tributes going around.
The target demographic for this upcoming season is the Boomer generation (and older), as can be inferred from a cursory look at the lineup, which is similar to previous seasons. The schedule for this season features homage to several iconic rock groups and performers from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s: The Temps and the Tops (the Temptations and the Four Tops), Brass Transit (Chicago), I Am, He Said (Neil Diamond), One Night of Queen, Ticket to the Moon (ELO), Proud Tina (Tina Turner), Old Soul Motown Revival, and the Boulevards (rock ‘n’ roll from the 1950s and 1960s).
Although the Canadian artist Celine Dion’s tribute, Celebrating Celine, is not considered classic rock, it should be noted that Dion’s debut English-language album, Unison, was published in 1990, when Taylor Swift was only one year old.
According to Fulmer, we hire tribute artists since the music is well-known, people will buy tickets and react when they know what songs will be played, and they will enjoy themselves. Because they don’t understand much of the music, the kids here don’t attend many performances at the auditorium.
The other half of the event committee believes that the Swift homage will be a sell-out, while the other half believes that no tickets will be sold. However, they realize that trying to reach a new audience is the correct thing to do, therefore they are ready to take the chance.
According to Fulmer, one objective of the performing arts center is to offer a range of arts, cultural, and entertainment events, despite the abundance of music tribute concerts. As a result, the St. Augustine Orchestra will perform on October 28 to kick off the 2025–2026 Fitz season. Old Soul Motown Revival, a fundraiser for the venue, will take place on April 18.
In addition, the season features the one-man show Steve Solomon’s From Brooklyn to Broadway on November 21, the children’s show The Jungle Book on March 28, the classical crossover trio the Texas Tenors on January 8, the illusionist Reza on January 30, the ballet Swan Lake on March 12, and the Irish-themed Christmas in Killarney on December 17.
Supporting arts education in Flagler schools is one of the performing arts center’s other objectives.
Founded in 1991 as a collaboration between Flagler County Schools and the Flagler Auditorium Governing Board, the 1,000-seat theater is a 501(3) c nonprofit organization located on the campus of Flagler Palm Coast High School.
According to the Fitzgerald website, the auditorium was established by a public bond and serves as a venue for technical theater and performing arts programs. It is also regarded as a teaching theater. In addition to offering scholarships and awards to teachers and students all year long, the auditorium hosts events and fundraisers to support arts education in Flagler schools.
The Flagler County Cultural Council, the official Local Arts Agency for Flagler County, the City of Palm Coast, and the State of Florida’s Division of Cultural Affairs all provide funding to the Flagler Auditorium Governing Board.
According to Fulmer, the performing arts center was one of 182 cultural organizations that scored 95 or higher on the state’s award-ranking criteria and were therefore fully funded after receiving a $70,000 grant from the state of Florida this year. “We had the good fortune to be in that group,” she continues.
According to Fulmer, the performing arts center’s main goal is to give our K–12 kids chances. Our daily operations and the 100 events we host annually are mostly focused on Flagler schools, organizations like the Flagler Youth Orchestra, and community organizations, but the professional shows receive a lot more attention since that’s where we generate income. Only when the school auditorium is accessible to us—that is, when the children aren’t utilizing it—do we use it.
Fulmer continues, “The Fitzgerald’s programming strikes a balance between what serves the mission and what makes money.” In order to pay for Swan Lake, you occasionally bring a Hotel California and ELO.
Yampert, Rick, for FlaglerLive
The performance, Circus du Canines: A Tail Wagging Celebration of the Arts, will take place at the venue on September 13 at 7 p.m., even though it is not part of the Fitzgerald’s subscription season. Adult tickets cost $20. Youngsters under 12 enter free of charge, but they need to be accompanied by an adult and have a ticket. Information: flaglerauditorium.org or 386-437-7547 (box office).
The Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center is located on the Flagler Palm Coast High School campus at 5500 East Hwy. 100, Palm Coast. On concert days, the box office is open from 5:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The website is another way to buy tickets.
