Big Name Acts at UBS Arena: From Maná to Conan Gray in Elmont

ByStaff

Forty minutes east of Midtown Manhattan, sitting on the historic grounds of Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, stands one of the most architecturally ambitious venues to open in the American Northeast in decades. UBS Arena — affectionately nicknamed “The Stable” by New York Islanders faithful, a nod to the thoroughbred racing history of the land beneath it — has done something quietly extraordinary since its November 2021 opening: it has made Long Island a serious cultural destination for world-class live music. Not merely a stop on someone else’s itinerary, but a marquee event.

The arena, a privately financed $1.5 billion project developed in partnership with Oak View Group, the New York Islanders, and Jeff Wilpon, was designed from the ground up with music in mind. Unlike older multipurpose facilities that bolt in sound equipment as an afterthought, UBS Arena was engineered for premier acoustics, clear sightlines across all 19,000 concert-capacity seats, and a fan experience that rivals anything offered in Brooklyn or Manhattan. The addition of the Elmont-UBS Arena LIRR station — the first newly constructed Long Island Rail Road station in nearly 50 years — made the venue genuinely accessible to the five-borough audience that arena operators depend on to fill large shows. The result has been a steady parade of genuinely major acts that now includes everyone from Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel to the most culturally significant names of the current generation. This weekend, two of those names — Maná and Conan Gray — bring the arena’s concert calendar to one of its most musically eclectic moments yet.

How UBS Arena Established Itself as a Music Venue

The opening night concert on November 28, 2021 was no accident. British pop phenomenon Harry Styles inaugurated the venue’s music programming in front of a sold-out crowd, setting an immediate tone: this would not be a building that settled for touring packages left over after Madison Square Garden and Barclays Center filled their calendars. Styles returned the following May to perform his entire album Harry’s House live for the first time, cementing the venue’s role as a site for genuine artistic milestone moments rather than routine stops.

What followed was a series of names that reflect the full breadth of what a well-run arena can attract: Dua Lipa, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, The Eagles, John Mayer, Post Malone, Chris Stapleton, Andrea Bocelli, Drake, Marc Anthony, and SUGA from BTS. In September 2024, the venue hosted the MTV Video Music Awards, announcing itself not just as a concert hall but as a broadcast destination capable of staging one of music television’s flagship annual events. The arena has since achieved LEED Green Building Certification, Zero Waste TRUE Silver certification, and carbon neutrality for operations — markers of institutional commitment to longevity rather than short-term booking strategy.

Billie Eilish Brings Hit Me Hard and Soft to Elmont

October 2025 gave Long Island two consecutive nights that longtime music fans will cite for years. Billie Eilish performed back-to-back sold-out shows at UBS Arena on October 25 and 26 as part of her global Hit Me Hard and Soft tour — her first Long Island appearance since a sold-out 2022 stop on the Happier Than Ever tour. Both nights sold out within hours of announcement, a reflection of her unmatched pull among Gen Z audiences and beyond.

The production was characteristically immersive: ambient visuals, striking lighting design, and Eilish’s signature vocal range stretching from barely-above-a-whisper intimacy to full-throated belting across a setlist that spanned all three of her studio albums. A particularly striking moment, documented by Billboard, came during “When the Party’s Over,” performed a cappella using a looper tool, during which the entire arena fell into complete silence at her instruction. Without asking, thousands of concertgoers raised their phones as flashlights during “Wildflower.” The show underscored something UBS Arena’s best nights have in common: the venue’s acoustic design allows for that kind of quiet intimacy at scale, which is harder to achieve than spectacle. Rising Puerto Rican rapper Young Miko opened both nights. Eilish wrapped her massive run two months later in San Francisco.

Maná’s Vivir Sin Aire Tour Lands at UBS Arena — Friday, February 27

For the Latin community across the New York metropolitan area, Friday night at UBS Arena represents something beyond a concert. Maná — formed in 1986 in Guadalajara, Jalisco — is the kind of band that doesn’t simply perform; it convenes. With over 50 million albums sold, 11 studio records, 1.3 billion annual Spotify streams, and the best-selling Latin rock album of all time (Dónde Jugarán los Niños), the quartet stands as one of the most durable and culturally significant acts in the history of popular music in any language.

The Vivir Sin Aire Tour — named after their 1992 hit, itself one of the most recognized songs in the Latin rock canon — launched in September 2025 and promptly sold out every major market it touched. The 2025 run included two sold-out nights at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, a string of sold-out Kia Forum dates in Los Angeles that extended Maná’s own record as the arena act with the most performances in LA history (now at 47 shows across their career, surpassing Bruce Springsteen), and complete sellouts at every significant venue from coast to coast.

For the 2026 leg, the band unveiled an entirely new production: expanded video elements and a breathtaking onstage waterfall that transforms the visual experience into something closer to theatrical spectacle. The tour carries an additional dimension of social purpose — a portion of ticket proceeds funds Maná’s “Latinas Luchonas” program, supporting Latina women entrepreneurs across North America.

The UBS Arena show on February 27 at 8:30 PM is the first stop of the 2026 North American leg. The band plays no opening acts — a decision that reflects both their confidence and their relationship with an audience that shows up for a full evening of Maná. The following night, they move to Barclays Center in Brooklyn, giving the New York region two consecutive nights of one of the most significant Latin rock bands in history. Tickets remain available through Ticketmaster.

Conan Gray Brings the Wishbone World Tour to UBS Arena — Saturday, February 28

Twenty-four hours later, the same venue reconfigures itself entirely. Conan Gray — 26 years old, Texas-born, and the defining songwriter of his generation according to a growing critical consensus that includes a Taylor Swift endorsement of his raw storytelling — performs his Wishbone World Tour on Saturday, February 28 at 8:00 PM.

Gray’s ascent to arena headliner status is one of the more remarkable trajectories in recent pop history. He began making music on GarageBand, went viral with “Idle Town” as a teenager documenting small-town life, and built an audience through an authenticity that felt categorically different from the promotional machinery that manufactures most pop stars. His debut album Kid Krow debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200 in 2020, went Platinum, and produced signature tracks including the 4x-Platinum “Heather” and the 3x-Platinum “Maniac.” By 2024, he was selling out Madison Square Garden and Wembley Arena.

Wishbone, his fourth studio album released in August 2025, debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Album Sales chart and in the Top 3 of the Billboard 200 — the highest chart debut and largest sales week of his career to date. The Wishbone World Tour is a 42-city global run spanning North America, Europe, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, concluding October 8 at RAC Arena in Perth. Rising pop artist Esha Tewari opens all dates. The UBS Arena show sits between stops at TD Garden in Boston (February 25) and Prudential Center in Newark (February 27), making Long Island one of three consecutive Northeast arena dates that together represent a massive homecoming for an artist with a devoted tristate fan base.

Tickets for the UBS Arena show are available through Ticketmaster.

The Broader Concert Calendar: What’s Coming to UBS Arena

The Maná and Conan Gray dates don’t exist in isolation. They’re part of a concert calendar that continues to build UBS Arena’s identity as a venue that genuinely serves the full cultural breadth of the New York metropolitan audience. Coming dates include Romeo Santos and Prince Royce on April 19 for the Mejor Tarde Que Nunca Tour 2026, Peso Pluma and Friends on May 1 for the Dinastia Tour, and Ramon Ayala on March 21 — a Latin music calendar that reflects both the demographic reality of Long Island and the bookers’ clear awareness of where demand is concentrated.

Beyond Latin music, the venue hosts a full range: the Trans-Siberian Orchestra played December 18, the Jonas Brothers headlined December 21, and Shaggy and Sean Paul brought Caribbean energy on December 12. The 2024 VMAs confirmed that the venue can stage broadcast-level events. And the 2027 NHL All-Star Game has already been awarded to UBS Arena, further anchoring its status as the premier entertainment venue on Long Island for the foreseeable future.

Why This Matters for the North Shore

Live music at this scale has a measurable effect on the communities that surround a major arena. Hotels fill. Restaurants extend their hours. LIRR ridership spikes. Local businesses that understand how to position themselves near major event dates capture audiences who arrive early and stay late. The cultural prestige of hosting acts like Maná and Conan Gray — artists with genuine global followings — elevates the entire region’s identity in ways that are harder to quantify but no less real.

For Long Islanders who spent decades watching major tours bypass the Island for Manhattan or Brooklyn, the shift represented by UBS Arena is significant. The venue has proven in less than five years that the tristate market is large enough and hungry enough to sustain multiple world-class concerts per week across every genre. That’s not a temporary phenomenon. It’s a structural change in how the region participates in American cultural life.

Getting There

UBS Arena is located at 2400 Hempstead Turnpike, Elmont, NY 11003. The venue is accessible via the Long Island Rail Road at the Elmont-UBS Arena Station, and by car via exits 26A, 26B, and 26D off the Cross Island Parkway. The venue is approximately 30 minutes from Penn Station or Grand Central by LIRR on most service patterns. Parking and transit information is available at ubsarena.com.

For Maná’s Vivir Sin Aire Tour on February 27: Buy Tickets For Conan Gray’s Wishbone World Tour on February 28: Buy Tickets

Venues don’t become institutions quickly. They become institutions through the accumulation of nights that people carry with them — shows they reference for years afterward, buildings they associate with something larger than a single evening. UBS Arena is still young, but its trajectory suggests it understands the difference between booking and building. Two consecutive nights this weekend — one a multigenerational Latin rock celebration, the other a generational-defining pop phenomenon — offer the North Shore audience exactly the kind of range that a great venue is supposed to deliver. Whether you grew up with Dónde Jugarán los Niños or with “Heather” on repeat, The Stable has something this weekend that was worth building for.

Sources:

Peter Kalafatis

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