For most touring artists, the road usually ends in a maze of city streets, flashing marquees, and theater districts. On the way to the Freeman Arts Pavilion, though, tour buses rumble past cornfields and chicken farms before pulling into Selbyville, Delaware. It’s the kind of drive that makes a band glance out the window and wonder, “Wait … this is the stop?” But tucked inside the small coastal town is a 4,000-seat venue that feels less like another tour stop and more like an unexpected retreat.
Since opening in 2008, the Freeman Arts Pavilion has become a cultural anchor on the Delaware coast. Run by the Joshua M. Freeman Foundation, the venue hosts more than 70 performances each summer, welcoming national touring acts, dance companies, comedians, family programs, and local talent. More than 130,000 people attend each season, while the foundation’s Arts Access Initiative brings free experiences to students and the community year-round.
But for the artists themselves, a Freeman day looks different than most. Instead of being swallowed up by urban noise, they step into coastal quiet – with a menu of diversions that could only exist in a place like southern Delaware.
BACKSTAGE WITH STRAIGHT NO CHASER
Traveling with nine male vocalists, four crew members, two tour buses, and a growing fan following, the members of Straight No Chaser have come to anticipate a good time and a friendly crowd when they pull into Selbyville. As they arrive at the Pavilion, tucked inside the Bayside community, the bandmates are greeted with a craft services tent, refreshments, and plenty of space to unwind before the show.
Baritone/tenor Jasper Smith, who has grown fond of the stop in Selbyville, estimates this was the group’s fourth or fifth show at the venue.
“The golf course is next door – what’s not to like?” Smith said. “We like coming to the East Coast; the crowd always shows up.”
A DAY AT FREEMAN
For performers, the day often begins with choices. The Pavilion’s hospitality team keeps a list of local activities at the ready. Just across from the backstage area, the Sunridge Recreation Center offers lap lanes, a zero-entry pool, and a waterfall hot tub. The Commons pool, located nearby, is quieter, with shade and iced drinks. The beach is minutes away, and staff will drive performers there with pre-packed bags of towels and sunscreen.
Artists have also been known to make their own fun. Some have cast a line in the ponds behind the venue – one group even organized a fishing tournament among their band and crew. Others have headed out for crab feasts, a first-time experience for more than a few. Massages and spa treatments have been brought in backstage, while touring pets are walked in the open spaces around the grounds. Families often tag along, with kids riding bikes or skateboarding behind the scenes, and casual frisbee games have been spotted between rehearsals. These moments, small as they are, create the kind of relaxed, community atmosphere that many touring artists say is rare on the road.
For Straight No Chaser, striking the right chord between work and play is part of the rhythm. By mid-morning on show day, lead tenor Jerome Collins had already packed in a full day’s worth of leisure – played nine holes of golf, devoured a hearty omelet, got in a quick gym session, and a stop at a local deli for subs. “I did it all today,” Collins said with a laugh, and easy grin that suggests he’s in no rush. “Now all that’s left is the show.
Baritone Jasper Smith has been known to paddleboard or fish before call time, while other members use the downtime to relax at the pool or recharge before the evening’s performance.
PITCH PERFECT BEGINNINGS
The singers, who met in their college show choir at Indiana University in the mid-1990s, never expected they would still be performing together nearly 30 years later. A 2007 video of one of their old performances was uploaded to YouTube and unexpectedly went viral. By 2008, the group reunited as Straight No Chaser to record their first holiday album, “Holiday Spirits.” Since then, they’ve stayed on the road, releasing albums with their signature wordplay titles – “With a Twist,” “One Shot,” and “90’s Proof.” Their next holiday release, “Holiday Road,” is slated for October 2025.
WEARING MANY HATS
According to baritone Seggie Isho, adaptability has kept the band going. “We can make any space work,” he said. “We all wear many hats. Some groupmates are more musically adept, with their focus on arrangements, while others may be more involved with performance, costume design, and staging. When there are nine guys with the same goal – to put on a great show – the journey may be different, but the destination is the same.”
That shared focus has helped Straight No Chaser endure over decades. Members now live across the country – in Chicago, Cincinnati, New York, California, and Palm Beach, Florida – but continue to come together for tours. From 2010 to 2011, they had a residency at Harrah’s in Atlantic City. These days, they balance home life and families with a steady tour schedule, still finding time to reunite for projects and albums.
DOING IT ALL
For Collins, this tour has been a chance to showcase their range beyond holiday music. “This has been one of the more fun tours, and from what our fans are saying, this is the best they’ve seen,” he said. “That means we are growing as a group and finally getting out of that pigeonhole of holiday music, which we don’t mind, but it’s fun to step out and do some cool stuff that we grew up on.”
During their Aug. 7 stop at Freeman, the group even managed to fit in something most touring acts never do: a recording session in a friend’s bedroom in Fenwick Island. No polished studio, no soundproof booth – just a coastal house, some microphones, and a band making the most of their time at the beach. It’s the kind of detour you don’t usually hear about on a national tour, but in Delaware, it fit right in.
THE FREEMAN DIFFERENCE
For Straight No Chaser, that mix of beach-town downtime and unexpected opportunities is exactly what makes the Freeman Arts Pavilion stand out. Morning might mean golf, paddleboarding, or grabbing subs from a local shop; afternoon might bring a swim or even a makeshift recording session nearby; evening ends on stage with an audience singing along under the open sky. It’s a rhythm that swaps out city chaos for coastal calm.
Other artists have noticed it, too. Over the years, the Pavilion has welcomed an impressive lineup – from Diana Ross and Smokey Robinson to Brandi Carlile, Bonnie Raitt, and Jerry Seinfeld. What performers tend to remark on isn’t just the stage lights or the sound system. It’s the setting: the beauty of the Delmarva coast, the quiet that settles in once the buses park, the chance for families and friends to tag along, and the lure of fresh seafood after soundcheck.
Before Freeman, locals drove hours to catch shows in Philadelphia, Baltimore, or D.C. Now, the arts come to them – and touring artists discover that a stop in Selbyville means more than another date on the calendar. They leave with memories of crab feasts, fishing tournaments, or in Straight No Chaser’s case, laying down tracks in someone’s spare bedroom a few miles from the beach.
Big Names in a Small Town
A look at the world-class performers who’ve lit up the Freeman Arts Pavilion stage.
- Diana Ross
- Smokey Robinson
- Huey Lewis and the News
- Jay Leno
- Chicago
- Melissa Etheridge
- Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo
- Bonnie Raitt
- Darius Rucker
- Nate Bargatze
- John Fogerty
- Brandi Carlile
- Steve Miller Band
- Lady A
- Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight
- George Thorogood
- & The Destroyers
- Boz Scaggs
- Jerry Seinfeld
- Sam Hunt
- Frankie Valli and the
- Four Seasons
- Maren Morris
- ZZ Top
