2023 Summer Concert Preview

The following list is by no means exhaustive, but it should be a good head start for those looking to line up their summer concert plans in northwest Montana and surrounding communities.

Things start off relatively slowly in the month of May, which nevertheless provides a promising slate of local shows, including Laney Lou and the Bird Dogs on May 12 at the Great Northern Bar in Whitefish, Glacier Symphony’s production of the opera Carmen, Sam Barber at the Coop in Columbia Falls, and the banjo-ukulele folk duo Picken Pear at the Stonefly Lounge in Coram.

That trend continues into early June, including with a June 3 performance by Big Sky City Lights at the FVCC Wachholz Center, and the June 27 kickoff of the weekly free Picnic in the Park Summer Concert Series at Depot Park in Kalispell. Bigger acts begin to show up in the region with increasing frequency as June progresses, including a two-week span beginning June 10 in which Death Cab for Cutie plays in Missoula, Chris Stapleton plays in Spokane, Shakey Graves shows up at Abayance Bay near Eureka, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss take over KettleHouse Amphitheater for a night, the Glacier Symphony kicks off its Mozart at McClaren music festival at FVCC, and Pinky and The Floyd descend on Missoula for a Dark Side of the Moon 50th anniversary show.

July starts off with Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit playing KettleHouse on the Fourth of July. By mid-July music lovers might have choices to make, as the Under the Big Sky music festival outside of Whitefish coincides with the Montana Folk Festival in Butte. On July 16, the tail end of both festivals, former Whitefish resident Izaak Opatz is scheduled to play a show at The Stonefly Lounge in Coram, and a couple days later, on July 18, he’ll perform again at Home Ranch Bottoms up in the North Fork.

Supergroup Boygenius kicks off the month of August at KettleHouse in Missoula, followed the next night by an Aug. 2 Ben Folds show featuring the Missoula Symphony in the same venue. Foo Fighters fans will have a couple of chances to catch the band in August, the first one coming in Spokane on Aug. 4, and a couple nights later they’ll play again at the Wildlands Festival in Big Sky.

A number of September KettleHouse shows are already sold out, including both nights of the Lumineers on Sept. 5 and Sept. 6, a show featuring the Pixies, Modest Mouse and Cat Power on Sept. 7, Bonnie Raitt on Sept. 8, Counting Crows with Dashboard Confessional on Sept. 19, two nights of Rainbow Kitten Surprise starting on Sept. 20, and a Sept. 22 show by Goose. Tickets are still available for the jam band Umphrey’s McGee on Sept. 15, and Bonnie Raitt fans who missed out on tickets for her KettleHouse show can still nab tickets for her Sept. 6 show in Spokane. For those looking for something a little more familiar in terms of both location and sound, the O’Shaughnessy Center in Whitefish will be doing back to back nights of an Eagles tribute concert to kick off September.

Four Concerts Not To Miss

7/4: Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit, KettleHouse Amphitheater, Missoula

The stars are aligning on this one for a memorable performance on the Fourth of July. Isbell is a spectacular songwriter and guitarist, and he’ll be coming to Montana less than a month after the June 9 release of his new album “Weathervanes.” For HBO watchers, Isbell may already be a familiar face and name, as the TV media company and streaming service recently released a feature length documentary about Isbell called “Running With Our Eyes Closed,” which takes an intimate look into his life, with a focus on the work that went into creating his 2020 album, “Reunions.” Isbell is married to the tremendously talented singer, songwriter, and fiddle player Amanda Shires, who in addition to her solo career also plays in Isbell’s band, The 400 Unit. On a personal note, the last show I saw before things were turned on their head in 2020 was Amanda Shires at the Pub Station in Billings. The night of that March show happened to coincide with her birthday, and Isbell made a surprise appearance playing guitar in her band. It was a tremendous show, and I still remember the beautiful, tender cover of Warren Zevon’s “Mutineer,” that the two performed together. While there’s a certain element of unpredictability that comes with playing an outdoor show in Montana on Independence Day, Isbell is probably one of a handful of musicians with the talent and musical range to make music sound good even amid blasts of fireworks on a summer night. Isbell’s song catalogue runs all the way from haunting, more lyrically focused songs, to more lively, electric guitar heavy arrangements capable of lighting up the night. This show is sold out, but of course that doesn’t mean tickets can’t be bought on the resale market.

7/7-7/8: Symphony Night at Rebecca Farm

Seeing the Glacier Symphony play with Midori last month was a remarkable experience and served as a strong reminder of the range of opportunities available in the Flathead for music lovers. A friend who also went to see Midori, and is a regular attendee of the Glacier Symphony, told me that he’s particularly attached to Symphony Night at Rebecca Farm. This outdoor pops concert has been an ongoing Flathead Valley summertime feature for 20 years, and promises to include a score of “patriotic and well-known symphonic music, from Beethoven to Tchaikovsky,” according to event information shared by the symphony. People are encouraged to bring a comfortable chair, a blanket, and snacks, and there will also be food and drink vendors. The gates will open at 5:30 p.m., with music starting at 7:30 p.m., meaning the music will ring out as the sun slowly sets in the sky. Tickets go on sale May 12. Early Bird Car Passes can be purchased before June 30^th for $55, and general car passes, or those purchased at the gate, are $65.

8/1: Boygenius, KettleHouse Amphitheater, Missoula

Made up of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus, this indie supergroup just released their first studio album “The Record,” in March to tremendous buzz, although the trio has been working together off and on since 2018. To get the bad news out of the way first, this show is sold out, but I’ll elaborate on what I said above—if you start looking now, chances are you’ll be able to pick up tickets somewhere. The run on these tickets was something I was hearing about from various acquaintances for days in the lead up to sales opening a couple months ago. During a recent discussion about office music choices, one Flathead Beacon coworker remarked to me that there’s never a bad time for Boygenius. While debatable, it’s another data point showing the enthusiasm fans have for this trio. In an article headlined “The supergroup Boygenius are happiest making sad music together,” the L.A. Times called Boygenius “an anomaly,” in the sense that “indie-aesthetic bands who sing about really sad stuff aren’t supposed to be buzzy major label darlings in 2023.” You may not be surprised to hear then, that the new album tends to fall on the softer, more melancholy, heartbroken side of the emotional spectrum, but there are still some jams to get the blood pumping when you’ve wiped the tears out of your eyes.

8/27: Tab Benoit and The Rumble, FVCC Wachholz College Center, Kalispell

For starters, if you haven’t seen a show in the Wachholz Center, it’s worth making time for one. The new space is gorgeous, and musicians can’t seem to say enough about the quality of acoustics that the center’s concert venue, McClaren Hall, has to offer. Tab Benoit, armed with his weathered, 1972 Fender Telecaster Thinline electric guitar that he’s been using since the 90s, seems very much the kind of artist who can take advantage of the space. The Grammy-nominated blues guitarist and singer has roots in the bayous of Louisiana. His songs include bending, riffing, roving, guitar solo-heavy jams, slower, moodier tunes, and more fast-paced, easygoing foot-tapping arrangements. Opening for Benoit will be The Rumble, a New Orleans funk band that will bring six Grammy-nominated musicians to the stage. The band is composed of Second Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr. of the Golden Eagles, trumpeter Aurelien Barnes, trombonist Jose Maize Jr., bassist TJ Norris, guitarist Ari Teitel, keyboardist Andriu Yanovski, and drummer Trenton O’Neal.

Four Concerts Not To Miss

May

June

July

August

September

Don’t worry, we’ll always be free.