Fresh Summer Concert Lineups
Appleton Downtown Inc. has pulled together a fresh lineup of musical entertainment for two of its popular summer events offerings, the Lunchtime Live and Heid Music Summer Concert Series.
ADI, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2016, has filled the concert lineup with plenty of crowd pleasing favorites again this summer, and in August will partner with the Mile of Music festival as part of that four-day music-first festival.
Support for both series this summer comes from Heid Music; BMO Harris Bank; MillCreek; General Beer; WI Distributors; Habash, Habash & Rottier SC; IPS Testing; Tundraland; and Fox Cities Signs & Lighting. Additional sponsorship is still available.
Lunchtime Live
Lunchtime Live concerts are held on Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. in Houdini Plaza. The series opens June 2 and continues through Sept. 1.
Headlining the Lunchtime Live series during June will be: Tom Winch, June 2; the Street Music Week Feature Artist, June 9; Russ Reiser, June 16; John Lambert, June 23, and Dr. Dobbe, June 30.
Tim Dorsey will lead off the mid-summer offerings on July 7. Following that will be Patchouli, July 14; Erin & Jeff Duo, July 21, and Blake Welhouse, July 28.
The August schedule includes Peridot on Aug. 4; Miss Molly, Aug. 11; Eddie Biebel, Aug. 18; Mile of Music veteran Kyle Megna, Aug. 25, and TimberMoon Bluegrass closing out the season on Sept. 1
Heid Music Summer Series
The Heid Music Summer Concert Series will take place Thursday evenings from June 2 through Sept. 1, also in Houdini Plaza. Once each month, the Thursday evening concerts move down along the riverfront to Jones Park.
Leading off the June lineup of artists will be RPM on June 2, followed by The Jimmy’s, June 9, and Grand Union, June 16.
The series will move down to Jones Park along the riverfront on June 23 for a special performance of “Symphony On the Rocks” by Vic Ferrari. Having debuted in 2007, “Symphony On the Rocks” is a high- powered rock symphony show featuring some of the biggest hits of classic rock, including those by the Beach Boys; Earth, Wind and Fire; Led Zeppelin; Queen; Styx; the Beatles; The Who; Foreigner; Journey and many more.
Unity the Band will wrap up the month’s slate on June 30.
Go Ask Your Mother will open July’s performances on July 7, followed by The LoveMonkeys, July 14; Cool Waters Band, July 21, and the ever popular Boogie & the Yo-Yo’z on July 28 when the series again moves down to Jones Park. Boogie and the gang call themselves an “everything” band, playing a wide range of music genres and eras, and stand out for their three-piece horn section. The group was just awarded the 2016 WAMI Cover Artist of the Year.
On August 4, the Heid Music series ties into Mile 4, the 2016 Mile of Music festival which features all original music by up and coming artists from four countries and 26 states. The performance in Houdini Plaza will be one of the Mile of Music sets being performed along the one-mile stretch of College Avenue in the downtown. Mile of Music runs August 4-7 hosting some 200 artists performing 800 live sets in 70 venues. (More information is available online at www.mileofmusic.com)
From there, the summer series continues with Mistrial on Aug. 11; Road Trip, Aug. 18, and Boxkar playing in Jones Park on Aug. 25.
The series wraps up with the Spicy Tie Band on Sept. 1 in Houdini Plaza. The band was honored with the 2016 People’s Choice Band of the Year (Northwest Quadrant) recently at the 36th annual Wisconsin Area Music Awards (WAMI). The band has been performing crowd pleasing music since 1999, and has been twice nominated for a WAMI award.
Food and refreshments are available at all of the concerts.