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Summer Concert Series
Lower Bayside Park (Beachside)
All Concerts begin at 7:00pm
Admission is FREE
Parking available at Bayside Park
Join us for Colchester's summertime tradition. Bring your lawn chairs, blankets, and picnic dinner to Lower Bayside Park for our summer concert series on Thursday evenings. Enjoy great music with the beauty of Malletts Bay as your backdrop!
July 11: Prydein
Prydein is a Celtic Rock Band from the Burlington area and has been playing together in one form or another for over 20 years. Formerly Whisky Before Breakfast, the band includes Aron Garceau on guitar and vocals, Iain Mac Harg and Hazen Metro on Scottish Bagpipes, Andy Smith on bass and Caleb Bronz on drums. Traditional Scottish, Irish and Breton tunes mingle effortlessly with a modern day rhythm section which presents these tunes on a new palette, mixed with new genres to bring forth an original form of Celtic Rock seldom seen or heard anywhere else. A headliner of Celtic festivals all over the United States, Prydein is an explosive experience to see live and will certainly be a highlight of your summer. Visit the Prydein website for more information.
July 18: Steven Hartmann Trio
Steve Hartmann is a singer-songwriter from Jericho VT, by way of Philadelphia, PA. Upon moving to Vermont, he quickly picked up accolades such as winning the Advance Music Singer-Songwriter Contest and Vermont’s Original Music Competition, and released a solo album, Waking Up the Echoes. Passionately captivating with a medicinal vocal conviction, he has been described as the grey between Damien Rice and Dave Matthews. Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional comments, “Steve’s vocals are pristine!” Having opened for acts like Chris Carrabba, Bryan Adams, Train, and Ellis Paul, in small clubs to amphitheaters, house concerts to festivals, Hartmann’s Berklee College of Music experience, coupled with his passion and engaging stage presence, will draw you in and leave you stunned. Steven will be joined by violinist Jane Kittredge and percussionist Dan Gregoire for this show. Learn more at the Steve Hartmann Trio website.
July 25: Satin & Steel
A Colchester favorite, Satin & Steel is a 10-piece R&B horn band based in the Central Vermont Rutland-Killington area. Original formed in 1971 the group evolved into a traveling club group that toured New England for several years and then lay dormant till 1995 when five of the original members decided to “get the band back together”! Since then they have performed regularly covering great horn bands including Tower of Power; Blood, Sweat & Tears; Chicago; Earth, Wind & Fire, and other horn focused music from Santana, the Beatles, Motown and more, as well as a number of powerful originals. A huge sound with 4-part harmonies and a 6-piece horn section on a foundation of guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards, Satin & Steel is the kind of band you rarely see around anymore.
August 1: Melissa Plett [Trio]
If it were not more than a century old, “Keep on the Sunny Side” could have been written with Melissa Plett in mind. This singer, songwriter and natural-born-performer embodies all that this classic folk tune represents. And like so many songs of its genre, era, and nature, it is rooted in messages of cheery optimism, yet challenging adversity, much like Melissa Plett herself. From a farm yard in Manitoba to the sophistication of Montreal to the birthplace of folk and country and everything true about music, this truck-driver’s daughter has journeyed her way through thick and thin, chiseling and shaping her sound to what it is today. Melissa’s influences come from a musical immersion from birth where she developed a personal relationship with the down-south storytelling of Johnny Cash, the pioneering tell-all nature of Kitty Wells, and the heart-wrenching tales of hardship from Etta James and Ray Charles. Melissa’s releases include her 2005 EP, Repeated Stories, 2010’s Outside the City, and 2017’s Ghost Town. Melissa’s customary high-energy, no-bones attitude and foot-stomping sass are placed front and center of every performance. As the old folk song says, “There’s a dark and a troubled side of life. There’s a bright and a sunny side, too.” When you experience Melissa Plett, you absorb all sides. Learn more about Melissa and her music at her artist website.