Mike Floss, rapper
Catch Mike on May 29 at Mayday Fest
Get the most out of your summer: Read more about our favorite places to eat and drink, camp, play, rock, splash, explore, hike and chill.
Considering how oppressive the Tennessee heat gets in the summer, any kind of air-conditioned retreat can serve as the best kind of vacation. Thick and sticky, the scorching temperatures and suffocating humidity tend to make folks feel like they're trapped in their own bodies when outside. But a host of local music festivals and concerts make braving the discomfort worth the endeavor. Here are some of the highlights.
Of course there's Bonnaroo (June 9-12) in nearby Manchester, where for the 15th year in a row music fans the world over will descend to jam out to a multi-genre musical smorgasbord of established and up-and-coming cream-of-croppers alike. A Tennessee cultural touchstone, the festival this year features headliners the likes of Pearl Jam, LCD Soundsystem and Dead & Company, pop stars like Ellie Goulding and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, indie heroes and cult favorites such as Tame Impala, Ween and Jason Isbell, and indie-vanguard greats including Natalie Prass, Bully and Twin Peaks.
Meanwhile, on the same weekend (to the horror of many Music City industry pros), the annual CMA Festival will take over downtown Nashville with stages strewn about Lower Broad, Riverfront Park and Nissan Stadium. Returning champs topping the stadium bills include Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, Eric Church, Brad Paisley and Little Big Town. Among those making their debut at the stadium this year are Chris Stapleton and (sigh) Steven Tyler.
If you're looking to go to a stadium concert this summer but you want to hear something harder than country music, mark July 9 on your calendar. That's when (mostly) reunited rock legends Guns N' Roses will take to the Titans' turf and turn Music City into a "Paradise City," or a jungle.
For just about any music fan, there's also something set to rock our local midsize amphitheaters over the next few months. Ascend Amphitheater's calendar boasts everything from current cover boys Cage the Elephant (May 19), Jimmy Buffett (May 26), Duran Duran (July 6), Weezer (July 13), Gary Clark Jr. (July 16), Modest Mouse and Brand New (July 19), Blink-182 (Aug. 8), and Boyz II Men (Sept. 11).
Meanwhile, across Davidson County in Whites Creek, Carl Black Chevy Woods Amphitheater's got more-than-worthy options like the Music City Jazz, Blues and Heritage Festival (June 2-4), some singer-songwriter named Bob Dylan (appearing with Mavis Staples, June 26), Awolnation and Death From Above 1979 (July 21), and Flogging Molly and Frank Turner (Aug. 12) on its docket.
For those who find braving big, unwieldy crowds as insufferable as feeling the burn from skillet-hot Tennessee asphalt, or simply don't want to drain their wallets on overpriced concessions, Nashville offers a bounty of smaller, more manageable (and often free) outdoor music events. Like the Brown Bag Lunch Concert Series, happening every other Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. from May 11 through Aug. 24. at Centennial Park. And speaking of Centennial Park, that's where you can catch great Musicians Corner bills Saturday afternoons through June 25. The free concert series has a diverse program of notables like Rashad Tha Poet, Kyshona, Matthew Perryman Jones, Leigh Nash, Hurray for the Riff Raff, The Jayhawks and Griffin House.
May through October offers the monthly Jazz on the Cumberland concert series at Cumberland Park. Starting June 3, far west side suburbanites can take in sets from the likes of Eight O'Five Jive and The One Hitters at Bellevue's Red Caboose Concert Series (at Red Caboose Park, natch).
Also: Nashville's favorite free festival — Live on the Green — kicks off with the first of its four weekly installments Aug. 11. Lineups for those sure-to-be-big bills will be announced June 23.
More music in the great outdoors:
Musicians Corner: Andrew Ripp, Marc Scibilia, Birdtalk and more: Fri., May 20, Centennial Park
Musicians Corner: Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, Myzica, Zeke Duhon and more: Sat., May 21, Centennial Park
Styx w/The Nashville Symphony: Sat. May 21, Ascend Amphitheater
Promised Land Sound: Sun., May 22, Fannie Mae Dees Park (Dragon Park)
Musicians Corner: Family of the Year, the Black Cadillacs, Reuben Bidez, Stephen Salyers and more: Sat., May 28, Centennial Park
Webb Wilder: Sun., May 29, Fannie Mae Dees Park (Dragon Park)
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes w/Preservation Hall Jazz Band: Tues., May 31, Ascend Amphitheater
The Music of John Williams w/The Nashville Symphony: Sat., June 4, Ascend Amphitheater
Musicians Corner: The Mowgli's, AJ and the Jiggawatts, Jake Ousley, Kendre Streeter and more: Sat., June 4, Centennial Park
Daddy: Sun., June 5, Fannie Mae Dees Park (Dragon Park)
Musicians Corner: Matthew Perryman Jones & Friends, John Fullbright, Morgan Bosman and more: Sat., June 11, Centennial Park
Musicians Corner: Steve Forbert, Leigh Nash, Dara Tucker and more: Fri., June 17, Centennial Park
Musicians Corner: Hurray for the Riff Raff, River Whyless, Allison Bencar, Maybe April and More: Sat., June 18, Centennial Park
Jefferson Street Jazz & Blues Festival: Latimore, Lakeside Band, Midnight Star and more: Fri.-Sat., June 17-18, Shelby Street Bridge and Bicentennial Mall
Musicians Corner: Dom Flemons, Damien Horne, Tristan McIntosh: Fri., June 24, Centennial Park
Nashville Pride Festival & Concert: En Vogue, Bonnie McKee, Daya, Shawn Hook and more: Fri.-Sat., June 24-25, Public Square Park
Musicians Corner: The Jayhawks, Griffin House, Glen Martin, Del-Amina and more: Sat., June 25, Centennial Park
Gregg Allman Laid Back Festival: Gregg Allman, Shovels & Rope, Brothers Osborne, Andrea Davidson, Levon and more: Sat., June 25, Carl Black Chevy Woods Amphitheater
Joe Walsh & Bad Company: Sun., July 3, Carl Black Chevy Woods Amphitheater
Let Freedom Sing! July 4 in Music City: Sheryl Crow, Maddie & Tae, Erin McCarley, Andrew Combs, Ruby Amanfu, the Nashville Symphony Orchestra: Mon., July 4, Ascend Amphitheater and the Green at Riverfront Park
Barenaked Ladies w/Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Howard Jones: Tues., July 5, Ascend Amphitheater
Flight of the Conchords: Thurs., July 14, Ascend Amphitheater
Ray LaMontagne: Fri., July 29, Ascend Amphitheater
Journey: Wed., July 27, Ascend Amphitheater
Boston: Tues., Aug 2, Carl Black Chevy Woods Amphitheater
Jeff Beck & Buddy Guy: Wed., Aug. 3, Ascend Amphitheater
Twenty One Pilots w/Mutemath and Chef'special: Sun., Aug. 7, Ascend Amphitheater
Rewind Music Festival: Zapp, Adina Howard, DJ Don Juan and more: Sun., Sept. 4, Riverfront Park
Listings compiled with assistance from Zoe Roberts
