Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, two of America’s greatest songwriters, collaborated to create the tune that I most easily connect with the arrival of summer. A pre-infatuated Tony feels a sensation of impending but unidentified happiness early in the story of “West Side Story.” I couldn’t identify with all the gooey parts of the song when I first heard it as a child. I simply fell in love with a single enchanted, fantastical line and the lively tune that let it soar. “Who knows? Something is due any day, and I’ll know as soon as it appears. It might descend through the sky like a cannonball, shining brightly like a rose. Who knows? Yes, yes, yes. Like all movie musicals, the guy was singing about a girl. But it wasn’t Maria who appeared out of nowhere during “Something’s Coming” as a naive child counting down the days till the school year was over. The season was summer. And it has arrived at our door, people. Appropriately, without music, summer loses its typical sparkle. We have collected a mountain of listings for almost 320 concert events from Memorial Day weekend to Labour Day (not the exact calendar bounds of the season, but the most well-known ones) to emphasise that point. Presenting them to you today is our yearly Summer Music Guide. Most musical tastes and budgets can enjoy the options. For example, two excellent May selections are free: rock journeyman Chuck Prophet, who is this month’s main act at WFPK’s Waterfront Wednesday concert in Louisville, and jazz saxophonist Melissa Aldana, who is performing for Music for Mission and the Origins Jazz Series this weekend.
Some are actually made for budgets where money is no object. One of the latter is a two-day Cabana ticket for the Railbird festival at The Red Mile the following weekend. Admission, a cabana suite for 30, enhanced stage views, overhead fans, and even a hospitality staff are among the many amenities included. The price? Sixty thousand dollars. Luxury/VIP options are available for many of the performances on this list. However, we’ve made an effort to only offer the most basic costs here, excluding the accessories. The majority of them are already fairly expensive. As a result, this year’s guide is different. The unusual, unrounded ticket pricing for several of the shows are as follows: $28.11, $84.83, $149.38, and my personal favourite, Vince Gill’s July performance at Louisville’s Kentucky Centre for the Arts, which had a top tier price of $105.01. One assumes every penny counts. This can be attributed to the widespread use of “all-in pricing” by online ticketing firms. This indicates that any fees and taxes that were previously applied on top of the original price are now included in the quoted costs. However, as sales tax differs from state to state, it is not included in that. That is to say, some of the costs associated with going “all in” are still present. Aside from financial considerations, be sure to enquire online or over the phone with any venue about whether one of your chosen events necessitates a road trip, particularly if it takes place later in the season. Over the following three months, it’s likely that tour itineraries will alter and that concerts will be added, cancelled, and postponed.
