The calendar flipping to May means that summer is right around the corner. And for music fans, that means it's time to start putting together your own summer concert calendar. In case you haven't been keeping tabs on the shows that have been announced in recent months, we're here to help with an info dump overview of the local summer concert season.
The hub of the Spokane area's summer outdoor concert scene has become BECU Live at Northern Quest Resort & Casino, which Inlander readers have voted Best Live Music Venue in back-to-back years. And 2024 features the most robust lineup in Northern Quest history, with a whopping 24 concerts announced so far, mixing musical legends, modern superstars and a lot in between.
Classic rock lovers should come out in droves for Elvis Costello & the Imposters and Daryl Hall (June 4), Slash (July 6), Bachman-Turner Overdrive (July 24, 50 years after their Expo '74 gig), Sammy Hagar (Aug. 13), Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo (Aug. 16) and Steve Miller Band (Sept. 23).
Country fans get treated to Kane Brown (Aug. 15), Needtobreathe (May 12), Riley Green (May 16), Jordan Davis (June 22) and Midland (Aug. 24). Those looking for a hit of '90s nostalgia can check out Boyz II Men (May 15), Third Eye Blind (June 8), Bush (July 27) and The Smashing Pumpkins (Sept. 24).
More modern rock flair comes via the likes of Cage the Elephant (June 30), Falling in Reverse (Aug. 21), KALEO (Aug. 28), Five Finger Death Punch (Aug. 29), Ice Nine Kills and In This Moment (Aug. 30). There are even a few outliers like pop vocalist Donny Osmond (Aug. 11), Lindsey Stirling's electric violin genre-mashing (Aug. 31), the a cappella of Pentatonix (Sept. 11) and reggae funk from Michael Franti & Spearhead (Aug. 17).
Spokane Pavilion is also ready to rock this summer. Quite literally. Apart from the summer-opening concert by country singer Megan Moroney (July 12), everything else is various flavors of dudes rockin': Primus and Coheed and Cambria (July 20), The Decemberists (July 27), Ween (Aug. 4), John Fogerty (Aug. 16), and a triple co-headlining bill of Switchfoot, Blue October and Matt Nathanson (Sept. 6).
North Idaho's prized Festival at Sandpoint boasts one of its best lineups in years: Blues Traveler (July 25), Violent Femmes (July 26), Trombone Shorty and Big Boi (July 27), Maren Morris (July 31), Lee Brice (Aug. 1), Jason Mraz (Aug. 2), Colbie Caillat & Gavin DeGraw (Aug. 3) and a closing performance featuring the Sandpoint Orchestra playing along with How to Train Your Dragon (Aug. 4).
There's never a bad reason to take a roadtrip to visit the world-class gem that is the Gorge Amphitheater, but this year's slate at the Central Washington standby is top-tier. For the EDM fans things kick off with Illenium's Memorial Day Weekend residency (May 25-26), followed by the Beyond Wonderland festival (June 22-23), a three-night stand by Washington's own Odesza (July 4-6) and the Bass Canyon fest (Aug. 16-18).
The country crowd gets the annual Watershed Festival (Aug 2-4), plus Tyler Childers (Aug. 23). Folk-pop star Noah Kahan hopefully won't have a smokey repeat of his last PNW visit when he plays the Gorge on June 29. And then there's a vast array of rock sounds to get Gorge-goers on their feet: Red Hot Chili Peppers (May 31), Blink-182 (July 14), Neil Young & Crazy Horse (July 26), Outlaw Music Festival (Aug. 10), Dave Matthews Band (Aug. 30-Sept. 1), Hozier (Sept. 6), Glass Animals (Sept. 7), King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (Sept. 14) and Imagine Dragons (Sept. 28).
Seeing concerts at the Spokane County Interstate Fair comes with the bonus of fair admission being included with the ticket. For this year's grandstand concerts, they've lassoed country standouts Clay Walker (Sept. 10) and Ian Munsick (Sept. 11), plus hip-hop hitmaker Flo Rida (Sept. 12).
In terms of one-off outdoor shows, it's hard to top ONE Spokane Stadium's first concert: The Outlaw Music Festival brings Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp to town on Aug. 9.
The Spokane Symphony escapes the Fox for three outdoor gigs: swinging by Arbor Crest Wine Cellars on June 5, trekking out to Liberty Lake Pavillion Park on Aug. 31 and then wrapping up with the annual Labor Day concert at Comstock Park on Sept. 2.
Lest we forget, there's plenty of outdoor music (and food) served up at another end-of-summer Spokane staple: Pig Out in the Park returns Aug. 28-Sept. 2. And watch your favorite neighborhood venues, too: Cannonball in Coeur d'Alene Park in Browne's Addition; Pavillion Park in Liberty Lake; and Riverstone and Kendall Yards both have live music, as does Rocket Market and Brick West Brewing, to name a few.
While folks are naturally drawn to outdoor concerts as the weather warms, there are still plenty of great indoor offerings in the area as well. The Knitting Factory has tons of diverse offerings including The Wallflowers (June 1), Shakey Graves (Aug. 10), country from Aaron Watson (July 27), Wheeler Walker Jr. (July 10) and Treaty Oak Revival (Aug. 15), hard rock like Northlane (June 23) and King Buzzo (Aug. 11), K.Flay's hip-hop (Aug. 19), indie rock from STRFKR (July 25), Built to Spill (Aug. 16), Alvvays (Aug. 21) and Alex G (Aug. 17) and emo via Taking Back Sunday (June 6).
The Knit's smaller companion venue The District Bar is no slouch either, featuring snarling fem rockers Thelma and the Sleaze (June 11) and GRLwood (June 13), folky Northwest acts like Margo Cilker (July 12) and Blitzen Trapper (July 13), Niger desert blues from Etran De L'Aïr (July 24) and much more.
In the realm of larger theaters, First Interstate Center for the Arts' lone summer concert (so far) brings Dwight Yoakam to the stage on July 19. The Fox Theater's calendar is also at one (for now) with Lyle Lovett and His Large Band (July 15) being the only non-covers act on the slate.
The Bing Crosby Theater has mainly become an outpost for cover bands, but there are a few original offerings including guitar wizard Buckethead (June 4), singer-songwriters Mat Kearney (June 17) and Judy Collins (July 23), and anime big band jazz via Cowboy Bebop LIVE (June 22).
For the all-ages indoor kids, The Big Dipper has its usually loaded slate of metal and hardcore shows — The Accüsed A.D. (June 8), The HIRS Collective (June 11), Cryptopsy (June 12), Artillery (June 17) — but also mixes in nerdy rap via MC Chris (Aug. 9), reggae from Nattali Rize (July 26) and even the puppet punk act Green Jellÿ (July 31).
The Chameleon hardly has its full summer show calendar fleshed out at this point, but concerts on the radar include Vampa's dark EDM (June 14), hip-hop from Myke Bogan (June 10), chill bro reggae via Kyle Smith (June 25) and album release shows for local acts like Jason Perry (May 31), Nothing Shameful (June 1) and Quarter Monkey (June 7).
Speaking of venues debuting their first summer slates, Spokane Tribe Casino's new Spokane Live space boasts an eclectic array of shows including Smash Mouth (June 8), Mötley Crüe's Vince Neil (July 15), WAR (July 19), Spin Doctors (July 27), the local Green Day cover aces of Not.Greenday (June 14), country from Larry Fleet (July 20) and Red Clay Strays (July 24) and more.
For those who want to start the summer with some Moscow moshing, Punk Palouse Fest gets rumbling over Memorial Day Weekend (May 24-25). And while the Spokane Arena is shuttering for the summer for renovations, University of Idaho's ICCU Arena will host its Summer Country Throwdown fest with headliners Clint Black and Yung Gravy on Aug. 23 and 24.
Regardless of what sonic waves you feel like riding this summer, the Inland Northwest's offerings should have something that hits your sweet spot. ♦
