The 2022 Watertown free summer concerts series features 14 groups starting on June 1 and running through the end of August.
The City of Watertown provided the following information about the concert series:
Save the dates for the 2022 Saltonstall Park Concert Series.
The Concert Series is a series of free performances at Saltonstall Park, located at 149 Main Street in Watertown from 6:30-8 PM. Audience members are encouraged to bring chairs and blankets.
June 1: Perfect Crime Band
Killer Classic Rock with rich, layered vocals, authentic, vintage organ, guitar chops, and a selection of the very best music of the 60s, 70s, 80s, and beyond.
June 8: Eight to the Bar
Their material, like their outlandish wardrobes and onstage choreo, is a colorful mix of forties jazz and swing, fifties jump blues, a little bit of Motown, and their own swing-influenced tunes. With their female vocals, saxophone (their sax player, Collin Tilton, is Van Morrison’s original sax/flute player who appears on Morrison’s quadruple-platinum-selling “Moondance” album), guitar, bass, keyboards and drums, this unique sextet pack a musical and visual wallop not seen in New England since the group’s inception in 1975. Since that time they have released 12 CDs and have excited audiences from Europe to the Caribbean.
June 15: Grupo Fantasia
Lively family-friendly Latin music from the Caribbean and South America.
June 22: Southern Rail
Southern Rail rolls into Saltonstall Park with their exuberant blend of upbeat bluegrass and irrepressible good humor. This promises to be a delightful concert, featuring lush harmonies, as well as sparkling banjo, guitar, mandolin and bass. Two of the band’s members (guitarist Jim Muller and bassist Sharon Horovitch have recently been inducted into the S New England Bluegrass Hall of Fame. Pack a picnic and bring the family for a memorable summer evening!
June 29: Radio Honey
Radio Honey features female and male lead vocals while performing “Sweet Sounds from the 70’s thru Today”. A low volume mix of popular radio hits from Adele to Zeppelin (pop, classic rock, alternative, modern rock and Top 40).
July 6: Compaq Big Band
Exciting, high-energy jazz and swing with jump blues, jump swing, and jazz-rock.
July 13: School of Rock Watertown House Band
School of Rock Watertown House Band features the most advanced students in an audition-based program that works on more challenging repertoire across genres from rock & roll to Motown to pop music. House Band gigs professionally throughout the Boston area.
July 20: The Tom Nutile Big Band
The 17-piece Tom Nutile Big Band has its roots in the swing music of Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Glenn Miller, but in recent years we have broadened our offerings to include more contemporary sounds, from the songs of Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Bobby Darin, to the pop and soul of the 1950s and 1960s (the Drifters, the Temptations, Wilson Pickett and Van Morrison) up through the work of present-day performers (Michael Bublé, Diana Krall, Pharrell). The result is a swinging, highly professional ensemble that perfectly creates good music from all genres that has audiences of all ages smiling, clapping along and, when we play parties and dances, joyously dancing along.
July 27: The Rico Barr Band Featuring the JJR Horns
Nominated as Swing Band of The Year by the National Swing Awards.
August 3: Waltham American Legion Band
The Waltham American Legion Band was formed in 1948 and has performed around the globe. It was the first American band to perform in Red Square in Moscow, where it performed “God Bless America”. The band consists of approximately 50 volunteers, both veterans and civilians. The band performs in various configurations: a military marching band, a trolley band, a concert band, and in smaller ensembles.
August 10: 90-Mile Portage
Jamie Kallestad and Ben Cosgrove began performing as 90-Mile Portage in order to catch a break from their day jobs: Jamie is a singer/songwriter (jamiekallestad.com) and Ben is a nationally-touring pianist/composer (bencosgrove.com). The collaboration was born in 2011 with a handful of recording experiments conducted via email. The duo has since released an EP of original and traditional folk songs and toured across New England and the Midwest.
August 17: Lightning Rising
Lightning Rising performs a variety of crowd-friendly music from classic rock and soft rock hits. The band features Watertown-based performers, Dawn and David Scaltreto on keys and bass, neighbor John Copeland on guitar and Drummer David Donnelly. All four are vocalists and provide sophisticated backing vocals on all songs. Last year they were a big hit with the hometown crowd!
August 24: The Love Dogs
The Love Dogs are a high-energy sextet specializing in original, classic and New Orleans style Rhythm & Blues, Swing, and early Rock ‘n’ Roll. We put on an energetic family-friendly show with a 6-piece band featuring upbeat humorous songs great for both dancing and singing along. One of the highlights of our show is leading a procession of the crowd around the park with a New Orleans brass band parade. Our performances are family-friendly and we put smiles on everyone’s faces, young and old.
August 31: Ben Rudnick and Friends with The Puppeteers Cooperative
Ben Rudnick & Friends play the hippest family music around. With countless awards to their credit, including SEVEN Parent’s Choice awards, their adventurous, high-energy blend of happy, upbeat acoustic music is guaranteed to entertain the entire family. Blending musical styles from country to bluegrass, rock to second-line New Orleans, their original songs and fun takes on familiar tunes make you sing, make you dance and make you happy.
The Puppeteers Cooperative provides a lending library of human-sized puppets in which both adults and children can dance and play, and organize short parades. They are especially fun with music.
Visit the Saltonstall Park Concert Series 2022 webpage.
Special thanks to the Watertown Cultural Council and Massachusetts Cultural Council for their support.