Bring on the sunscreen and insect repellant, stay hydrated and say when, here comes some live music made for June and the sweet summertime. Let’s expect to get a decent break from watching the weather so all of us can go outside and play, listen and be a part of the many music events upcoming in the area.
After last week’s storms, I’m looking over my shoulder while mentioning our Thursday shows, but hey, that’s the weather in central Illinois. First up, the downtown Levitt AMP concert series continues with The Psycodelics doing “high-energy fusion of funk, soul, R&B, and jazz” with the fabulous Paul Bill Jr. opening, after the kids’ kickoff event at 6:15 p.m.
Next, in no particular order, Casey’s Pub on the Patio hosts the Dan Rivero Trio, Mother Road Diner serves up the Harris Trio, Robert Sampson delivers for the Illinois Product Farmers Market at the state fairgrounds and Micah Walk presents his Live Guitar Music Trivia show at Obed & Isaac’s.
Friday’s gone wild with nearly 40 shows in our listings, covering all kinds of music all around and up and down. Let’s get to a few, beginning with our very own Kapital Sound headlining at Decatur’s Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater to honor Juneteenth proper on the nineteenth of June.
Downtown at noon the Springfield Area Arts Council continues its weekly Artist in the Park series in Union Square Park with Kayla Brooke and the Willow Strings.
For tribute shows, the River City Eagles go all in on the Eagles at Long Bridge Golf Course and Elvis Himselvis does the King justice at Harvest Market Farmhouse Brews while Blue Sky Revival heads to Destihl Beer Hall in Normal to play Allman Brothers tunes. Also, on Saturday night in Sherman at the Village Park Amphitheater you can experience tributes to Bryan Adams, Def Leppard and Bon Jovi as part of the Live at the Amp Xfinity ‘26 Concert Series.
More stuff is happening on Friday like Springfield’s Juneteenth Bar and Restaurant Crawl starting at 1 p.m. with music, celebrations and food stops all over town (find details and participating businesses on the event Facebook page) and up north Lincoln’s downtown area presents Nashville Night with several live music shows in various venues plus other goodies all set up in a street festival style. But now it’s time to move on down the road.
Some Saturday night highlights in the bars include Travis Ried Band funking up the blues and more at the Butternut Hut, Mike Zito getting on the cool time blues at The Alamo and Frednecks, Kool 100’s and Evan vs. Michael playing punk night at George Rank’s. If you’re a fan of afternoon acoustic outside shows, check out Brandon Elliott at Dockside Grill on the lake and Around the Bend by the pond at Brookhills Golf Club.
Moving on to Sunday, which happens to be Father’s Day, I spy a dad and son with Amy playing as OAT at Pease’s at BUNN Gourmet at noon, Not Petty getting their Petty on at Oogie & JJ’s in Glenarm and Michael Burnett at Brookhill’s Golf Club. Also, there’s Grant Barnett drifting into It’s All About Wine, Joel Honey sweetening the pot at Whiskey Ridge Saloon in Breckenridge, James Crosby going to town at Curveside by Athens and Kortney Leatherwood bringing down the house at Buckhart Tavern. Plus, Dr. Noodles & the Pastafarians get cooking at the Library Pizza and Sports Bar, and for fans of real country music and world-class songwriting, Twisted Tree in Jacksonville presents all-time great Rodney Crowell with special guest Sunny Sweeney in an intimate evening show.
Signing off until next week…
This article appears in June 18-24, 2026.
