Springsteen, Counting Crows and Foreigner's farewell: Top 10 concerts of summer 2023

While the ultimate sounds of summer are breezy and carefree like the Beach Boys and Jimmy Buffett, local music lovers have a much broader variety to choose from in the next few months.

From metal to roots to jazz to pop, the options are many. To help you decide, we’ve come up with our top 10 recommended concerts this summer in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts. Our choices are based on the entire vibe created by performer, music and location.

Chris Stapleton

1. Chris Stapleton’s All-American Road Show, Friday, June 9, and Saturday, June 10, Xfinity Center, Mansfield, Massachusetts (livenation.com). Stapleton just took home Entertainer of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards gala for a reason. He’s an everyman sort of musician with a tenor voice that flexes easily from raw to power notes. His version of “Tennessee Whiskey” is arguably the best.

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John Mellencamp

2. John Mellencamp: Live and In Person, Sunday, June 11, Providence Performing Arts Center (ppacri.org). Mellencamp is the whole package — a gritty songwriter and storyteller with a raspy yet inviting voice, and he's the life of the party on stage. His shows are dance parties with the audience on its feet, singing along to “Jack & Diane,” “Pink Houses” and “Small Town."

Adam Ezra Group

3. Adam Ezra Group, Saturday, June 17, Greenwich Odeum, East Greenwich (greenwichodeum.com). One of those “why-aren’t-they-more-famous” bands, AEG is a little hard to pigeonhole in a genre because the energetic foursome has taken the best qualities of folk, rock, soul and pop and made their own sound.

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The Scotch Bonnets

4. The Scotch Bonnets, Tuesday, June 27, Watch Hill Green, Bay Street, Westerly (knickmusic.com). Best free concert of the season goes to this funky, female-led band that blends punk, reggae, rock and R&B for a unique but infectious sound. Can’t beat that on a warm summer night.

Tab Benoit

5. Tab Benoit, Wednesday, July 12, Narrows Center for the Arts, Fall River, Massachusetts (narrowscenter.org). Two-time BB King Entertainer of the Year, Benoit coaxes Delta swamp blues from his guitar in such a fresh, modernized way that his listeners are left spent at the end of his riffs. Live is the best way to experience him.

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Counting Crows and Dashboard Confessional

6. Counting Crows and Dashboard Confessional, Tuesday, July 18, Providence Performing Arts Center (ppacri.org). Whether it's a soulful cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” or the sweetness of “Accidentally in Love,” Counting Crows has spent more than 20 years rocking out with us. The tour also brings fans the edgy emo sound of Dashboard Confessional for a double treat.

Rugburn

7. Rugburn, Saturday, July 29, The Narragansett Café, Jamestown (narragansettcaferi.com). If local cover bands are your jam, there are few better than this funky eight-piece band. With strong percussion and brass, and covering everything from Kool & the Gang’s “Jungle Boogie” to Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man” to “Fireball” by Pitbull, they keep the dance floor crowded and happy.

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Foreigner

8. Foreigner, Saturday, Aug. 5, Xfinity Center, Mansfield, Massachusetts (livenation.com). Age is only a number when Mick Jones straps on his guitar and gets his jam on with the rest of the legendary 1970s and '80s rock band. This is purportedly their farewell tour, so catch “Cold as Ice,” “Hot Blooded” and “Feels Like the First Time” live one more time. As an added treat, Loverboy is opening.

The Senders

9. The Senders, Friday, Aug. 11, Ocean Mist, Narragansett (oceanmist.net). This is an ideal summer location to see one of Rhode Island’s venerable rock bands, known for blending covers of Jethro Tull, The Doors and Don Henley with originals.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

10. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Thursday, Aug. 24, and Saturday, Aug. 26, Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, Massachusetts (gillettestadium.com). With an expanded brass section and explosive encores, The Boss’s concerts are legendary, making for a great cap to your summer. The set list rolls through his massive inventory, from “Badlands” to “No Surrender” to “Dancing in the Dark.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Springsteen, Foreigner and more: Top 10 summer concerts in RI area