Things to do in Vermont: Say hello to summer with these June arts-and-entertainment events
An earlier version of this article misstated the band affiliation of Duane Betts.
This is the month where we say hi to summer, which also means that many of Vermont’s arts-and-entertainment activities move out into the truly great outdoors. Why not catch an eye-popping sunset while admiring another work of art on stage?
Some of these highlighted events remain inside, and that’s OK, too. COVID-19 numbers are still concerning, but with the proper precautions it’s still possible to enjoy a thought-provoking play or a display of visual art indoors.
And of course, we could certainly use the boost to our spirits that the arts provide. Dig into some of these events and let the sun shine in.
Looking just for music?: Summer in Vermont means outdoor concerts where you'll find your happy place
Vermont Stage delves into facts
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 1, the comedic production “The Lifespan of a Fact” presented by Vermont Stage focuses on a fact-checker who challenges a renowned author about the veracity of an essay and begins its run through June 19, Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Burlington. $31.05-$38.50. www.vermontstage.org
See also: Danny DeVito to make one-night-only appearance in Vermont for staged reading of play
More: Highlights from Waking Windows: Sold-out crowds, standout shows and happy tears
Bob Marley’s band seeks Higher Ground
8:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 1, reggae legends The Wailers follow The Reflexions in the Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington. $25 in advance, $30 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com
Head and the Heart sells out
6:30 p.m. Friday, June 3, the Concerts on the Green series gets underway with another folk-leaning group, The Head and the Heart, who follow opener Jade Bird at the Shelburne Museum. Sold out. www.highergroundmusic.com
Radio Bean heats up
7 p.m. Friday, June 3, a beloved venue that’s been returning slowly from pandemic dormancy gets cooking this month with shows including this one from The Academy Blues Project, Radio Bean, Burlington. $10. www.radiobean.com
Opera returns to Middlebury
7:30 p.m. Friday, June 3 and Thursday, June 9; 2 p.m. Sunday, June 5 and Saturday, June 11, the Opera Company of Middlebury stages Jacques Offenbach’s comic opera “Orphee Aux Enfers,” Town Hall Theater, Middlebury. $55-$80. www.ocmvermont.org
‘Sound of (Black) Music’ kicks off Discover Jazz
8 p.m. Friday, June 3, we’ve covered the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival elsewhere, but we’d be remiss not to mention its kickoff marquee event: Festival curator Michael Mwenso joins musicians including Brianna Thomas, Charenee Wade, Vuyo Sotashe and Zhanna Reed for “The Sound of (Black) Music,” an Afro-futurist take on the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that’s so connected with Vermont, “The Sound of Music,” the Flynn. $10-$50. www.flynnvt.org/Community/Burlington-Discover-Jazz-Festival
More: Burlington Discover Jazz Festival: Here's one show every day that you shouldn't miss
Celebrating the pesky black fly
11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, June 4, a central Vermont town celebrates a biting airborne pest when the Adamant Blackfly Festival offers traditional music, food, a bake sale including “blackfly-inspired delights,” a plant sale and a giveaway of children’s books, Adamant Co-op. Free. www.adamantcoop.org
Lake Street Dive goes for two
7 p.m. Saturday, June 4 and Sunday, June 5, tickets are all gone for the two-night stand of the eclectic group Lake Street Dive with The Lone Bellow, Shelburne Museum. Sold out. www.highergroundmusic.com
Ripton Community Coffee House on the road
7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 4, the Ripton Community Coffee House continues its moveable feast of music when it offers The Will Patton Ensemble at Burnham Hall, Lincoln. $15-$25. www.rcch.org
Xenia Rubinos hits ArtsRiot
8 p.m. Sunday, June 5, the varied Xenia Rubinos offers hints of soul, hip hop, jazz, punk and funk with a show that includes Stoof’s Elastic Band, ArtsRiot, Burlington. $16 in advance, $18 day of show. www.artsriot.com
Goose lands in Essex Junction
7 p.m. Monday, June 6, Connecticut groove-rockers Goose land on the midway lawn, Champlain Valley Exposition, Essex Junction. $40 in advance, $44 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com
Tantrums and Broken Bones
6 p.m. Tuesday, June 7, it’s a soulful double bill with Fitz and the Tantrums and St. Paul and the Broken Bones, plus openers Seratones, Shelburne Museum. $54-$129. www.highergroundmusic.com
Bon and Bonny at Champlain Valley Expo
7 p.m. Wednesday, June 8, indie-folk adventurer Bon Iver follows the folk trio Bonny Light Horseman (featuring Vermont’s own Anais Mitchell), midway lawn, Champlain Valley Exposition, Essex Junction. $65 in advance, $75 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com
More: Catching up with 'Hadestown' creator Anais Mitchell
Guitarist cooks in Stowe
7 p.m. Thursday, June 9, Canadian guitarist Jesse Cook performs at the Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center, Stowe. $35-$55. www.sprucepeakarts.org
Clint Black plays Rutland
8 p.m. Thursday, June 9, country-music veteran Clint Black headlines the Paramount Theatre, Rutland. $79-$99. www.paramountvt.org
North Carolina band at the Bean
6:30 p.m. Friday, June 10, North Carolina husband-and-wife indie-pop duo Stray Local performs at Radio Bean, Burlington. Free. www.radiobean.com
Emerging artist in the Northeast Kingdom
7 p.m. Friday, June 10, Northeast Kingdom native and baritone Logan Chaput performs a benefit concert for the creation of youth arts programming at the Highland Center for the Arts, Greensboro. $5-$10. www.highlandartsvt.org
Comics from New York
8:30 p.m. Friday, June 10, the Town Hall Theater begins a monthly summer series called “Big Apple Comics” led by New York comic and Vermont native Tina Friml, American Flatbread pavilion, Middlebury. Free; pre-registration suggested. www.townhalltheater.org
More: Tina Friml is a Vermont comic with a disability. She's also just plain funny.
New Music Crawl in Middlebury
Noon Saturday, June 11, the New Music Crawl making its way through Middlebury begins with percussionists/composers Susie Ibarra and Levy Lorenzo at the Middlebury Congregational Church, followed from 1-4 p.m. with a solo piano marathon, Middlebury Community Music Center; 2-4 p.m., kids’ activities on the town green; and 5-6 p.m., a community improvisational jam session, Middlebury Congregational Church. Free. www.facebook.com/newmusiconthepointfestival/
Solo performer from The Devil Makes Three
7 p.m. Saturday, June 11, Pete Bernhard of Americana band The Devil Makes Three plays a solo set following opening act Mary-Elaine Jenkins, Walker Farm, Weston. $25-$60; free for ages 12 and under. www.westontheater.org
Guster, The Wood Brothers share a bill
7 p.m. Saturday, June 11, a double bill features alternative rockers Guster, fronted by Ryan Miller of Williston, and rootsy group The Wood Brothers, supported by David Wax Museum, midway lawn, Champlain Valley Exposition, Essex Junction. $57 in advance, $61 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com
New Orleans jazz at Nectar’s
8 p.m. Saturday, June 11, direct from New Orleans, the Treme Brass Band joins Afro-funk group Gentleman Brawlers at Nectar’s, Burlington. $10. www.liveatnectars.com
Aphasia Choir sings in Milton
2 p.m. Sunday, June 12, based in Vermont and led by Karen McFeeters, The Aphasia Choir performs in concert at the Milton Outdoor Performance Center band shell. Free. www.karenmcfeeters.com
A jammy double bill
7 p.m. Sunday, June 12, fans of improvisational music will dig the scene when The Disco Biscuits and Umphrey’s McGee play the midway lawn, Champlain Valley Exposition, Essex Junction. $54 in advance, $58 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com
Folk at The Monkey House
7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 12, contemporary folk artist Erisy Watt joins Lily Seabird and A Box of Stars at The Monkey House, Winooski. $5-$10. www.monkeyhousevt.com
Frank Turner arrives in South Burlington
7 p.m. Tuesday, June 14, the folk-punk sounds of Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls follow The Bronx and Pet Needs in the Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington. $29.50 in advance, $35 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com
Folk Talk Trio in Burlington
7 p.m. Tuesday, June 14, Vermont musicians Rik Palieri and Jason Baker join California singer-songwriter Patti Shannon in the Folk Talk Trio, Radio Bean, Burlington. Free. www.radiobean.com
GWAR gets bloody (again)
7 p.m. Wednesday, June 15, the notorious spectacle that is shock-metal band GWAR returns with Crowbar, Nekrogoblikon and The Native Howl to the Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington. $35 in advance, $39 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com
Theater company provides a ‘Clue’
8 p.m. Thursday, June 16-Saturday, June 18 and 2 p.m. Saturday, June 18-Sunday, June 19, Island Stage presents an on-stage production based on the classic board game “Clue,” North Hero Community Hall. $15-$20. www.islandstage.org
Pair of Scrag Mountain Music concerts
7:30 p.m. Friday, June 17, the Vermont classical ensemble Scrag Mountain Music presents its pandemic-delayed performance “Sutras for a Suffering World: The Poetry of David Budbill Set to Music,” First Congregational Church, Burlington. The program will also be delivered at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 18, Bethany Church, Montpelier. Admission is “come as you are, pay what you can.” www.scragmountainmusic.org
David Bromberg gets rootsy
8 p.m. Friday, June 17, American-roots musician David Bromberg and his quintet liven up The Double E, Essex. $40-$75. www.essexexperience.com/events
Indie-pop at Higher Ground
9 p.m. Friday, June 17, the California indie-pop duo slenderbodies (with opener Mokita) plays the Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington. $17 in advance, $20 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com
Juneteenth Celebration in Burlington
4-7 p.m. Saturday, June 18, “The Black Experience 2022” presents speakers and performers including activist Angela Davis, hip-hop group A2VT and spoken-word artists Rajnii Eddins and Ferene Paris Meyer, Battery Park, Burlington. Free. www.blackexperiencevt.com
Chad Hollister goes acoustic
6 p.m. Saturday, June 18, veteran Vermont musician Chad Hollister brings his acoustic quintet into the bucolic setting of the meadow at Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe. $10-$35. www.chadmusic.com
Murder thriller in southern Vermont
7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 23, the murder thriller “Wait Until Dark,” which runs through Saturday, July 9, jump-starts the summer season at Dorset Theatre Festival. $46. www.dorsettheatrefestival.org
Black Opry Revue pays a visit
8 p.m. Thursday, June 23, the Black Opry Revue presents music by Black performers of country, blues, folk and Americana, with Nikki Morgan, Tae Lewis and Roberta Lea performing in the Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington. $20 in advance, $25 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com
Valerie Plame, Joseph Ellis at Bookstock
Friday, June 24-Sunday, June 26, former CIA officer Valerie Plame, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph Ellis and renowned children’s author Katherine Paterson are among the authors taking part in Bookstock 2022, Town Green and other locations in Woodstock. Free. www.bookstockvt.org
Guitar heroes at Shelburne Vineyard
6:45 p.m. Sunday, June 26, a pair of Burlington guitar heroes, Paul Asbell and Mikahely, play one set each and then a third set as a duo, Shelburne Vineyard. $10 in advance, $12 at the door. www.shelburnevineyard.com
Westford Music Series moves outdoors
7 p.m. Sunday, June 26, the Westford Music Series leaves the Westford Common Hall for a performance by guitarist Jerry Thigpen, Westford Common. Free; donations accepted.
Spruce Peak concerts begin
6 p.m. Thursday, June 30, alt-country musician Rayland Baxter starts the Spruce Peak summer concert series on the village green at the ski resort, Stowe. $40-$50; $5-$10 for children 5 and under. www.sprucepeak.com/concerts
Allman Brothers scion in Essex
6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 30, the Double E is holding a series of outdoor concerts this summer, including one by Duane Betts, son of Dickey Betts, one of the founders of The Allman Brothers Band, Essex Experience. $25. www.essexexperience.com/events
Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Things to do in Vermont in June 2022: Theater, music and events
