“Summer’s here and the time is right,” Mick Jagger sang in “Street Fighting Man,” and while the time isn’t right for fighting in the streets, it is for music. Memorial Day weekend is around the corner, and so is an abundance of live-music shows that will offer something for everyone.
The season will once again kick off a week early with the 14th annual Montauk Music Festival, courtesy of The Montauk Sun. With more than 400 performances, the four-day fest starts next Thursday at 6:30 p.m. with an opening-night party at the Westlake Fish House. Twenty artists on three stages will provide a preview of what they’ll be playing as the festival ramps up. Tickets, available at montaukmusicfestival.com, are $60 plus taxes and fees.
Full sets, across some 40 venues, from the Fish House to Bird on the Roof, start on Friday, May 16, and continue through the weekend. Shows are free with the exception of the May 17 and 18 Main Stage performances on the downtown green. Admission there bestows a bracelet good for both days. A percentage of proceeds from the Main Stage shows will benefit the East End Coalition for Women’s Cancers and Lucia’s Angels.
The Stephen Talkhouse, the beloved and historic Amagansett watering hole, will once again be alive with the sound of music from local, national, and international acts. The highlights are many, but a sample includes Jackie Greene on Friday, May 16, the G.E. Smith Trio on June 7, Suzanne Vega on June 13, the perennial favorites Lez Zeppelin on June 14, the blues guitar extraordinaire Christone (Kingfish) Ingram on June 18, Neal Francis on July 28 and 29, Low Cut Connie on Aug. 3, Joan Osborne singing from Bob Dylan’s vast catalog on Aug. 7, Martin Sexton’s Abbey Road Show on Aug. 15, Rhett Miller on Aug. 25, and Steve Earle on Aug. 28.
Last summer, Paul McCartney, who owns a house in the hamlet, jumped onstage during a performance by Smith & Watt Steakhouse, comprising G.E. Smith, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the producer Andrew Watt, known for his work with the Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga, Post Malone, and Iggy Pop, among many others. It was not the ageless Mr. McCartney’s first time on the intimate venue’s stage. Might he make a return appearance? Time will tell.
To the west, Canoe Place Inn in Hampton Bays will host touring artists including the Gipsy Kings on June 8, Aimee Mann on June 12, Steel Pulse on June 29, Graham Nash on July 10 (the performance is sold out), the Buena Vista Orchestra on July 24, and Rufus Wainwright on Aug. 9.
There’s more: The Hamptons JazzFest returns with a kickoff party on June 22 at the Southampton Arts Center, featuring the Hamptons JazzFest All-Star Ensemble. Admission is free. Happening at venues across the South Fork, including LTV Studios in Wainscott, the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, Guild Hall in East Hampton, and The Church and Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, a highlight this year will be the return of the Harlem Gospel Choir and “The Magic of Motown” at Bay Street on Aug. 11 and 12. Tickets are at hamptonsjazzfest.org.
These are but a few of what are sure to be many memorable performances in the summer of 2025.
