Live outdoor music to make a return in Carson City and Minden this summer as COVID regulations continue to loosen

For the better part of a year now, live music in public venues has been long sought after as COVID-19 restrictions have kept people from gathering together.

This summer, however, local favorites to the Carson City and Carson Valley areas are prepared to take the stage once again in anticipation of restrictions loosening enough to do so.

The popular Levitt AMP concert series is in the works for the upcoming summer on July 1, which is slightly later than originally anticipated.

The series will include eight shows, according to Gina Lopez, Executive Director of the Brewery Arts Center.

“We’re really hoping by July first that we’ll be able to have a somewhat normal concert series,” Lopez said. “We want it to feel as it did in the past.”

While the Levitt AMP series has previously included 10 shows, the benefactors of the show stay consistent, since the Levitt Foundation is still funding the event. Lopez said the presenting sponsor is a local company specializing in mental health services called The Change Companies.

“We’re still currently picking (other) sponsors for the series to help us with the expense of putting on a free event at this magnitude,” Lopez said.

Wrapping up a six-show Flatbed concert series at the end of March, Lopez said all concert efforts are currently being poured into organizing the Levitt series.

Depending on COVID restrictions come July, Lopez said she’s unsure if socially distant circles will still be used during concert hours among guests.

“We will if that’s the regulations at the time,” Lopez said, “but we’re hoping that we won’t have to with the vaccination rate that is happening currently. I don’t think that we’re going to have to do (circles), it may just be masks, and we don’t know, but whatever it is we’re going to be ready to fly.”

The line-up for this year’s concerts will be announced shortly, according to Lopez. More information on the Levitt AMP concert series can be found on the Brewery Arts Center website.

Another in-town favorite for live music is the annual Jazz and Beyond Music and Art Festival, organized by the Mile High Jazz Band Association David Bugli, leader of the band.

The Jazz Festival is anticipated to take place again in August, with no earlier performances being planned for the Mile High band, according to Bugli.

On Aug. 13, the festival will open up at the Governor's Mansion with a Roaring Twenties theme, followed by an event at Silver Saddle Ranch on August 15. Additionally, the third annual Open Studios Tour will take place on Aug. 21 and 22 from 10 am to 4 pm.

The last day of the Festival will feature the Reno Jazz Orchestra, according to Bugli. The performance is scheduled for Aug. 29 at the Capital Amphitheater, located in front of the Supreme Court building on Carson Street from 5:30-7:30 pm.

“Music enriches the soul and makes them feel like part of the community when you’re sitting out in the audience,” Bugli said. “When I got to perform, (people) were so gracious to me for coming out and doing it because they hadn’t had any entertainment with live musicians.”

While the pandemic subsequently halted all festival performances last year, Bugli pivoted to virtual performances, and said he is preparing to do that again if need be.

According to Bugli, he is working with A to Zen, a gift and thrift shop in Carson City, to organize live performances with a small audience while livestreaming the event to Facebook.

“It gives the musicians an opportunity to play in front of people who are applauding,” Bugli said.

Living the Good Life Nightclub, Bistro, and Lounge is a full-service dining, bar and music experience in Carson City. Owner Gina Rohrer said the establishment will begin doing outdoor live music starting in June running through September on Thursday and Friday nights.

“My music will go later on Saturdays (from 8:30 pm to 12:30 am), so if people are out on the town, they still have a place to go that has live music going on after the BAC is done with their evening,” Rohrer said.

Currently, the restaurant and bar is doing inside live music in the form of dinner shows on Wednesday and Saturdays. A weekly event calendar can be found on their website.

“There is a certain frequency that music has in its nature,” Rohrer said. “With everything that’s been going on and with people sequestered or told no touch, what music does is it touches people, without being touched.”

Since the start of indoor dinner shows, Rohrer said customers have reached out to her expressing their gratitude towards the live music being performed again at Living the Good Life.

“I know that the music is a way to touch people and people are really craving that,” Rohrer said. “Music draws people in from the inside, and that’s the part that really needs the healing is the flame that music starts in people. No matter what kind of music it is and for who.”

Outdoor concerts are also planned for this summer in Minden. Co-sponsored by the Town of Minden and the Carson Valley Inn, the Bently Nevada Family Summer Concert Series will be running five shows from May to August.

Presented by the Douglas County Parks & Recreation Department, shows will be performed on May 21, Jun. 18, Jul. 9, Aug. 6, and Aug. 27 from 6-8 pm in Minden Park. All shows are free of charge.

Learn more about the concert series here.