Cape Cod Melody Tent Brings on a Summer of Song & Laughter

By: iO Staff, June 4, 2012

Kii Arens - Ziggy Marley makes a stop in Hyannis on his Wild & Free Tour on June 30.

The 2012 Summer Concert Series at the Cape Cod Melody Tent features a diverse lineup of acts this summer, its 62nd season of bringing nationally touring musical and comedy acts to the intimate theater-in-the-round stage in Hyannis.

Perennial favorites Lyle Lovett, Willie Nelson & Family and the Steve Miller Band will perform their classics, along with newer contributions from Ziggy Marley, The Counting Crows and Cape Cod’s own American Idol contestant Siobhan Magnus.

Kicking off the summer season with the WCOD Chowder Fest on June 10, some Melody Tent shows are already sold out, including Bonnie Raitt and Mavis Staples’s performance scheduled for June 24 and Darius Rucker’s double-header on August 30 and 31. Other high-demand shows include Diana Krall with Denzal Sinclaire on June 29, Seal with Macy Gray on July 14 and k.d. lang & the sis boom band with Lera Lynn on August 19.

• Music fans young and old can take a walk down a musical memory lane this summer, with concerts from The Guess Who on June 28, War & The Family Stone on July 22, The Temptations & The Four Tops on August 5 and Creedence Clearwater Revisited on August 18.
• Other bands pay tribute to the oldies-but-goodies, with The Fab Four impersonating The Beatles on July 20 and Get the Led Out covering Led Zeppelin on July 28.
• Rock and blues fans will get their fill at the August 9 Rock’n’Blues Fest, featuring the Johnny Winter Band, the Edgar Winter Group, Rick Derringer, Mountain’s Leslie West and Savoy’s Kim Simmonds.
• Fans of country music will delight in Trace Adkins’s return to the Melody Tent on his “Songs & Stories Tour” on July 6, followed up by Bret Michaels on July 12, Colbie Caillat and Gavin DeGraw on July 26, John Hiatt and The Combo, joined by Steve Earle on August 17 and Martina McBride on August 25.

Some of the artists making their first-ever appearances at The Melody Tent this season include the 10-piece a cappella group Straight No Chaser on July 29, an evening with The Celtic Tenors and Ronan Tynan on August 12, singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile on August 3, Nickelodeon’s “Victorious” star Victoria Justice on August 13.

Those looking for a laugh need not turn on Comedy Central. Standup comedy from John Pinette, Joan Rivers, Jim Gaffigan, Dennis Miller, Seth Myers, Bill Maher, Wanda Sykes and Gabriel Iglesias will have audiences rolling in the aisles all summer long.

The Melody Tent also offers several family-friendly performances on Wednesday mornings, with The Frog Prince on July 11, Cinderella on July 18, Sleeping Beauty on July 25, Snow White on August 8, The Wiggles on August 15 and a grand finale with the Chinese Golden Dragon Acrobats on August 22.