Summer nights: Onstage Ogden expands outdoor performance options with summer concert series schedule
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- Audiences listen to performances during Onstage Ogden’s Summer Concert Series at the Ogden Amphitheater in Ogden in 2025.
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- Audiences listen to performances during Onstage Ogden’s Summer Concert Series at the Ogden Amphitheater in Ogden in 2025.
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- Audiences listen to performances during Onstage Ogden’s Summer Concert Series at the Ogden Amphitheater in Ogden in 2025.
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- Audiences listen to performances during Onstage Ogden’s Summer Concert Series at the Ogden Amphitheater in Ogden in 2025.
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- Audiences listen to performances during Onstage Ogden’s Summer Concert Series at the Ogden Amphitheater in Ogden in 2025.
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- Audiences listen to performances during Onstage Ogden’s Summer Concert Series at the Ogden Amphitheater in Ogden in 2025.
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- Audiences listen to performances during Onstage Ogden’s Summer Concert Series at the Ogden Amphitheater in Ogden in 2025.
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- Audiences listen to performances during Onstage Ogden’s Summer Concert Series at the Ogden Amphitheater in Ogden in 2025.
Warm weather reminds us that summer isn’t too far away and with it all of the fun activities and events. One way to spend an enjoyable summer evening is outside under open sky, joining friends and family to listen to some amazing music.
There are always concert options but Northern Utah residents will have some additional choices this summer, thanks to Onstage Ogden.
The arts organization is going to have four shows at the Ogden Amphitheater from June through August, featuring the Blind Boys of Alabama, Los Texmaniacs with Making Movies, Steep Canyon Rangers with Della Mae, and Marc Cohn & Shawn Colvin.
Onstage Ogden executive director James Fredrick explained that they continue to increase the number of shows to provide more entertainment options in the area.
“We’ve kind of prototyped this over the last couple of summers, trying to see what it would look like for us to get more going on in the amphitheater,” Fredrick said in a phone interview earlier this week. “Last year, we had three. The year before that, we had two. We think we’re going to be sitting at like four or five concerts every summer. We’ve got four this summer.
“Traditionally organizations like ours kind of operate September through May, but we’ve got this awesome resource downtown in the Ogden Amphitheater and we think programmatically there’s a little room for what we’re trying to do in terms of the types of bands and the diversity of what we’re trying to offer.”
Onstage Ogden has gone through the learning curve of coming to understand what it takes to put on outdoor events, and now feels like it is ready to add more.
“It was kind of learning how to work in that space, learning how to work with the folks at Ogden City who run the amphitheater, learning how to work with the vendors in there, getting all these new skills that we didn’t necessarily have as an indoor operator,” Fredrick said. “It’s been about learning who the food trucks are and getting a quality bar operation. There’s some of that just practical learning.”
He also said they wanted to see what resonated with audiences as well.
“We’re not there to bring the biggest names,” Fredrick said. “The last couple of years we’ve been trying to get audiences to trust the things that we were going to offer there, and then trying to expand on that trust. We want to capitalize on that trust this summer with a broader range of performances, but things that still feel like it’s something like that Onstage Ogden would bring.”
The goal for the events is to have a relaxed atmosphere where hundreds of people can enjoy the performances.
“Generally what we’re going to be doing is blankets and chairs, a chill experience,” Fredrick said. “We’re having between 500 and 1,500 people at a concert and we look to have that outdoorsy camp chair, blanket, summer evening vibe.”
There are, however, the inevitable challenges of holding outdoor events that they’ll have to deal with.
“You kind of have to be able to literally navigate the storm in some sense,” Fredrick said. “Last year we did have one where the concert was supposed to start at at 8 p.m. and a thunderstorm rolled through at 7:40 p.m. We had to evacuate the amphitheater for 30 minutes. We got folks back in time to start at 8:30 p.m. and we just ran the show 30 minutes longer. It’s just outdoors, so you have a couple more of these variables we got to be ready for.”
Onstage Ogden believes that the musicians and performances will each bring unique elements to the summer shows, so they look forward to having audience members show up to enjoy the ones that resonate most with them.
“Each show has a different entry point,” Fredrick said. “If you love bluegrass, we’ve got bluegrass. If you like Texas border music, Southern soul, or 90s pop, each one of them has a little bit their own style.
“But in general, we want people to have a pleasant summer evening in downtown Ogden with some really high quality entertainment that’s broadly appealing for a lot of people in our community. It’s a low pressure night. You’re not going to be standing in long lines, not going to be worrying about parking as much with not as big of an audience downtown, but it’s high quality entertainment. It’s certainly an all ages experience, and just a fun way to experience downtown Ogden in the summer.”
For more information on the Summer Concert Series and to purchase tickets, go to onstageogden.org or call 801-399-9214. Tickets start at $36.
