Friends of the Waterfront will present its free 2026 Waterfront Concert Series at the King Park gazebo this summer, opening Friday, June 26, with the James Montgomery Band.
The series runs on select Fridays and Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. through early September at the park, 125 Wellington Ave. All performances are free and open to the public.
The lineup opens with blues musician James Montgomery, the longtime frontman and harmonica player of the James Montgomery Band, who formed the group in 1970 and built a reputation as one of the hottest acts on the New England music scene. The Zajac Brothers Band follows on Saturday, July 11, featuring songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tyler Zajac and his brother, drummer Matthew Zajac, in a “modern vintage” sound that blends original music with reworked classics.
On Friday, Aug. 7, St. Croix native Becky Bass brings her Caribbean soul steel-pan music to the gazebo, with Rhode Island native and Olympic medalist Elizabeth Beisel opening. Beisel, a violinist and multi-instrumentalist, has performed on the main stage at the Newport Folk Festival and as a guest soloist with the Rhode Island Philharmonic.
The series continues Friday, Aug. 21, with Zach Nugent’s Dead Set, a Grateful Dead tribute band led by the Vermont-based guitarist and vocalist known for his Jerry Garcia-style improvisation. The season closes Saturday, Sept. 5, with Kevin Doyle’s Roscommon Soles, a dance-driven Irish ensemble led by National Heritage Fellow Kevin Doyle and featuring fiddler Sheila Falls, other traditional musicians and step dancers from the Kelly School of Irish Dance.
More information is available at newportwaterfront.org.
