MONTICELLO — Expect bands from near and far when the Allerton Park & Retreat Center’s 2024 Concert Series presented by Cim-Tek Filtration kicks off in June. The musical menu will include talented musicians ranging from Monticello’s own Billy Galt & the Blues Deacons on July 5 to New York-based pop rock band Homeschool on June 14 and east coast Americana and electric-folk band Hudost to end this year’s series of outdoor concerts on Sept. 13.
As always, variety will be a common theme, according to Allerton Senior Program Coordinator Olivia Bunting.
“We have some fun local and regional bands coming to the park along with a variety of genres. While we’ll have our staple blues and Irish concerts, we also have emilytheband, a local indie alt-pop band, and Homeschool, a New York based pop rock band. Ending the series this year will be some fun and funky folk music,” Bunting said.
The music kicks off at 6 p.m. each evening on the Gatehouse Lawn. Food trucks will be on hand (those attending can also bring their own food but no outside alcohol is permitted) and cash bars will be available. There is a fee of $5/person, $10/family per concert, payable upon arrival. Attendees should bring lawn chairs or blankets.
There will also be some events within some of the concerts to provide a festival-style atmosphere.
“We will continue to have vendor markets at LOVE FOR ALLerton to showcase LGBTQ artists and makers during Pride Month, as well as at the Summer’s End concert which is open to all makers and artists,” Bunting said.
“We are still planning some additional fun things coming to the summer concerts, so stay tuned!”
Concerts in 2024 will include:
— June 14: LOVE FOR ALLerton with emilytheband and Homeschool
— July 5: Reds, Whites & the Blues with Billy Galt & The Blues Deacons and James Armstrong
— August 2: Irish Fest with Turas and On The Lash
— September 13: Summer’s End with Miles over Mountains and HuDost
Allerton began its concert series in 2013, and it is presented this year by Cim-Tek Filtration, with additional support from Herbold Family Trust, Kirby Medical Center, The Whip, WILL/Illinois Public Media, Smile Politely, AHW Inc. and Kelly’s Accounting. Additional sponsors are needed to help with this community event. Please contact Bridget Frerichs at bridgetf@illinois.edu for information.
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LOVE FOR ALLerton (June 14) will include a celebration of Pride Month. Kicking the concert series off will be emilytheband, a three-piece queer girl group from Peoria that has belted out pop anthems since 2021. The trio released its debut album, “the heartbreak album” in 2022. Opening night will continue with Homeschool, a pop rock group which adopted an interdisciplinary approach with the release of a printed book of poems, paintings and photography to accompany it’s 4-song musical release.
Reds, Whites & the Blues (July 5) will feature the return of Billy Galt & The Blues Deacons, longtime blues favorites in downstate Illinois since 1990; and longtime blues artist James Armstrong, who grew up in a musical family in Los Angeles and now lives in Springfield. His most recent release is “Blues Been Good to Me” on CatFood Records.
Irish Fest (Aug. 2) will start out with Turas, a traditional Irish band that has performed pub favorites between Chicago and St. Louis for the past 10 years. Also on the slate that evening will be On the Lash, a Pennsylvania group that performs new takes on classic songs and original constructions of established standards with the goal of exploring the inherent energy and versatility of the genre.
Summer’s End (Sept. 13) wraps up the 2024 concert series with Miles Over Mountains of McHenry, which plays a modernized style of progressive bluegrass covering a wide spectrum of genres, dynamics and feeling. Wrapping things up will be HuDost, an electric-folk, Americana, global-groove ensemble touring internationally whose albums have registered on Billboard’s Folk Charts, including a top 10 appearance in the United States and a top 5 on the Canadian charts.
