Attack of the Tribute Bands in Hamilton – 2022

The Summer Concert Series at Hamilton's Sapphire Lutheran Homes will bring to town four "tribute" bands who specialize in celebrating past music greats. The free concerts will again be on the Large Lawn at 501 North 10th Street for four weeks in a row.

The line-up starts Friday, June 17, with former members of one of Montana's favorite groups, the Bop-A-Dips. The new group is "Ronnie Riptide and the Riptones," featuring tropical beach music, including the usual guitars and drums, along with a brass section.

The very next Friday, June 24, it's "Garth Live," a cover band out of Arizona featuring a guy who looks and sounds like Garth Brooks. He'll be singing Garth's songs, with his background band. And Hamilton is the only Montana stop on the group's tour this summer.

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Piano music will be featured on the July 1st concert, as the music of Elton John and Billy Joel is featured with "The Elton vs Billy Show," coming from Seattle. The singers will include the audience throughout the performance as they try to top each other with their songs.

In 2019, the music of the Beatles brought the crowd to its feet, and on July 8 some members of that group are returning with "British Export," again featuring the Fab Four tunes.

Community Life director of Sapphire Lutheran Homes Dominic Farrenkopf said that the concerts are free, and so is the ice cream at intermission. But added this year, there will be food trucks, along with fresh-squeezed lemonade and bags of popcorn for sale.

Each show will start at 7 p.m., with plenty of parking in the neighborhood. Bring a lawn chair or a blanket and enjoy the Bitterroot Valley sunset as the music fills the lawn.