If you’ve ever dreamed of escaping the endless grind and spending a summer in a tiny New England seaport town, this one’s for you. The Muse, a 375-capacity dive bar on Nantucket Island, is hosting a series of concerts with big-name bands all summer. We’re talking bands that are used to playing way bigger venues. But the temptation of a coastal New England summer is hard to resist.
Hayden Arnot put the concert series together as a passion project inspired by his love of the island. Arnot spent childhood summers on Nantucket, and in 2022, founded the potato chip company Nantucket Crisps. His company is sponsoring The Muse Summer Series.
“It’s bringing in awesome musicians and giving them the experience of why I think Nantucket is lovely, so hopefully they love it too, and then also bringing the island together over great music,” Arnot told Billboard. He said that comments on the lineup announcement have ranged from disbelief to queries about finding a summer job on Nantucket.
Nantucket Summer Concert Series Bringing Fountains of Wayne, Dashboard Confessional, and More To Tiny Island
The lineup was posted on social media back in May. For the first concert on June 6, The Bends traveled across the Nantucket Sound. Marcus King Band, Spin Doctors, Everclear, New Found Glory, and Jimmy Eat World have already played The Muse as well.
The next show is on June 26, bringing Jesse McCartney to the island. Other acts include The Maine, Sugar Ray, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Natasha Bedingfield, Fountains of Wayne, Mt. Joy, The Band Camino, Yellowcard, Dashboard Confessional, The Fray, and Better Than Ezra. And that’s not even the full lineup. The shows are scheduled through the long, hot summer, concluding on September 5.
So how were all these artists convinced to travel to a tiny island to play an even tinier venue? A lot of it came down to Hayden Arnot’s sales pitch. Which is mostly just his passion for Nantucket.
“Hayden’s really hospitable and makes it fun for the band,” Mt. Joy’s manager, Jack Gallagher, said via Billboard. “A lot of times agents and managers might be skeptical of an underplay, but knowing him makes it [a] more compelling thing to do.”
The intimacy of playing for a small community means that there’s a personal touch to the whole experience. Arnot typically picks up the bands and their teams when they arrive at port. He then takes them on a tour of historic Nantucket, sharing his love for the island.
“Bringing these artists out to Nantucket is my opportunity to give them something back,” Arnot explained. “We can give them three days in a special place they’ve never been before.”
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