Shaw, a Hamilton native and a 2001 Hamilton High School graduate, has played at the concert series since its inception. He currently resides in New Orleans.
“David has always made a stop in Hamilton a priority. Whether it’s with The Revivalists, or his new solo project, or even years’ back, he’d come home the night before Thanksgiving and play shows at Ryan’s Tavern. David cares deeply about Hamilton. He’s proud to be from Hamilton and he always makes us a priority stop,” Helms said.
Shaw, a platinum-selling singer, songwriter, producer, and The Revivalists frontman has been busy gearing up for the release of his debut, self-titled solo album, which is set to release on Friday, May 7, from Yokoko Records/C3 Records. David Shaw was produced by four-time Grammy-winning producer Jack Splash and Shaw put his own house band of friends together for the project.
Other favorites on this year’s lineup will include Scotty Bratcher and Brandon “Taz” Niederauer on Friday, June 11. 90 Proof Twang will headline the concert on Friday, June 18, with special guest Jamie Suttle as part of the Whimmydiddle four-date concert series.
“You’ve got RiversEdge staples, fixtures like Scotty Bratcher and 90 Proof Twang. They’ve played here just about every year, if not every year since we started, and the reason we keep bringing them back is people keep showing up. They want to see them,” Helms said.
Tribute bands are also extremely popular on the concert series including That Arena Rock Show with special guests H & R Rock on Sunday, July 4, and Check Your Head, a Beastie Boys Tribute, with Joslyn & The Sweet Compression on Friday, July 9.
“We have two more tributes that we haven’t announced yet, but if you’re familiar with RiversEdge, you can probably figure out what the last show of the year is,” Helms said.
The Nielsen Trust featuring Rick Nielsen, guitarist for Cheap Trick, and special guests Nick Perri & The Underground Thieves will be at RiversEdge on Friday, June 4, and The Ghost of Paul Revere with The Commonheart on will perform on Friday, June 25.
“We are really excited about bringing The Nielson Trust and Nick Perri & The Underground Thieves to RiversEdge. They are doing a Midwest tour over a couple of weeks and we are the first or second stop on that tour,” Helms said.
Jared’s Jam will return on Saturday, Aug. 7, featuring North Mississippi All Stars with Cordovas. The Whalen Family has partnered with RiversEdge to bring Jared’s Jam back in 2021 and they plan to make it an annual event.
RiversEdge hosted the first Jared’s Jam on July 4, 2019. The concert featured Chris Robinson Brotherhood with special guest Dumpstaphunk and was organized by The Whalen Family in partnership with RiversEdge to honor their son, Jared Whalen, a Hamilton native.
“The Whalen Family wanted to do a memorial show for their son, who passed untimely, unexpectedly. It was a great event for a great guy. Jared was a big music fan,” Helms said, “It sounds like we are going to be working with them to do Jared’s Jam every year, which is a really cool event. A lot of folks in Hamilton knew Jared.”
Whalen, 44, passed away from heart failure in August of 2018. At the time of his passing, he was an executive chef at Coach House Tavern & Grille. Whalen was a 1993 graduate of Hamilton High School.
Celebrating 10 years of music this season, RiversEdge has 17 concerts planned this year. The concert performers have been announced one per day, over the past couple of weeks. There are still a handful of shows yet to be announced.
Concertgoers will want to note several changes and additions to the concert series this year. The RiversEdge Concert Series will begin earlier this year on Friday, May 21. Due to COVID-19, RiversEdge will continue with the social distancing, paid ticketed admission format that was rolled out last year. The series, primarily held on Thursday evenings, previously, will be spread over Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in 2021.
“We’ve added a couple new production elements. We reworked our lighting set up, so we’re going to have a really cool light show. Our production staff has been hard at work on that. Then, Fort Hamilton generously donated some money to help us pay for the cost of a HD, high-definition video wall, so we’re going to have that, and it will give us an opportunity to supplement our light show and run some cool graphics. It will also provide more exposure for our sponsors up there,” Helms said.
How to go
What: RiversEdge 2021 Concert Series
When: For Friday and Saturday concerts, doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and the music will begin at 7:30 p.m. For Thursday and Sunday concerts, doors will open at 6 p.m. and the concert will begin at 7 p.m.
Where: RiversEdge Amphitheater at Marcum Park, 116 Dayton Street, downtown Hamilton
Admission: Ticket prices vary. All attendees must have a ticket for entry. Visit www.riversedgelive.com for more information on paid admission/a reduced capacity seating layout.
More info. www.riversedgelive.com and www.facebook.com/HamiltonRiversEdge. Tickets for Whimmydiddle can be purchased at www.whimmydiddle.com.
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