Hey, speaking of awesome music to be heard out of doors, we’ve made a slight format change to this year’s Sounds Like Summer Concert Series down in Phoenix Park – 20 more minutes of music (for the same low, low price of zero dollars). These informal, “pre-show” sets, will start at 6pm sharp and feature solo and duo singer-songwriters as well as acoustic, stripped-down versions of full bands. Since audience members have been hunkering down earlier and earlier anyhow, the pre-show serves to entertain the early birds as well as showcase a somewhat different strain of music. Once you add in the pre-shows, this summer’s series is set to feature 39 different local bands. And we wish we had room to book more, because there’s still a waiting list of talented mucisians.

Again, the concerts are in Phoenix Park in downtown Eau Claire, every Thursday starting June 3. Pre-show sets at 6pm, concerts at 6:30pm. Full schedule and details here.