MSU rewrites local music history by scheduling two summer outdoor concerts, including Imagine Dragons

When the Grammy-winning band Imagine Dragons plays in Montana State University’s Bobcat Stadium on July 26, the uber-popular act will be making history in a couple of ways. Not only is it the first time that the Las Vegas group has played Bozeman, but it is also the first time in a generation that an MSU venue has hosted a non-student outdoor concert, according to Duane Morris, MSU’s director of event services.


Imagine Dragons is one of two outdoor concerts that MSU has scheduled this summer. MSU is partnering with area organizers to bring the inaugural Wildlands Festival featuring Robert Earl Keen and Lukas Nelson and his band Promise of the Real to the Romney Oval on Aug. 10. It is the first concert in the history of the university to be held in the oval, Morris said. Concert goers are encouraged to bring blankets and low-rise chairs to the festival, which is a fundraiser for Montana’s wild and open spaces.

“We are so excited about this summer,” Morris said. “(Outdoor concerts are) something we have wanted to do for a while, and we’ve worked hard to bring two quality concerts to Bozeman.”
 
The last outdoor concert held at MSU was in the summer of 1980 featuring Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Live Wire Choir and John Colter Band with Willow, Morris said. Plenty of big name acts have performed at Montana State University in the last 38 years – Elton John, Tom Petty and Brad Paisley, just to mention a few – but all performed in the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. And while the stadium has hosted epic football games, movies and events and has undergone several expansions over those years, concerts have been absent until this summer.

Morris said there are a couple of contributing factors for the expanse of time between concerts. He explained that the Bozeman climate creates a fairly short window for an outdoor concert. An act that appeals to the local demographic and will be touring in the vicinity during that window that wants to perform outdoors is also necessary, he said. Morris thinks Imagine Dragons checks all the boxes.

“Imagine Dragons is a family show that appeals to people from 6 years old to more than 60 years old,” Morris said. “It’s music that crosses every demographic.”
 
The stadium in a concert configuration holds about 20,000, he said, and nearly all of the tickets already sold. Morris said MSU’s proven track record for filling Brick Breeden Fieldhouse for big acts also helped in attracting the band, which is known for such songs as “Believer” and the Grammy-winning single “Radioactive.” Fourteen-year-old Grace Vanderwaal, who won the 11th season of “America’s Got Talent” will open the concert.

A pre-concert event for ticket holders featuring the popular Livingston band “Little Jane and the Pistol Whips” will be held on the plaza east of Bobcat Stadium near Gate 8 beginning at 3:30 p.m. Food, drink and merchandise will be available for purchase.
 
For more information about the Imagine Dragons event, including when doors open, parking and other details go to: http://brickbreeden.com/events/imagine_dragons/.
 
Morris said the Wildlands Festival organizers, who include Big Sky’s Outlaw Partners as well as a number of local businesses and the Gallatin Valley Land Trust, the Montana Land Reliance and Yellowstone Forever, approached MSU about a more informal outdoor concert benefitting open spaces in the area.

“We’d been talking about how we’d like to see Romney Oval more utilized because it’s such a great space, when the Wildland Festival people approached us,” Morris said.
 
Both Keen and Nelson, son of the legend Willie Nelson but fast becoming a star in his own right, are singers and songwriters known for writing and performing music best described as Americana, which Morris said will be a good fit for an informal festival. Nelson’s band Promise of the Real has backed another iconic singer, Neil Young, since 2015. In addition to performing with his father and brother, Micah, Nelson co-produced the music for upcoming remake of “A Star is Born” film writing songs with Lady Gaga, who stars in the movie. Nelson and his band also appear in the film, which will be released in October, as co-star Bradley Cooper's band.

"The team at Outlaw Partners is excited about this opportunity to partner with Montana State University on the inaugural Wildlands Festival,” said EJ Daws of the Outlaw Partners. “The intimate outdoor venue of Romney Oval will be an outstanding place to spend a Montana summer evening, enjoying live music from two iconic artists and celebrating community and the amazing places that make Montana special and inviting."

Morris said local food trucks will be parked at the venue and beer and wine will be sold.
 
“We think it will be just a great way to spend a Bozeman Friday summer evening with dollars going to support local wildlands,” he said.
 
To learn more about the Wildlands festival, including ticket prices, go to http://www.wildlandsfestival.com/.