Montana’s live music scene thrives throughout the year. The advent of winter simply means that live entertainment moves from music festivals and outdoor patios to indoor music venues. Local musicians and traveling bands continue to perform here throughout all four seasons, providing a great entertainment option when temperatures drop and the daylight hours shorten. Montana boasts many excellent and notable entertainment venues, one in its first season and one marking its 101st birthday.
The Wachholz Center at Kalispell’s Flathead Valley Community College welcomed the Wailin’ Jennys for the inaugural performance in McClaren Hall on November 4, 2022. The newly opened event venue features both McClaren Hall, a 1,014-seat performance hall, and the Stinson Family Event Center, a dual court gymnasium and fitness center.
McClaren Hall has been thoughtfully designed to accommodate all types of live music concerts, as well as lectures, dance performances, and musical theater productions. This facility is the Flathead Valley’s first and only large indoor concert venue and will welcome a diverse lineup of live entertainment in its first season, including Clint Black, Mannheim Steamroller, and Branford Marsalis, as well as an excellent speaker series featuring David Sedaris and Anne Lamott.
In Missoula, the Wilma Theater remains both a sentinel of historic Missoula and the beating heart of the city’s thriving live music scene. This downtown concert venue is named for Edna Wilma, a star of the northwest vaudeville circuit in the early 1900s. Her husband, Billy Simons, built the Smead-Simons Building on the banks of the Clark Fork River, featuring a Louis XIV-style palace theater with a pipe organ and seating for over 1,000.
Photo courtesy of Logjam Presents
Today’s modernized music venue retains the gilded charm of the original while also offering an intimate, world-class concert experience. Some of Montana’s best live music happens here, giving concertgoers the opportunity to see everyone from up-and-coming bands to big names like Ben Folds, Lyle Lovett, and The Shins.
Bozeman is home to the Rialto, which first opened its doors in 1924. The Rialto has been renovated many times over the years, most recently reopening in 2018 with an outstanding new bar, three unique spaces for shows, and private rooms, making it a great place for events. The Rialto hosts rock, alternative, country, and folk musicians, both local and from afar.
Photo by Jason Chamberlain via Rialto Facebook Page
Metra Park is located in Billings, Montana, an entertainment and trade center housing events that range from sports to music and conventions to horse shows, with an arena, expo center, pavilion, and more. Upcoming concerts include big names like Kane Brown and REO Speedwagon.
Live music is alive and well throughout the entire year in Montana. From our local bars to downtown concert venues, talented local musicians and traveling bands will bring a wide variety of talent to our music venues, old and new, this winter. We hope you can join in the fun!
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