Spring is doing its inevitable Vermont thing this weekend — ski resorts throwing their biggest parties while theaters and concert halls fill up with everything from Québécois trad to Cuban jazz. Whether you want to end ski season with a bang or catch a show somewhere you’ve never been before, there’s plenty to pull you out of the house.
Friday, April 10
The Machine Performs Pink Floyd | Paramount Theatre, Rutland | 7 PM
New York’s premier Pink Floyd tribute band brings their elaborate show to the Paramount, and if you’ve never seen The Machine, prepare to be impressed. The four-piece has been doing this for over three decades — not as a nostalgia act, but as genuine musicians who know the 16-album Pink Floyd catalog cold. Expect elaborate lighting, deep cuts alongside the classics, and a theatrical production that fills a big room. Tickets run $30–$45. paramountvt.org
10th Annual Solo Piano Jazz Festival (Opening Night) | Vermont Jazz Center, Brattleboro | 7:30 PM
Ten years in, the Vermont Jazz Center’s Solo Piano Festival has become one of the most distinctive events on the New England jazz calendar. This isn’t just a concert — it’s an exploration of the “practical and spiritual aspects of jazz and improvised music,” featuring headliners and emerging pianists sharing the instrument they love. Tonight’s opening concert kicks off a two-day celebration. Available both in-person and via livestream. vtjazz.org
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Community Coffeehouse Concert Series: Dana Robinson | St. Andrew’s Church, St. Johnsbury | 7 PM
Catamount Arts and St. Andrew’s Church team up for this intimate acoustic series, and this week’s headliner is Dana Robinson, whose new album The Sound of the Word merges contemporary songwriting with Southern old-time music — six years in the making and well worth your time. Bob Amos hosts, with Jessica Simpson opening the evening. Candlelit tables, dinner and dessert available for purchase, and a suggested donation of $10–$15 at the door. It’s exactly what a coffeehouse show should feel like. catamountarts.org
Songs to Fill the Air feat. Dobbs’ Dead | Lawson’s Finest Taproom, Waitsfield | 6–8 PM
The monthly music series at Lawson’s has been quietly building one of the better listening room vibes in the Mad River Valley, and this week they’re breaking out the Grateful Dead catalog courtesy of Dobbs’ Dead. It’s a Grateful Dead night at a world-class craft beer taproom — hard to argue with that. lawsonsfinest.com
Wild Goose Players: Cabaret | Bellows Falls Opera House, Bellows Falls | 7:30 PM
The Wild Goose Players’ run of Cabaret continues this weekend at the historic Bellows Falls Opera House, and it’s a production worth the drive. The Kander and Ebb classic — with its seamlessly woven story of 1920s Berlin nightlife against the backdrop of rising fascism — is a musical that earns its weight. Directed by Hallie Flower, this production is not for the faint of heart (adult content throughout), but it’s the kind of live theater that reminds you why community productions matter. Tickets $18–$78. Shows Friday, Saturday (matinee and evening), and Sunday. wildgooseplayers.com
Art Gallery Reception: A Critical Balance | North Branch Nature Center, Montpelier | 5–7 PM
Artists from Vermont and New Hampshire who collaborated with Biodiversity Research Institute open their exhibition tonight, featuring life-size portraits of endangered birds from Kenya’s Amboseli Park. An artist meet-and-greet, and a reminder that conservation work takes many forms. montpelieralive.com
Saturday, April 11
Sugarbush Spring Fling: Andy Frasco & the U.N. | Lincoln Peak Courtyard, Warren | 12:30 PM (FREE)
Sugarbush’s fifth annual Spring Fling is exactly the kind of event that makes Vermont ski culture feel special — a free outdoor concert at the base of the mountain, with The Grift opening at 12:30 PM and Andy Frasco & the U.N. taking the stage at 2:30 PM. Frasco tours something like 250 days a year and puts on the kind of high-energy, crowd-interactive show that turns strangers into friends by the third song. Bring a food donation for the Mad River Valley Food Pantry while you’re at it. sugarbush.com
Gather Outdoors | Stratton Mountain, Stratton | All Day (18+)
Stratton’s Gather Outdoors festival returns for another season-ending run, and this year’s lineup punches hard: The Disco Biscuits, STS9, and CamelPhat are among the headliners across two stages running from mid-afternoon into the night. It’s house, bass, jam, and everything in between — a two-day event (Saturday and Sunday) designed as a farewell to ski season. Single-day GA tickets available. gatheroutdoors.com
Ryan Miller of Guster + Dave Keller | Burke Mountain Hotel, East Burke | 2–4:30 PM
Burke Mountain’s closing weekend gets a proper sendoff courtesy of Catamount Arts. Dave Keller opens on the hotel patio from 2–3:15 PM, followed by Ryan Miller — the lead singer and co-founder of Guster — performing from 3:30–4:30 PM. The après-ski continues at the Bear Den with DJ Fizex afterward. If you haven’t skied Burke this season, make this your last-hurrah day on the hill. catamountarts.org
Chandler Mud Season Variety Show | Chandler Center for the Arts, Randolph | 6 PM
More than 50 acts and over 100 performers take the Chandler stage for the annual Mud Season Variety Show — music, dance, stand-up comedy, original works, the Chandler Players, the Chandler Children’s Chorale, the Randolph Ukulele Players, and contemporary dance groups. It’s a celebration of everything that makes a small Vermont arts community worth having, and tickets go fast. chandler-arts.org
É.T.É and Keith Murphy & Yann Falquet | Next Stage Arts, Putney | 7:30 PM
This is a genuinely special double bill. É.T.É — a Québécois trio of violin, bouzouki, and cello — pull jazz, progressive rock, and classical music into their traditional roots repertoire with striking results. Keith Murphy and Yann Falquet then close the night as two of the most respected voices in contemporary Celtic guitar; Falquet comes from Genticorum, Murphy from Nightingale, and together they span Newfoundland, Québec, and Vermont traditions. Tickets $22 advance, $26 door, $10 livestream. Doors at 6:45 PM. nextstagearts.org
House of Jazz: Los Songoros | Town Hall Theater, Middlebury | 7:30 PM
The Town Hall Theater’s House of Jazz series brings Los Songoros to Middlebury for a night of Cuban and Brazilian music rooted in tradition and contemporary expression. The ensemble has studied deeply with Cuban artists and performs with the authority that comes from that kind of mentorship. An unexpected Saturday night treat in a beautiful space. townhalltheater.org
Fishermen’s Breakfast & Sugar-on-Snow Supper | Orleans | Morning & Evening
The Northeast Kingdom does two things on Saturday. The Orleans Rod and Gun Club hosts their all-you-can-eat Fishermen’s Breakfast from 7:30–10:30 AM at the Orleans Municipal Building ($10/person). Then, come evening, the Orleans Federated Church puts on a traditional Sugar-on-Snow Supper with ham, beans, and the full maple-and-doughnuts-and-pickles treatment — 5 PM and 6 PM seatings at $18 adults/$12 children. This is genuine Kingdom culture, the kind of thing that’s been happening in these communities for generations. bartonchronicle.com
Sunday, April 12
An Evening of Alton Brown | Paramount Theatre, Rutland | 7 PM
Alton Brown — creator of Good Eats, host of Iron Chef America, and America’s most reliably entertaining food personality — brings his live show to Rutland’s Paramount for an evening that’s equal parts science demonstration, comedy, and culinary storytelling. Brown has toured this kind of show to 300+ cities and keeps it fresh with “twists on his greatest hits” and new material each year. VIP tickets include a signed book and pre-show experience. Tickets $65–$95. paramountvt.org
Women of Americana | Spruce Peak Arts, Stowe | 7 PM
Cristina Vane and Brennen Leigh take the Spruce Peak stage for a celebration of American folk, gospel, and Western swing — from Bob Dylan to Bonnie Raitt and beyond. Both are formidable instrumentalists and vocalists, and the combination of their backgrounds makes for a genuinely exploratory evening rather than a simple greatest-hits run. sprucepeakarts.org
Mad River Triathlon | Waitsfield/Warren | All Day
The Mad River Triathlon is one of Vermont’s most Vermont things — a four-sport fundraising event that sends competitors through a 6-mile run, 6-mile paddle down the Mad River (Class I and occasional Class II rapids), a 10-mile bike leg, and a ski tour up and down Mount Ellen. You can enter as an individual, relay team, or for individual legs. It benefits the Friends of the Mad River, Mad River Path, Mad River Riders, and Mad River Valley Backcountry Coalition. (Note: online registration closes Friday, April 10.) madrivertriathlon.org
Vermont Fiddle Orchestra Spring Concert | Chandler Center for the Arts, Randolph | 4 PM
The Vermont Fiddle Orchestra returns to Chandler for their spring concert — a multigenerational ensemble rooted in the Vermont fiddle tradition. This is not a nostalgia show; these are working musicians who play with real energy and love what they do. If you’ve never caught the VFO, this is a great entry point. chandler-arts.org
Sunday Sessions: Phineas Gage | Lawson’s Finest Taproom, Waitsfield | 3–5 PM
Rob and Erica return to Lawson’s for an afternoon of harmonies and string instruments — a gentle, unhurried close to the weekend. Pair it with a Sip of Sunshine and you’ve got Sunday handled. lawsonsfinest.com
Swing into Spring | Le Belvedere, Newport | 4–6:30 PM
The Northeast Kingdom wraps the weekend with a musical fundraiser at Le Belvedere on Main Street in Newport, benefiting the Vermont Symphony Orchestra’s Musicians in Schools program. Live music, a good cause, and a beautiful setting on the water. discovernewportvt.com
Spring in Vermont means one thing: you can ski in the morning and go to a jazz show at night. Don’t waste the weekend.
Dave Soulia | FYIVT
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