Two major outdoor concerts are coming, Boise. One act sold 100M albums. The other ‘vibes’
It’s already shaping up to be an epic spring and summer at Outlaw Field in Boise.
With more concerts still to be revealed, two additional shows have been plugged into the schedule at the Idaho Botanical Garden’s outdoor venue.
Classic-rock band Chicago, which sold out Outlaw Field in 2023, will return for a performance Wednesday, Aug. 27.
And melodic-groove trio Khruangbin — also making a return to the grassy venue — will perform Thursday, May 29.
The shows join previously announced concerts by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (May 17), Lord Huron (May 23) and Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas (July 23).
‘Rock with horns’
The self-described “rock and roll band with horns,” Chicago is one of the biggest musical acts ever. Hugely popular in the 1970s and 1980s, the group has sold more than 100 million albums. Some of the band’s most memorable hits include “25 or 6 to 4,” “Colour My World” and “Saturday in the Park.”
Tickets to the concert become available to the general public for $75 beginning at 10 a.m. Friday at Ticketmaster. Members of the Idaho Botanical Garden will pay $70 during a presale starting at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
When a band has been around since 1967, fans don’t necessarily expect many original members. Chicago contains three — most notably, keyboardist-singer Robert Lamm, who wrote some of the group’s most memorable hits. Trumpeter Lee Loughnane and trombone player James Pankow also are in the lineup.
‘Mood music’
Khruangbin is the type of indie-leaning group adored by fans of Boise’s Treefort Music Fest.
But, at this point in its career, the Houston trio probably is too big to play Treefort. Nominated for a Grammy Award last year for Best New Artist, Khruangbin (pronounced “krungbin”) has been around for more than a decade. In recent years, the quirky group has defied odds by gaining popularity primarily with instrumental jams.
“How Khruangbin’s Sound Became the New Mood Music” is the title of a New York Times Magazine profile last year, which claims the band has “become so popular that there now exists an entire subgenre of music broadly known as ‘Khruangbin vibes.’
“If you have walked into a relatively hip coffee shop in a major or even minor city lately, you have probably encountered Khruangbin vibes,” the profile explains. So true. Outlaw Field will be filled with blissful, eyes-closed dancing as the group unleashes “low-key, reverb-heavy, often guitar-forward instrumentals — music that’s groovy and pleasant,” as the Times wrote, “bewitchingly exotic yet comfortingly familiar, inoffensive and instantly graspable as existing within a particular sonic space. A vibe, as it were.”
Tickets to the show become available to the general public for $59.50 beginning at 10 a.m. Friday at Ticketmaster. Garden members will pay $54.50 during a presale starting at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
John Carroll Kirby will be the opening act.
This story was originally published January 13, 2025 at 10:00 AM.