Why are 36 world-famous bands playing on Nantucket this summer?

Most tour routes don’t take artists 30 miles offshore, but about 40 acts, including Sugar Ray, Natasha Bedingfield, Mount Joy, Dispatch, Yellow Card and The Fray, are making such trips by ferry to Nantucket this summer.

Massachusetts Island, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Cape Cod, is a major summer destination, and its population swells by the tens of thousands during the “season.” But this world-renowned talent won’t perform at an amphitheater or a large venue, but at The Muse, a dive bar that has been on Nantucket since the 1960s and can seat just 375 people.

“People say, ‘This is so good, I can’t even believe it’s real,'” says Hayden Arnott, organizer of the Muse Summer Series. “When I read the comments on Instagram announcing the lineup, I’m like, ‘What, do I need to move to Nantucket?’ or ‘Is it too late to get a restaurant job on Nantucket this summer?'”

For Arnott, who grew up going to Nantucket with his family every summer and founded the potato chip company Nantucket Crisps in 2022, the concert series is a passion project born from a love of music and the island itself. “I bring in great musicians to help them experience why I love Nantucket, and I hope they love Nantucket, too, and bring the island together with great music.”

Getting a band used to playing major venues like Red Rocks and Madison Square Garden (as Mount Joy and Will this summer and fall) takes skill. Arnott is charismatic, passionate, and has an obvious passion for Nantucket, using the island’s beauty to attract artists. “Hayden is really kind and makes the band have fun,” says Mount Joy’s manager Jack Gallagher. “A lot of times agents and managers might be skeptical about underplaying, but by knowing him they can make a more convincing move.”

“Bringing these artists to Nantucket is an opportunity to give something back to them,” Arnott says of the artists who have given him and millions of great songs and memories. “You get to spend three days in a special place you’ve never been to before.”

Arnott often personally picks up the band and its crew from the ferry terminal, drives them to scenic spots on the island, and takes them out for delicious meals. Some of these relationships have gone so deep that artists have created custom potato chips for Nantucket Potato Chips (check out All Time Lowe’s Bay Spice). And while Arnott’s Chips is “exporting Nantucket to the world, I’m now importing music to Nantucket.”

The project began in earnest when Arnott used his connections to invite Noah Kahan to perform on the island in 2022. Artists such as Stephen Marley and Graham Nash followed, and in 2025 he [a] He chose the spot not only because he knew owner Mike O’Reilly, but also because he knew that O’Reilly himself had played shows at The Muse in the early 2000s, when up-and-coming and established artists like John Mayer, Hootie & the Blowfish, Gaster, Train, Dave Matthews Band, and Dispatch all performed at the bar.

“When I came to The Muse, there wasn’t a lot of original music being played on the island,” says O’Reilly, who has owned and operated The Muse since 1993. “I started introducing some new, unheard-of artists, and the shows started getting bigger and bigger, because everyone here was hungry for new entertainment and music.”

But as production costs rose, “we started losing shirts,” O’Reilly says. Over time, entertainment at The Muse, which opened as a roller rink in the 1960s and became a bar in the ’80s and was named The Muse, began to shift to DJ sets and then private parties.

“At that time, I missed entertainment and music and was always looking for something new,” O’Reilly says. “Then I ran into Hayden and he said, ‘Let’s do this,’ and I said, ‘Let’s go.’

The team installed a new sound system and began booking and promoting the series, but Arnott admits that “financially it doesn’t make sense yet.” Arnott also “lost” [his] Arnott raised more than $1 million this year during the 2025 season from “Island’s wealthy people who believe in the arts” and brands such as Campari and clothing brands Vineyard Vines and Tuckernuck. “The biggest thing is to make them feel like underwriters of the founders and people who will be part of this mission for years to come.”

The entire season cost approximately $700,000 to produce, and that price doubles when artist fees are added, bringing the total cost to approximately $1.3 million. Arnott said he intends to achieve this goal “100 percent” and not through ticket sales. To ensure the show is accessible to everyone, ticket prices range from $40 to $198. If your goal is to break even, you would need to double or triple these prices to make a profit.

“Nantucket music is not sustainable,” Arnott says. “So we need tax-deductible underwriting.” So in addition to being a financial sponsor, Arnott has partnered with the island’s mental health organization Fairwinds, which will receive a portion of the underwriting total. This structure allowed him to form the nonprofit Nantucket Music Foundation, and this nonprofit status allowed him to put on shows even at a loss.

This hard work, which doesn’t come with a lot of money, is worth it to Arnott, both as a lifelong music lover and as someone who cares about giving back to the island, especially the local residents, many of whom work in the service industries that support the summer influx of tourists. “I get messages from people like, ‘It’s amazing to see the band that I loved since I was a kid a mile away from my little apartment,'” Arnott says.

Bringing big-name artists to the island is especially important for people who work all summer and can’t travel to the mainland for shows. (“The cost of leaving Nantucket for the show is $100 round trip ferry, $100 Uber, $300 hotel room and tickets, right? Or you can see it right here in your backyard.”) 1962 Partnering with Nantucket’s behavioral health organization Fairwinds, which has been on the island since 2017, was also a strategic move given the mental health issues that can impact local residents, especially during these long, dark months. winter.

Of course, for those who hadn’t even heard of Nantucket before this series was announced, the chance to see a big band in a small venue is appealing. Arnott recalled an Irish woman who visited The Mews last summer to see All Time Low and is returning this year. When Hanson played last summer, O’Reilly recalls, “the girls camped out in front of the building all night. I brought them food and water.”

For an artist, playing at The Muse isn’t a bad job. Mount Joy first performed The Muse last June after meeting Arnott through a mutual friend at the Whale Jam Conservation Benefit Show in Boston and New York. “Nantucket seemed like a beautiful place to do a show in the summer,” says Jack Gallagher, the group’s manager. “It’s great to play in front of such a large crowd, but it’s not in the intimate setting of a bar show. It scratches a different itch. It’s nostalgic for everyone involved, and fans are very excited to see the band in an underplay environment.”

Naturally, The Muse can’t maintain the same level of production that these bands bring to their major headlining shows, so the group leaves their tour buses and semis behind and takes only the essential equipment on the ferry. Meanwhile, the Mews has been upgraded this season with an RV parked in the back to serve as a green room. Since June 7, the 2026 Muse Summer Series has featured Marcus King Band, Spin Doctors, Everclear, and Jimmy Eat World. All of these shows were sold out.

For Arnott and O’Reilly, the long-term goal is to program music throughout the fall and winter months and serve the local community during the off-season. (Shows for September, October and November of this year are currently being booked.) Arnott also envisions expanding into a three-day, 4,000-person outdoor music festival. “We plan to build this for years to come and book music year-round,” he says.

“It’s like touching the veins of life,” O’Reilly says of bringing live music back to The Muse. “It’s about the thrill, the excitement, the growth, the people and how grateful they are.”

By bringing together big-name artists, locals, and summer visitors, Arnott offers a glimpse into the atmosphere of the island he remembers from his childhood. “Last summer I went around The Muse and met all types of people. I met my 79-year-old father and a 22-year-old local. Everyone was there because of the music. It’s so cool to bring this island together.”