I'm Retired! Now what?

May 31, 2026

With the beginning of summer most folks think of pool parties and lawn mowing.  For the music lover in Sherman, Texas though, the beginning of the summer means FREE CONCERTS!  To a concert goer’s delight the smaller cities of north Texas and southern Oklahoma have been throwing together some great shows here lately, and all a music lover has to do in order to take in the shows is endure a little summer heat! 

For the last 32 years Sherman has been hosting the HOT SUMMER NIGHTS concerts, and even though the weather can be a bit toasty at times, HOT SUMMER NIGHTS sounds a whole lot cooler then COLD WINTER NIGHTS.  Wait a minute, is that an oxymoron?  Regardless what it is, the concerts take place out on the municipal lawns every Thursday night, and the bands get to play on a gazebo stage.  Now isn’t that every band’s dream? 

Over the years I’ve seen classic rockers like Blue Oyster Cult take the gazebo as well as not so classic bands like Alien Ant Farm and Filter.   I’ve even taken in a few country stars such as Pat Green, and some country band that my niece told me that I needed to go see.  One of the coolest shows I’ve seen in the last few years was when the last surviving Monkee, Micky Dolenz took the stage for a little Daydream Believer good times.  However, a lot of 90’s bands have been rockin’ the gazebo here lately.  During the last few years I’ve seen Everclear, Soul Asylum, Spin Doctors, and even Lisa Loeb.  This year kicked off with the band EVE 6, and even though I didn’t know much about the band they did have that ONE song I remember, and sometimes that’s all it takes.  So, here’s what I posted concerning the EVE 6 show. 

EVE 6 play at the HOT SUMMER NIGHTS CONCERTS in Sherman, Texas 5/28/2026

This time of year in north Texas means rain, tornado threats, and hot weather, but more importantly, it’s the time of year when Sherman, Texas kicks off its Hot Summer Nights concerts!  Last year we kicked things off with 90’s alt rockers Everclear, and that was so much fun that we decided to start this summer off with 90’s alt rocker EVE 6!  Everyone was pumped up for the show, some more than others.  The local news interviewed some dude that had staked out his spot on the lawn at five o’clock in the morning.  You’ve got to love that kind of devotion!

Before the show, Sherman’s mayor Shawn Teamann asked us all what our favorite EVE 6 song was.  Okay, I couldn’t name one, but there were a lot of bands back in the 90’s so I figured I’d hear something I recognized before the night was over.  With a good crowd scattered over the municipal lawn, the trio took the stage and blasted into a set of seventeen songs.  Okay, they were all pretty short songs though.  The guys even threw in a couple of new tunes, but they told us not to worry because they were short as well.

I’m not sure how many gazebo stages a band like EVE 6 has played in their career, but lead singer Max Collins did mention how cool it was to look out onto green grass, trees, and a sunset.  As an added bonus, the band probably hadn’t played for too many fans who felt inclined to bring their dogs along.  I’m not sure how much the canines were into the music, but I was certainly getting into it.  I might have not recognized too many of the songs rockin’ the gazebo, but good music is good music, and even if I didn’t know every song, some blonde in front of the stage was dancing and jumping up and down as if every song was her favorite!  The only lady that was really getting excited around me was the little girl behind me whose squeals of joy mixed with frustration were actually in key with the band a couple of times.

About halfway through their concert EVE 6 tore into one song that I had certainly heard before, but that was because they were playing Tom Petty’s song YOU WRECK ME.  This must be a favorite cover song for bands to play because I once saw the band Heart launch into the same tune during a concert years ago.  Regardless what songs they were cranking out, the guys on stage seemed to be having a blast and kidded around with each other as if they were playing at some college frat party.  They even started one song over because they thought they were playing in different keys.  “We don’t practice much,” Collins noted.  All those kind of off the cuff comments made the guys seem less like rock stars and more like part of the crowd who had all come together for a little musical socializing and good times.

These Sherman shows certainly bring out a different vibe than I’m used to seeing at concerts, although a mosh pit of sorts did break out next to me.  Okay, it was just a couple of little boys pushing each other and rolling around on the grass, but you work with what you’ve got.  As long as they didn’t try to go crowd surfing over me, I was good.  As the mosh pit turned into a couple of kids throwing paper airplanes around the band broke into the song that made most of the folks in the crowd say to themselves, “I’ve heard that song!”  As the band played INSIDE OUT, I noticed how not only the woman next to me was singing along with the song, but her teenage daughter was as well.  A little musical family bonding taking place out on the Sherman lawn.  I just hope this musical vibe of good times and good tunes continues on all summer long!