Hot Summer Nights returns for its eighth year with a bigger lineup, new venues, expanded programming and more.

The details

The three-day festival currently includes over 140 local music acts across 15 downtown venues.

Hot Summer Nights will include acts spanning genres such as indie rock, hip-hop, Latin, punk, experimental, R&B and more.

Venues include returning partners such as Stubb’s Mohawk, Flamingo Cantina, Empire Control Room & Garage and Swan Dive. This year’s festival adds first-time partners Kingdom, Feels So Good, Marlow and The Side Bar, according to a news release from The Red River Cultural District, which hosts the event.


Some background

The festival aims to help local artists, venues and other industry workers during a slow time of year, the news release states.

“Hot Summer Nights is more than just a music festival—it’s a homegrown solution to keep our creative economy alive during one of the slowest times of year,” said Nicole Klepadlo, executive director of the RRCD and festival director for Hot Summer Nights. “Every show you see is powered by a local band, a local venue and local workers getting paid to do what they love—something every fan gets to be part of, for free. That’s the true spirit of Red River.”

The RRCD also hosts Free Week, typically in January.