This Friday, May 1 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Yetsu is presenting a free concert on the outdoor stage at the Deane Center for the Performing Arts at 104 Main Street in Wellsboro. This “organic rock ‘n roll” band will perform originals from their first album and their in progress second. 

Bring a lawn chair or a blanket and sit in the grassy area in front of the outdoor stage or on Central Avenue, which will be closed to motor vehicle traffic from the Warehouse Theatre to Main Street. If it rains, this concert will be moved indoors to the Deane Center’s Coolidge Theatre.

Yetsu plays at venues throughout the Twin Tiers. The band members are:  Joe Callahan of Wellsboro on guitar; Sean Monroe of Horseheads, N.Y. on bass guitar; Mike Watkins of Addison, N.Y. on keyboard, accordion, mandolin and fiddle; and Mike Nickerson on drums and Joe Narde on percussion, both of Corning, N.Y.  

They will be performing songs from their first album that are in a range of styles from rock to roots, blues to country, and pop to indie, and from their in progress second album. Both feature songs written and arranged collaboratively by all five members who are known for their powerhouse sound as they trade lead and harmony vocal duties.  

Yetsu will most likely also do their funky version of Robert Palmer’s “Sneaking Sally Through the Alley,” and a song or two by The Band as all five also perform as Stage Fright.

The other free concerts in the series are from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the following Fridays: the Wellsboro Men’s and Women’s Choruses on June 5; Van Wagner on July 3; the Infared Radiation Orchestra on Friday, Aug. 7; the Cadillac Cats on Sept. 4; and Hot Rod Mule on Oct. 2.

The first five of these free outdoor concerts are being held in conjunction with Wellsboro’s First Friday, a community street festival on the first Friday of each month from May through September between 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Main Street. There will not be a First Friday event on Oct. 2 when the sixth free concert is held 

The public is invited to attend any or all of these free concerts made possible by sponsor UPMC Health Plan. 

For more information about this free concert series, call the Deane Center at 570-724-6220 or visit deanecenter.com.