Sammy Rae & The Friends turn a November Monday into a party at the State Theatre

The big-band pop collective plays the State Theatre of Ithaca on Nov. 9, all ages, with Melt opening.

Monday nights in Ithaca in November usually belong to problem sets and early sunsets. On Monday, Nov. 9, the State Street crowd gets a better option: Sammy Rae & The Friends play the State Theatre of Ithaca at 8 p.m., with special guest Melt.

The show comes as part of a fall run that has already taken the band and Melt through the Midwest — Kansas City, Minneapolis–St. Paul, Chicago, Madison, St. Louis and Cincinnati in the back half of October — after Western dates earlier in the month, including Boulder, where Melt also opened. By the time they reach Ithaca the band and its opener will have played a few weeks of these shows together.

If you haven't caught them, Sammy Rae & The Friends are a big ensemble built for a big room. Their debut studio album, *Something For Everybody*, came out on Nettwerk in 2024, previewed by singles including "No Rulebook" and "Cool Doug At Night." It gave its name to the tour that followed, and the record's title is a fair description of a live show that moves between pop, soul and swing.

A big ensemble built for a big room, on a Monday that needs it.

They followed that with *Songs We Wish We Wrote* in 2025.

Opening the night is Melt, a New York indie band who have been on the road with the Friends this fall.

The room is half the reason to go. The State Theatre sits at 107 W. State Street, a Moorish Revival movie palace that has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1996. It holds about 1,600, which is large enough for a band this size to sound full and small enough that the balcony still feels close to the stage. A Monday-night show with a horn section and a crowd that has spent the day in lectures has every chance of turning into exactly what the listing promises.

What to know before you go: tickets are sold through the State Theatre's own Tixr page, linked from our listing, so start there before resale sites. Resale prices for this date are already above face value. Doors will be ahead of the 8 p.m. start, so check your ticket for the exact time. Plan on parking downtown or walking over from the Commons.

Ithaca doesn't get many reasons to stay out late on a Monday in November. This is a good one: a big band, a fellow traveller opening, and the State Theatre's ornate room around them. Get tickets early and stay for the encore.

Sources: Sammy Rae & The Friends with Special Guest Melt — State Theatre of Ithaca (Tixr) (tixr.com); State Theatre of Ithaca — Tixr (tixr.com); Sammy Rae & The Friends share new single "No Rulebook"; debut album out Sept 20 — Nettwerk (nettwerk.com); Sammy Rae & The Friends share new single "Cool Doug At Night" — Nettwerk (nettwerk.com); Sammy Rae & The Friends bring Something For Everybody Tour to Boulder Theater — Grateful Web (gratefulweb.com); File:State Theater, Ithaca, New York.jpg — Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org); Sammy Rae & the Friends and Melt Boulder Tickets, Boulder Theater, 18 Oct 2026 - Songkick (songkick.com)