Summer Concert Guide: Jeff Miers previews May and June shows
News Pop Music Critic Jeff Miers gives his take on the season’s biggest shows
May 23
The Scintas (8 p. m., Seneca Niagara Events Center; $35 to $45): Buffalo’s own ambassadors to Las Vegas, the Scintas return home with their well-honed variety act.
May 27
Dave Matthews Band with Robert Randolph and the Family Band (7 p. m., Darien Lake Performing Arts Center; $39.50 to $70): A mere matter of days prior to releasing its new album, “Big Whiskey & the GrooGrux King,” the Dave Matthews Band will kick off the summer concert season at Darien Lake. The amphitheatre has been the site of both transcendent and lukewarm DMB shows over the past ten years, but this gig—with material from the new album, which is dedicated to DMB saxophonist LeRoi Moore, who died suddenly last August—is likely to be a fiery one. Moore’s replacement, erstwhile Bela Fleck & the Flecktones sax man Jeff Coffin, will join guitarist Tim Reynolds in an expanded version of the DMB.
May 28
Gomez with Steel Train and Alberta Cross (5 p. m., Lafayette Square; free): Since winning the UK’s prestigious Mercury Prize for new music back in 1998, alt-rock outfit Gomez never quite climbed to the commercial heights many predicted were the band’s to claim. No matter. With each successive album, Gomez has become increasingly interesting, and the band’s Thursday at the Square debut is an apt one to kick off the 2009 season. Opener Alberta Cross is a New York City-based outfit that has been compared, with good reason, to the Kings of Leon and the Raconteurs.
June 1
Coldplay with Pete Yorn and Howling Bells (7:30 p. m., Darien Lake Performing Arts Center; $41 to $103.50): The biggest band in the world? Certainly one of them, though you might not want to tell Bono that, if you happen to find yourself in a room with him. Coldplay has always been a great live band, and with the “Viva la Vida” material rating as its strongest to date, this show should be an amazing one. Every paid ticket gets a free copy of the band’s live album, “LeftRightLeftRightLeft,” which is a nice touch.
June 2
The Tragically Hip (8 p. m., Artpark Mainstage Theater; sold out. Additional shows at 8 p. m. June 4, 5 and 6; $39.50 lawn seats are available for the June 5 performance.): A fantastic new studio album, “We Are the Same”; a new touring musician in the form of keyboardist Jim Bryson; a batch of some 100 fully rehearsed songs to draw from across the expanse of twin-set performances – yes, it’s indeed a good time to be a Tragically Hip fan. The band plays four nights at Artpark, and promises no two shows will be the same.
June 3
Kiss the Summer Hello featuring 3OH!3, Kevin Rudolf, the Ting Tings, the Veronicas, the White Tie Affair and Elliott Yamin (5 p. m., Coca-Cola Field; $20 to $35): Here’s a veritable grab-bag of modern pop stylings for your season-commencing pleasure. My money’s on Rudolf, who penned the stadium-rocking sports anthem “Let it Rock.”
June 4
Kenny Chesney with Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum (7:30 p. m., Darien Lake Performing Arts Center; $39.50 to $80): Kenny Chesney has become the Jimmy Buffett of modern country music. His easy-going, lovable ruffian, beach-bum image is ably matched by his affable songs, which favor everyman tunefulness over Southern-tinged proselytizing. As a result, he has managed to cross the great divide between country fans and… er, non-country fans, claiming a strong listener base that loves his music more than any single ideology he might espouse. Chesney’s real good live, too. With Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum on the bill, Chesney’s show is more like a modern country mini-festival.
Kevin Costner and Modern West (8:30 p. m., Avalon Theatre of Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort; $65 Canadian and up. Additional performance at 9 p. m. June 5.): Geez. I guess they’re letting anyone with an acting career form a band these days. I vote for a rock-opera based on “Waterworld,” followed by a song-suite celebrating the finer points of “Tin Cup.” Not that anyone asked for my opinion. An Evening with the Disco Biscuits (5 p. m., Lafayette Square; free): The Zappa Family Trust named one of its posthumous Frank Zappa releases “Trance Fusion,” and the play on words seems a fitting description of the Disco Biscuits’ blend of ambient and electronic elements and hyper-charged jam-band motifs. Well worth the “An Evening With” status this year’s Thursday at the Square schedule has accorded it.
June 6
Ricchi e’ Poveri and I Camaleonti (9 p. m., Avalon Theatre of Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort; $70 Canadian and up. Additional performance at 7 p. m. June 7.): This group has sold more than 20 million albums in Italy. It specializes in romantic pop, writ large.
June 9
Crosby, Stills & Nash (8:30 p. m., Avalon Theatre of Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort; $60 Canadian and up): Some musicians just seem to have been destined to work together. Such is the case with David Crosby, Graham Nash and Stephen Stills. All had already commenced high-profile and artistically successful careers by the time they got together— Crosby with the Byrds, Stills with Buffalo Springfield, Nash with the Hollies. But the three were wise enough to notice that something special happened when they harmonized, a resulting sound that was greater than the sum of its parts. Nearly 40 years on from “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” and “Wooden Ships,” that’s still the case.
Reverend Horton Heat (6:30 p. m., Artpark Outdoor Amphitheater; free): Like your rockabilly with a side order of punk rock and a healthy dash of guitar-flavored hot sauce? No? Well, then, don’t come out to Artpark to see Jim Heath and the boys strutting their stuff. I’ll let you know how it was. Sha Na Na(7:30 p. m., Fairgrounds Gaming and Raceway; free): Sha Na Na’s rock ’n’ roll revival act dates back, believe it or not, to the original Woodstock festival, when the troupe of New York City singers brought their gold lame, pompadours and love for the ’50s to the peace and love generation. Forty years on, most of the original band members are no longer involved, but Sha Na Na soldiers on. “Duke of Earl,” anyone?
June 10
Diana Krall (8 p. m., Artpark Mainstage Theater; $35 to $55): So, should we refer to Diana Krall as Mrs. Elvis Costello, or rechristen Costello Mr. Diana Krall? These are the questions that keep me awake at night. Krall, by the way, has a fine new album to promote and is a much better jazz pianist and singer than she is often given credit for being.
June 11
Huey Lewis and the News (8:30 p. m., Avalon Theatre of Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort; $55 Canadian and up. Additional performance at 9 p. m. June 12.): The best pop music to emerge from the ’80s shunned the bells and whistles common to the time. As a result, the music avoided becoming anchored to the age of the reverb-drenched snare drum, the unisex headband and the gender-bending coiffure. Huey Lewis & the News were making smart, subtle and likable pop-laced R&B music in the ’80s, and that music has endured.
Robert Randolph&the Family Band with the Dana Fuchs Band (5 p. m., Lafayette Square; free): Funk, soul, Sacred Steel and serious chops. Randolph & the Family Band returns to Buffalo after making a serious impact here over the years with everything from an intimate club show at Town Ballroom, to a slot opening for Eric Clapton in HSBC Arena. Dana Fuchs is known to moviegoers as one of the stars of the Julie Taymor Beatles pastiche “Across the Universe,” but she has also played Janis Joplin in the off-Broadway production “Love, Janis,” and has been leading her own earthy, blues-inflected band for several years now.
June 13
Blues Traveler (7 p. m., outside the Seneca Niagara Casino and Hotel; free): John Popper is the man. Like a jam-band version of the legendary Toots Thielemans, the guy just simply kicks it every time he puts the trusty old blues harp to his lips. Commercial fortune has come and gone. And who knows? Maybe one day it will come back again. In the meantime, Blues Traveler rolls on.
The Lovin’ Spoonful (9 p. m., Avalon Theatre of Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort; $15 Canadian and up): John Sebastian declines touring with the group due to personal differences, and Zal Yanovsky passed away in 2002, but Jerry Yester, Joe Butler and Steve Boone continue to tour as the Lovin’ Spoonful. The band’s sunny, addictive, harmony-laden pop still hits the sweet spot.
June 14
New Kids on the Block with Jabbawockeez and JesseMc-Cartney (7:30 p. m., Darien Lake Performing Arts Center; $16 to $85): They got the wrong Mc-Cartney.
June 16
Blue Oyster Cult (6:30 p. m., Artpark Outdoor Amphitheater; free): Romeo and Juliet, as the infamous BOC tune would have it, are together in eternity. Also bound for eternity is the stellar, eclectic guitar playing of the band’s Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser, who also happens to be the man responsible for penning “Don’t Fear the Reaper.” A strong showing at the Erie County Fair a few years back underscores the fact that this band is still great in concert.
June 17
Jim Brickman and Friends (8:30 p. m., Avalon Theatre of Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort; $40 Canadian and up. Additional performance at 8:30 p. m. June 18.): During these performances, pianist Brickman will perform a program of holiday songs, which WNED will be filming for a future broadcast.
The Fray with Jack’s Mannequin and Richard Swift (7 p. m., Darien Lake Performing Arts Center; $20.50 to $55.50): Piano-led alt-pop, and lots of it. Interestingly, despite critical reception that has labeled the Fray as everything from “stagnant,” “unoriginal” and “boring” to “a bona fide guilty pleasure,” fans of the band swarm to its anthemic, emotion-soaked music like ants to sugar. Which proves that, as Woody Allen says, “The heart wants what it wants.”
June 18
Better Than Ezra with TyroneWells (5 p. m., Lafayette Square; free): Since forming in New Orleans just as the ’80s heaved the final sigh, and hitting platinum status in the mid-’90s, Better Than Ezra has undergone significant lineup changes—including losing drummer Travis McNabb to country-rock outfit Sugarland—and endured shifts in commercial fortune. The just-released “Paper Empire” suggests that, musically speaking, Better Than Ezra has still got the juice. Singer-songwriter Tyrone Wells is touring in support of his second folk-pop effort for Universal Records, “Remain.” (You might’ve heard a song or two of his during episodes of television’s “Rescue Me” or “One Tree Hill.”)
June 19
Melissa Etheridge (9 p. m., Avalon Theatre of Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort; $60 Canadian and up. Additional performance at 9 p. m. June 20.): Twenty-one years after bursting into the world of rock radio with “Bring Me Some Water,” her husky, whisky-tinged voice urging comparisons to Janis Joplin, Melissa Etheridge is crisscrossing North America this summer with nothing but her guitar for company. When the “Live and Alone” roadshow rolls into the Fallsview Casino, expect a personal tour through the artist’s songbook, in an intimate environment.
No Doubt with Paramore (7:30 p. m., Darien Lake Performing Arts Center; $10 to $80): Opting to hit the road prior to recording new music, the reformed No Doubt appears to be more than a little bit psyched to be out on the boards before a sizable and appreciative audience. This is doubly true, one suspects, for every member of the band other than singer Gwen Stefani, whose solo sojourn was successful enough to suggest that she needn’t reform No Doubt in order to maintain a healthy career. What was the rest of the band gonna do without her? Probably not much. Bands are always best when they feel they’ve got something to prove. No Doubt certainly does. Opener Paramore is likely to give the headliner a run for its money from night to night. That should keep the Doubters on their toes.
WYRK Taste of Country featuring Blake Shelton, Craig Morgan, Randy Owen and Julianne Hough (7 p. m., Coca-Cola Field; $25 grandstand tickets and a small number of $45 general admission tickets remain): A nice lineup for this year’s Taste of Country. All performers will likely be solid, but I’m predicting the day will belong to Blake Shelton, whose “Startin’ Fires” was one of the finer country records to see release last year.
June 20
TBA (6 p. m., Gateway Park, North Tonawanda; free): Acts are expected to be announced next week.
June 23
America (6:30 p. m., Artpark Outdoor Amphitheater; free): I’ve heard grumblings about America’s ubiquitous presence during the free summer concert season ’round these parts. But really, what’s there to gripe about? Don’t like it? Don’t go! If you do happen to be a fan, you already know that these boys are still up to the task of delivering some deeply melodic, pop-laced folk and rock music. Unconfirmed rumor has it that, should you show up at the Artpark gates on this night aboard a horse with no name, you’ll get in free.
June 24
Starry Night in the Garden featuring Matt Nathanson with Mat Kearney and Safetysuit (6 p. m., Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens; $40): San Francisco folk-pop troubadour Matt Nathanson is touring in support of his last album, “Some Mad Hope,” a record whose affable, lyrical pop writing placed him in line with current kings of the form: the Fray and Jack’s Mannequin.
June 25
Los Lobos (5 p. m., Lafayette Square; free): Now you’re talkin’. Los Lobos emerged from East L.A. in the early ‘80s as a fully formed, eclectic and brave outfit, one with the ability to draw from a wide variety of idioms – traditional, ethnic, pop, rock, folk and various permutations of all of them. Since then, the band has never made a less-than-excellent album, and a few of them – particularly the high-water mark “Kiko” – are legitimate classics. The Lobos lads are renowned for their prowess as a live act. This is bound to be a great night.
June 26
Air Supply (9 p. m., Avalon Theatre of Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort; $25 Canadian and up. Additional performance at 9 p. m. June 27.): Apparently, they weren’t really “All Out of Love” back in 1980.
Def Leppard with Poison and Cheap Trick (7 p. m., Darien Lake Performing Arts Center; $29.50 to $125): This show is all about Cheap Trick. No offense, Def Leppard and Poison, but in a more just world, you’d be opening up for America’s greatest power-pop band, and not vice-versa. In an even more just world, you’d probably be working catering for this show…but I digress…
Kenny G(8 p. m., Seneca Niagara Events Center; $55 to $75): Since releasing his “Rhythm & Romance” album last year, Kenny G has toured the world, performed his first-ever concert in Bulgaria and appeared as part of several international jazz festivals. So say of him what you will, the dude’s doing just fine, thank you. The saxophonist will perform selections from his whole canon, but emphasis will be placed on the “Rhythm & Romance” material during this show.
Medeski Martin&Wood and Umphrey’s McGee (5 p. m., Erie Canal Harbor Wharf; $10 advance, $20 day of show): Right in the middle of their “Radiolarians” project—which finds the trio writing new music and then heading straight out onto the road to perform it, before ultimately laying it down in the recording studio—Medeski Martin & Wood arrive for the first of the four weekend-long “Rocks the Harbor” shows. Co-headliner Umphrey’s Mcgee is in the midst of its tour behind the wholly brilliant “Mantis” album. Modern fusion – a dirty word, but still, applicable – doesn’t get any better than these two bands.
Rusted Root with Steve Johnson (from Big Leg Emma), Bearhunter and New Clear Fusion (5:30 p. m., Ulrich City Centre, Lockport; free): One of the first of the new wave of jam bands emerging in the early ’90s to break in Western New York, Rusted Root returns to the region, following up a torrid set inside the Tralf last year. Patchouli oil encouraged, but optional, for this show kicking off the Canal Concert Series.
June 27
The Golden Boys featuring Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Bobbie Rydell (8:15 p. m., Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater; $38): The original teen idols team up to become the world’s most distinguished (read “oldest”) boy band. Since 1985, this ’50s-themed revue has been lighting ’em up, from Vegas to Virginia and back.
Joan Osborne and Yonder Mountain String Band (5 p. m., Erie Canal Harbor Wharf; $10 advance, $20 day of show): Since the turn of the century, Joan Osborne has toured with legendary Motown studio band the Funk Brothers; turned in a startling performance in the film “Standing in the Shadows of Motown”; served as opening act for the Dixie Chicks during the thick of their George Bush-related controversy; hit the road for two solid years as vocalist with the Dead, along the way earning the respect of one of the more demanding crowds in all of rock; and released three soul-drenched albums of her own. She also made time for an incendiary performance at Thursday at the Square. If you caught that show, odds are, you’ll be back for this one. Consider the wonderful Yonder Mountain String Band a bonus.
TBA (6 p. m., Gateway Park, North Tonawanda; free): Acts are expected to be announced next week.
June 30
Blue Rodeo (6:30 p. m., Artpark Outdoor Amphitheater; free): More than 20 years and four million in album sales into its career, Canada’s Blue Rodeo continues to refine its particular blend of folk, country and pop, led by the revered songwriting powers of Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor, and abetted by former Wilco multi-instrumentalist Bob Egan. Always a good bet for a great show.
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