Summer Concert Calendar
Has it really been two months since my last concert calendar? Wow. To be fair, I've been busy. However, that busy only included six shows. One was covered when I did my two posts of gigs since February. Here are the other five:
- I went on a big road trip in April. On April 22 I was at the Bright Angel Lounge in the Grand Canyon. The restaurant had a huge wait to be seated, so I went to the Bright Angel Lounge, where Californian singer-songwriter Kevin Danzig was performing. When I walked in he was mostly doing covers, but then he did a set of original material, some of which was actually really quite good.
- My co-host Colleen and her husband Kevin and my coworkers Faith and Powers caught FIDLAR at the Grog Shop on May 6. I was there mostly on a strong recommendation from Powers. If I was still 23 the loud aggressive punk would have probably been the show of my life. The predominantly late teens / early 20s crowd danced and screamed and had a pit going and hung from the ceiling as a wave of youthful hormones overrode the crowd. Since I am not 23 any longer, I stood in the back and bopped along and had a fine time, but probably won't see them again.
- The first time I saw Matt Pond PA he was headlining Studio-A-Rama in 2006. At the time he was touring on the his new album Several Arrows Later. I liked both the album and the live show, but somehow never managed to go again. When he played the Grog Shop on May 12 it was the tenth anniversary tour for Several Arrows Later. I went with Ed and enjoyed some nostalgia.
- I had seen Silencio twice before their May 23 appearance at the Beachland Tavern. Both times they played strange atmospheric music appropriate for a group who describes themselves as playing "music from and inspired by David Lynch and Angelo Badalamente." I convinced EJ to go with. I, at least, had a good time, but it was a step down from the first two times I saw them.
So what's coming up next? Let's see. As always, bold means I'm going for sure and italics means I'm strongly considering it.
You should definitely mark down September 15, as I'll be hosting a house concert that night. I just can't tell you who yet, as the gig is only 99.9% finalized.
June
S 6/13 - Benjamin Booker @ Mahalls. New Orleans guy doing polk/funk/blues.
S 6/13 - Timothy Bloom @ Beachland Ballroom. Did a video with Herbie Hancock, that has to be worth something, right?
S 6/13 - Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions @ Blossom. Your guess is probably better than mine, but I assume classical versions of video game music?
S 6/14 - White Lung @ Beachland Tavern. $10 bet on a woman fronted punk band.
M 6/15 - Ginger Baker’s Jazz Confusion @ Music Box Concert Club. He's still around, but mostly doing jazz.
T 6/16 - The Real McKenzies @ Beachland Ballroom - Scottish themed punk and rock.
T 6/16 - Voodoo Glow Skulls @ Agora Ballroom. Late 2nd wave / early 3rd wave ska core band.
T 6/16 - Esperanza Spalding @ Cain Park. Jazz bassist, singer and composer.
T 6/16 - The Quebe Sisters @ Kent Stage. Folk trio; each sister plays fiddle and sings.
W 6/17 - Tony Monaco / Fareed Haque Organ Trio @ Nighttown. Jazz organ is always a good time.
W 6/17 - New Kids on the Block @ The Q. I'm listing this for one specific person, and my entertainment value from that alone.
W 6/17 - Shooter Jennings @ Music Box Concert Hall. With Waylon's band.
R 6/18 - Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band @ Kent Stage. The country rockers close out the Kent Folk Festival.
R 6/18 - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy @ Music Box Concert Hall. Thanks to one really great show in 1998 I will always put them on the calendar.
F 6/19 - Third Coast Kings @ Beachland Tavern. Seven piece funk/soul band from Michigan. Might be worth $7.
F 6/19 - Heartless Bastards @ Grog Shop. Rock. May be worth a re-listen, it's been some years since I saw them.
F 6/19 - Herman's Hermits @ Cain Park. Is it wrong of me to kind of want to see this?
S 6/20 - Ice Age @ Now That's Class. Danish post punk.
Su 6/21 - Bowling For Soup @ HOB. The band turned 21. I'm old.
Su 6/21 - Hot Club of Detroit @ Nighttown. The best of the current Hot Clubs.
Su 6/21 - Drummer @ Musica. Side project for Patrick Carney from the Black Keys. Had a pretty good album some years ago.
T 6/23 - The Helio Sequence @ Beachland Tavern. The new album is good.
T 6/23 - Mates of State @ Grog Shop. We just go their new album at the station so I'll be playing it in coming weeks.
W 6/24 - Tauk @ Beachland Ballroom. AmandaP recommends their experimental prog rock sound.
W 6/24 - Hall and Oates @ EJ Thomas. If I was in town, I'd go. Does that make me a bad person?
R 6/25 - The Melvins @ Grog Shop. Possibly the weirdest band in rock, although there's a lot of competition for the title.
R 6/25 - Dear Rouge @ Mahalls. Another husband and wife rock duo. Might be worth a $8 bet.
F 6/26 - Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn @ Cain Park. The power couple of banjo music. Alas, I am out of town.
F 6/26 - Herzog @ Happy Dog. Put out a great album in 2014.
M 6/29 - Morrissey @ EJ Thomas. Hi Shari!
July
W 7/01 - John Fogerty @ Jacob's Pavilion (Nautica) - No mocking here; Fortunate Son is still brilliant.
F 7/03 - Navasha Daya @ Beachland Ballroom. The write up entertained me, no idea if the music would.
S 7/04 - Los Straitjackets @ Beachland Ballroom. Last year's album with Deke Dickerson was hilarious. I have no idea if Deke will be with them, but even if he isn't, everybody should see guys in luchador masks playing surf guitar at least once.
Su 7/05 - Steve Earle & The Dukes @ Music Box Concert Hall. My top concert of 2005.
W 7/08 - King Sunny Adé and His African Beats @ Transformer Station. Nigerian. Free.
R 7/09 - Take 6 @ Playhouse Square (Tri-C Jazzfest). Jazz vocal sextet. Dominick Farinacci opens.
S 7/11 - Wycliffe Gordon/Cyrille Aimee @ Playhouse Square (Tri-C Jazzfest). 2:30pm show. I love Cyrille so much. Gordon plays trombone.
S 7/11 - Benny Green @ Playhouse Square (Tri-C Jazzfest). 5pm show. Jazz piano. With vibraphonist Warren Wolf. Why are all these shows on the same night?
S 7/11 - Pete Escovedo and Sheila E @ Playhouse Square (Tri-C Jazzfest). 7:30pm show. Father and daughter percussionists bring it.
S 7/11 - The Cleveland Orchestra @ Blossom. Beethoven's 9th. My friend Dashon is one of the vocalists.
W 7/15 - Ondatrópica @ Transformer Station. Colombian. Free.
W 7/15 - Jessica Lea Wilkes @ Beachland Tavern. $8 bet on what seems to be blues based rock.
W 7/15 - Matthew Sweet @ Music Box Concert Hall. Listed for M.
R 7/16 - Ex-Hex @ Grog Shop. They are a power trio including Mary Timony and they put out one of my very favorite albums of 2014. I already bought a ticket and I recommend them strongly!
R 7/16 - The Mekons @ Music Box Concert Hall. They were my show of the year in 2007 and if I didn't already have tickets for Ex Hex I'd be there.
R 7/16 - Pink Martini @ Gartner Auditorium (CMA). Pop orchestra. Sort of.
S 7/18 - Texas Plant @ Beachland Tavern. $5 bet on a local folk punk band.
T 7/21 - Cracker @ Music Box Concert Hall. They played my campus my freshman year and I didn't go. I was a lot lamer back then.
W 7/22 - Tamikrest @ Transformer Station. Tuareg desert rock. Free.
W 7/22 - Wolf Eyes @ Now That's Class. Noise.
W 7/22 - X @ Music Box Concert Hall. Original line up.
F 7/24 - Cake @ Jacob's Pavilion (Nautica), sponsored by Grog Shop. They got a lot of play when I was in college.
T 7/28 - Steely Dan w/Elvis Costello @ Blossom. Seems like a weird combination, but I'll take excuses to play Costello.
W 7/29 - Los Cojolites @ Tranformer Station. Mexico. Free.
R 7/30 - Blues Traveler @ HOB. Oh god, high school flashbacks.
R 7/30 - Black Tiger Sex Machine @ Rock Hall. Electronic. Also, they wear helmets.
F 7/31 - Hoots & Hellmouth @ Mahalls. Listed mostly because I've been meaning to listen to them.
August
S 8/01 - The Beach Boys @ Cain Park. I went once for nostalgia value and had a good time.
Su 8/02 - Bombino @ Beachland Ballroom. Guitarist from Nigeria. Produced by Dan Auerbach. Sounds interesting.
M 8/03 - Van Halen @ Blossom. David Lee Roth, not Van Hagar.
W 8/05 - Dick Dale @ Grog Shop. Presumably one day the King of the Surf Guitar will die, and you'll be sorry you didn't see him. Go!
F 8/08 - Phish @ Blossom. Of course, all of you Phish fans already knew this.
S 8/08 - KMFDM @ HOB. They keep churning out exactly what their fans want. That's sort of laudable, even if it makes their last several albums indistinguishable to the unschooled.
F 8/14 - Black Violin @ Cain Park. Another in the current vogue of classical musicians playing popular music.
Su 8/16 - Social Distortion @ HOB. Hi Al!
W 8/19 - Chicago @ Rocksino. Not going to lie, I like Chicago.
R 8/20 - Nikki Hill @ Music Box Supper Club. Roots R&B.
R 8/20 - Rasputina @ Music Box Concert Hall. Cello based weirdness, although the new photo has her playing a banjo.
F 8/21 - Idina Menzel @ Blossom. Seems like a weird venue for her to play; I guess Frozen really made her huge.
T 8/25 - ZZ Top @ Rocksino. These guys are one of the hottest acts in the quadrant.
R 8/27 - Barrence Whitfield @ the Savages @ Euclid Tavern. R&B. They compare him to Little Richard in this blurb, which takes some chutzpah.
Beyond
S 9/05 & Su 9/06 - The Cleveland Orchestra @ Blossom. Performing the music of John Williams.
T 9/08 - Jackson Brown @ Jacob's Pavilion (Nautica). I do want to see him some day, but this is not the venue for it with the acoustic issues.
T 9/15 - House Concert @ My Living Room. I can't announce who yet, but it'll be awesome, I promise. I'll post when tickets go on sale.
W 9/16 - Echo & the Bunnymen @ HOB. I have no idea how many original members will be present.
S 9/19 - Rhiannon Giddes @ Kent Stage. Solo effort from front woman of Carolina Chocolate Drops.
R 9/17 - Best Coast @ Beachland Ballroom. Their first album was fun. Haven't listened to the new one yet.
W 9/23 - ZZ Ward @ HOB. She has at least one good blues rock song.
W 9/23 - Scorpions @ Jacob's Pavilion (Nautica). I can always use an excuse to play the album where they perform with the Berlin Philharmonic.
R 9/24 - Calexico @ Beachland Ballroom. I need to listen to more of their stuff.
M 9/28 - Toro Y Moi @ Beachland Ballroom. My second favorite show of 2013. The new album is step behind their previous one.
W 10/07 - Aaron Neville @ Kent Stage. The ambassador of New Orleans.
S 10/10 - Stars @ Beachland Ballroom. One of my favorite indie bands.
S 10/10 - Josh Groban @ Playhouse Square. Tina Fey must have left him out of the gulag.
S 11/07 - Blind Guardian @ HOB. They did a metal album based on the Silmarillion. Props for that.
R 11/19 - Cowboy Junkies @ Music Box Concert Hall. My 2006 concert of the year.
W 12/09 - The Tenors @ Playhouse Square. Basically, it's like 2Cellos but with 4 Tenors instead.
S 12/20 - Straight No Chaser @ Playhouse Square. Still on my list for a cappella.
How do you find local shows? Try these: Beachland Ballroom & Tavern, Grog Shop, CSU Convocation (aka Wolstein) Center, HOB, Kent Stage, Agora Theater & Ballroom, Quicken Loans Arena, Night Town, Playhouse Square, Rock Hall, Cain Park, Blossom, Nautica Pavilion, Lakewood Civic Auditorium, Severance Hall, E.J. Thomas Hall (Akron), Musica (Akron), Akron Civic, CityMusic Cleveland, Now That's Class, Happy Dog, Euclid Tavern (aka, Happy Dog East), Mahall's 20 Lanes, Tri-C Jazzfest, Dionysus (Oberlin), Oberlin College, Cleveland Museum of Art, Transformer Station, Hard Rock Live, The Music Box, The Odeon.
- I went on a big road trip in April. On April 22 I was at the Bright Angel Lounge in the Grand Canyon. The restaurant had a huge wait to be seated, so I went to the Bright Angel Lounge, where Californian singer-songwriter Kevin Danzig was performing. When I walked in he was mostly doing covers, but then he did a set of original material, some of which was actually really quite good.
- My co-host Colleen and her husband Kevin and my coworkers Faith and Powers caught FIDLAR at the Grog Shop on May 6. I was there mostly on a strong recommendation from Powers. If I was still 23 the loud aggressive punk would have probably been the show of my life. The predominantly late teens / early 20s crowd danced and screamed and had a pit going and hung from the ceiling as a wave of youthful hormones overrode the crowd. Since I am not 23 any longer, I stood in the back and bopped along and had a fine time, but probably won't see them again.
- The first time I saw Matt Pond PA he was headlining Studio-A-Rama in 2006. At the time he was touring on the his new album Several Arrows Later. I liked both the album and the live show, but somehow never managed to go again. When he played the Grog Shop on May 12 it was the tenth anniversary tour for Several Arrows Later. I went with Ed and enjoyed some nostalgia.
- I had seen Silencio twice before their May 23 appearance at the Beachland Tavern. Both times they played strange atmospheric music appropriate for a group who describes themselves as playing "music from and inspired by David Lynch and Angelo Badalamente." I convinced EJ to go with. I, at least, had a good time, but it was a step down from the first two times I saw them.
So what's coming up next? Let's see. As always, bold means I'm going for sure and italics means I'm strongly considering it.
You should definitely mark down September 15, as I'll be hosting a house concert that night. I just can't tell you who yet, as the gig is only 99.9% finalized.
June
S 6/13 - Benjamin Booker @ Mahalls. New Orleans guy doing polk/funk/blues.
S 6/13 - Timothy Bloom @ Beachland Ballroom. Did a video with Herbie Hancock, that has to be worth something, right?
S 6/13 - Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions @ Blossom. Your guess is probably better than mine, but I assume classical versions of video game music?
S 6/14 - White Lung @ Beachland Tavern. $10 bet on a woman fronted punk band.
M 6/15 - Ginger Baker’s Jazz Confusion @ Music Box Concert Club. He's still around, but mostly doing jazz.
T 6/16 - The Real McKenzies @ Beachland Ballroom - Scottish themed punk and rock.
T 6/16 - Voodoo Glow Skulls @ Agora Ballroom. Late 2nd wave / early 3rd wave ska core band.
T 6/16 - Esperanza Spalding @ Cain Park. Jazz bassist, singer and composer.
T 6/16 - The Quebe Sisters @ Kent Stage. Folk trio; each sister plays fiddle and sings.
W 6/17 - Tony Monaco / Fareed Haque Organ Trio @ Nighttown. Jazz organ is always a good time.
W 6/17 - New Kids on the Block @ The Q. I'm listing this for one specific person, and my entertainment value from that alone.
W 6/17 - Shooter Jennings @ Music Box Concert Hall. With Waylon's band.
R 6/18 - Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band @ Kent Stage. The country rockers close out the Kent Folk Festival.
R 6/18 - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy @ Music Box Concert Hall. Thanks to one really great show in 1998 I will always put them on the calendar.
F 6/19 - Third Coast Kings @ Beachland Tavern. Seven piece funk/soul band from Michigan. Might be worth $7.
F 6/19 - Heartless Bastards @ Grog Shop. Rock. May be worth a re-listen, it's been some years since I saw them.
F 6/19 - Herman's Hermits @ Cain Park. Is it wrong of me to kind of want to see this?
S 6/20 - Ice Age @ Now That's Class. Danish post punk.
Su 6/21 - Bowling For Soup @ HOB. The band turned 21. I'm old.
Su 6/21 - Hot Club of Detroit @ Nighttown. The best of the current Hot Clubs.
Su 6/21 - Drummer @ Musica. Side project for Patrick Carney from the Black Keys. Had a pretty good album some years ago.
T 6/23 - The Helio Sequence @ Beachland Tavern. The new album is good.
T 6/23 - Mates of State @ Grog Shop. We just go their new album at the station so I'll be playing it in coming weeks.
W 6/24 - Tauk @ Beachland Ballroom. AmandaP recommends their experimental prog rock sound.
W 6/24 - Hall and Oates @ EJ Thomas. If I was in town, I'd go. Does that make me a bad person?
R 6/25 - The Melvins @ Grog Shop. Possibly the weirdest band in rock, although there's a lot of competition for the title.
R 6/25 - Dear Rouge @ Mahalls. Another husband and wife rock duo. Might be worth a $8 bet.
F 6/26 - Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn @ Cain Park. The power couple of banjo music. Alas, I am out of town.
F 6/26 - Herzog @ Happy Dog. Put out a great album in 2014.
M 6/29 - Morrissey @ EJ Thomas. Hi Shari!
July
W 7/01 - John Fogerty @ Jacob's Pavilion (Nautica) - No mocking here; Fortunate Son is still brilliant.
F 7/03 - Navasha Daya @ Beachland Ballroom. The write up entertained me, no idea if the music would.
S 7/04 - Los Straitjackets @ Beachland Ballroom. Last year's album with Deke Dickerson was hilarious. I have no idea if Deke will be with them, but even if he isn't, everybody should see guys in luchador masks playing surf guitar at least once.
Su 7/05 - Steve Earle & The Dukes @ Music Box Concert Hall. My top concert of 2005.
W 7/08 - King Sunny Adé and His African Beats @ Transformer Station. Nigerian. Free.
R 7/09 - Take 6 @ Playhouse Square (Tri-C Jazzfest). Jazz vocal sextet. Dominick Farinacci opens.
S 7/11 - Wycliffe Gordon/Cyrille Aimee @ Playhouse Square (Tri-C Jazzfest). 2:30pm show. I love Cyrille so much. Gordon plays trombone.
S 7/11 - Benny Green @ Playhouse Square (Tri-C Jazzfest). 5pm show. Jazz piano. With vibraphonist Warren Wolf. Why are all these shows on the same night?
S 7/11 - Pete Escovedo and Sheila E @ Playhouse Square (Tri-C Jazzfest). 7:30pm show. Father and daughter percussionists bring it.
S 7/11 - The Cleveland Orchestra @ Blossom. Beethoven's 9th. My friend Dashon is one of the vocalists.
W 7/15 - Ondatrópica @ Transformer Station. Colombian. Free.
W 7/15 - Jessica Lea Wilkes @ Beachland Tavern. $8 bet on what seems to be blues based rock.
W 7/15 - Matthew Sweet @ Music Box Concert Hall. Listed for M.
R 7/16 - Ex-Hex @ Grog Shop. They are a power trio including Mary Timony and they put out one of my very favorite albums of 2014. I already bought a ticket and I recommend them strongly!
R 7/16 - The Mekons @ Music Box Concert Hall. They were my show of the year in 2007 and if I didn't already have tickets for Ex Hex I'd be there.
R 7/16 - Pink Martini @ Gartner Auditorium (CMA). Pop orchestra. Sort of.
S 7/18 - Texas Plant @ Beachland Tavern. $5 bet on a local folk punk band.
T 7/21 - Cracker @ Music Box Concert Hall. They played my campus my freshman year and I didn't go. I was a lot lamer back then.
W 7/22 - Tamikrest @ Transformer Station. Tuareg desert rock. Free.
W 7/22 - Wolf Eyes @ Now That's Class. Noise.
W 7/22 - X @ Music Box Concert Hall. Original line up.
F 7/24 - Cake @ Jacob's Pavilion (Nautica), sponsored by Grog Shop. They got a lot of play when I was in college.
T 7/28 - Steely Dan w/Elvis Costello @ Blossom. Seems like a weird combination, but I'll take excuses to play Costello.
W 7/29 - Los Cojolites @ Tranformer Station. Mexico. Free.
R 7/30 - Blues Traveler @ HOB. Oh god, high school flashbacks.
R 7/30 - Black Tiger Sex Machine @ Rock Hall. Electronic. Also, they wear helmets.
F 7/31 - Hoots & Hellmouth @ Mahalls. Listed mostly because I've been meaning to listen to them.
August
S 8/01 - The Beach Boys @ Cain Park. I went once for nostalgia value and had a good time.
Su 8/02 - Bombino @ Beachland Ballroom. Guitarist from Nigeria. Produced by Dan Auerbach. Sounds interesting.
M 8/03 - Van Halen @ Blossom. David Lee Roth, not Van Hagar.
W 8/05 - Dick Dale @ Grog Shop. Presumably one day the King of the Surf Guitar will die, and you'll be sorry you didn't see him. Go!
F 8/08 - Phish @ Blossom. Of course, all of you Phish fans already knew this.
S 8/08 - KMFDM @ HOB. They keep churning out exactly what their fans want. That's sort of laudable, even if it makes their last several albums indistinguishable to the unschooled.
F 8/14 - Black Violin @ Cain Park. Another in the current vogue of classical musicians playing popular music.
Su 8/16 - Social Distortion @ HOB. Hi Al!
W 8/19 - Chicago @ Rocksino. Not going to lie, I like Chicago.
R 8/20 - Nikki Hill @ Music Box Supper Club. Roots R&B.
R 8/20 - Rasputina @ Music Box Concert Hall. Cello based weirdness, although the new photo has her playing a banjo.
F 8/21 - Idina Menzel @ Blossom. Seems like a weird venue for her to play; I guess Frozen really made her huge.
T 8/25 - ZZ Top @ Rocksino. These guys are one of the hottest acts in the quadrant.
R 8/27 - Barrence Whitfield @ the Savages @ Euclid Tavern. R&B. They compare him to Little Richard in this blurb, which takes some chutzpah.
Beyond
S 9/05 & Su 9/06 - The Cleveland Orchestra @ Blossom. Performing the music of John Williams.
T 9/08 - Jackson Brown @ Jacob's Pavilion (Nautica). I do want to see him some day, but this is not the venue for it with the acoustic issues.
T 9/15 - House Concert @ My Living Room. I can't announce who yet, but it'll be awesome, I promise. I'll post when tickets go on sale.
W 9/16 - Echo & the Bunnymen @ HOB. I have no idea how many original members will be present.
S 9/19 - Rhiannon Giddes @ Kent Stage. Solo effort from front woman of Carolina Chocolate Drops.
R 9/17 - Best Coast @ Beachland Ballroom. Their first album was fun. Haven't listened to the new one yet.
W 9/23 - ZZ Ward @ HOB. She has at least one good blues rock song.
W 9/23 - Scorpions @ Jacob's Pavilion (Nautica). I can always use an excuse to play the album where they perform with the Berlin Philharmonic.
R 9/24 - Calexico @ Beachland Ballroom. I need to listen to more of their stuff.
M 9/28 - Toro Y Moi @ Beachland Ballroom. My second favorite show of 2013. The new album is step behind their previous one.
W 10/07 - Aaron Neville @ Kent Stage. The ambassador of New Orleans.
S 10/10 - Stars @ Beachland Ballroom. One of my favorite indie bands.
S 10/10 - Josh Groban @ Playhouse Square. Tina Fey must have left him out of the gulag.
S 11/07 - Blind Guardian @ HOB. They did a metal album based on the Silmarillion. Props for that.
R 11/19 - Cowboy Junkies @ Music Box Concert Hall. My 2006 concert of the year.
W 12/09 - The Tenors @ Playhouse Square. Basically, it's like 2Cellos but with 4 Tenors instead.
S 12/20 - Straight No Chaser @ Playhouse Square. Still on my list for a cappella.
How do you find local shows? Try these: Beachland Ballroom & Tavern, Grog Shop, CSU Convocation (aka Wolstein) Center, HOB, Kent Stage, Agora Theater & Ballroom, Quicken Loans Arena, Night Town, Playhouse Square, Rock Hall, Cain Park, Blossom, Nautica Pavilion, Lakewood Civic Auditorium, Severance Hall, E.J. Thomas Hall (Akron), Musica (Akron), Akron Civic, CityMusic Cleveland, Now That's Class, Happy Dog, Euclid Tavern (aka, Happy Dog East), Mahall's 20 Lanes, Tri-C Jazzfest, Dionysus (Oberlin), Oberlin College, Cleveland Museum of Art, Transformer Station, Hard Rock Live, The Music Box, The Odeon.