While California’s Coachella is generally regarded as one of the premier festivals in the country, things got off to a rocky start this past weekend. Reports indicate that some concertgoers had to wait for up to 12 hours to gain admission to the grounds, with a slow security screening process seeming to cause the inordinate delays. Comparisons to the infamous Frye festival – a spectacular 2017 clusterfuck which generated numerous lawsuits and criminal investigations – were thrown about, and some attendees were demanding refunds before the music even started.
On the plus side, Lady Gaga’s set was praised as one of Coachella’s best ever. And while Megan Thee Stallion’s show ran long – resulting in the crew cutting the sound during thee Stallion’s performance – the crowd was dazzled by the appearance of several guests, among them Queen Latifah, who rarely performs in public these days. Post Malone’s set was also a highlight of the festival’s first weekend, along with performances by the Go-Go’s and Green Day. Oh, and Senator Bernie Sanders took the stage briefly to tear Donald Trump a new one.
Aside from the logistical hitches, most complaints had to do with the prices of food and drink on the festival grounds. A Tik-Tok user reported that a taco, some nachos and two lemonades ran $102. Next weekend’s Coachella lineup includes GloRilla, The Original Misfits, Travis Scott and Kraftwerk.
Ticket Alert
Rapper Lil Baby will headline a lineup including BigXthaPlug, NLE Choppa and Loe Shimmy on Tuesday, June 3, at Toyota Center. It’s part of the “Wham” worldwide tour, subtitled “Who Harder Than Me” (no question mark, since I suppose we are to assume that it is not a statement that can be doubted). Tickets are on sale now, with VIP meet and greet packages available for Lil Baby and BigX.
We now segue from Lil Baby to Little Jewford, who served as Kinky Friedman’s sidekick for many years. On Thursday, July 17, Little Jewford’s Sentimental Journey Remembering Kinky Friedman will grace the Mucky Duck stage. Tickets are on sale now for a show that will include performances of Kinky Friedman songs, selections from the Great American Songbook and stories from Jewford’s long friendship with the Kinkster. I’ll bet there are a bunch of good ones.
A couple of hitmaking bands from the aughts will be in town soon. Swedish rockers The Hives will perform at the House of Blues on Tuesday, September 9, in support of their forthcoming album, the palindromically titled The Hives Forever Forever the Hives. Then, on Tuesday, November 11, at Warehouse Live Midtown, it’s UK’s The Darkness, who will also be promoting a new album, Dreams on Toast. Tickets for both shows are on sale now.
The Legendary Pink Dots have been, if nothing else, been prolific, releasing 48 albums since 1981. The Dots have also been consistent, spinning out a sound that has been variously described as avant-garde, psychedelic and artsy. Hey, these guys are based in Amsterdam, so what do you expect? The band will be on tour in support of its latest release, So Lonely in Heaven, with tickets on sale now for the Dots’ appearance at the White Oak Music Hall on Saturday, October 11.
Concerts This Week
J Balvin, the Colombian artist who played a huge role in the rise of the reggaeton genre, will perform on Thursday at Toyota Center as part of his “Back to the Rayo” tour. Balvin has been nicknamed “El Negocio” (“The Business”), and the moniker is apt, considering that he has sold over 35 million singles worldwide and been featured on the cover of Forbes magazine.
Although singer-guitarist Matthew Tuck counts Bruce Springsteen and Bob Seger among his biggest songwriting influences, his band, Bullet for My Valentine, has never been anything less than a rip-roaring heavy metal outfit. This year, the band is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its debut album, The Poison, teaming with Trivium for the “Poisoned Ascendancy” tour, which stops at the Bayou City Music Center on Thursday.
“Jazz rock,” aka “jazz fusion” has always been a tricky style of music. In many cases, the result of the jazz and rock combination leaned too far in one direction, too jazzy for the rockers or too rocking for the jazzers. Among the most successful in balancing on this musical continuum has been Spyro Gyra, a band that made a splash on the charts with its second album, Morning Dance, in 1979 and celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. Catch them on Saturday at the Dosey Doe.
Guitarist Bill Kirchen is primarily associated with the twangy sound of the Telecaster, western swing and country music, and with good reason. However, years before his stint as the lead guitarist in Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, Kirchen fell under the spell of Bob Dylan after seeing Zimmy “go electric” at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. The experience changed Kirchen – who was then a high school student – forever and, as he puts it, “ruined [him] for normal work.” Kirchen’s “Bill Does Bob” show will be on stage Saturday at the Mucky Duck.
