This Week's Best Concerts

I came across an article in the New York Times a few days ago with the headline “Rock’s Legends Were Messy. You’d Never Know That from Today’s Movies.” The author, Elizabeth Nelson, makes a fine case for the fact that rock star biopics – Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen), A Complete Unknown (Bob Dylan) – have, over the past several years, tended to whitewash elements of the artists’ history that would be too unbecoming. We don’t get, as Paul Harvey used to say, “the rest of the story.”

If, in the telling of musicians’ stories – whether on the page or on the screen – the time-honored trinity of sex, drugs and rock and roll is deprived of its first two components, then something important is missing. Is it crucial to the narrative that members of Led Zeppelin’s entourage did nasty things with an aquatic creature (some say a mud shark, some say a red snapper) and a groupie at a Seattle hotel where guests could fish from the balconies of their rooms? Well, yes. The episode is indicative of the depravity that sometimes existed within the drunken, drugged-out, amoral bubble that surrounded the band at that time, an atmosphere that led to serious consequences down the line.

Messy? Damn right rock stars were messy. In the case of Keith Moon, “messy” doesn’t even come close to describing the man or his behavior. But without at least some information regarding Moon’s many and varied excesses, the coexistence of genius and madness within the same individual cannot be fully explored. Many musicians (and artistic types in general) are flying on their own airlines. That’s what makes them so interesting.

And let’s face it. Most of us truly enjoy taking a vicarious walk on the wild side. A melted Mars bar residing in an orifice of one of the attendees when the bobbies showed up at Keith Richards’ Redlands estate during a Stones gathering? Along the same lines, speculation as to whether Stevie Nicks used alternate means of ingestion after her septum collapsed from massive cocaine use? The technique – one involving a Taco Bell burrito – that members of Mötley Crüe would use to conceal hanky-panky from their wives and girlfriends after a night on the town? Sure, it’s all prurient and salacious. Quite so. But hey, that’s rock and roll.

Ticket Alert

Swedish garage rockers The Hives will perform at the House of Blues on Tuesday, September 9, and tickets are on sale now. The band still has most of its original members, including lead singer Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, and yes, they still dress in matching black and white tuxedos.

It seems like just about every tour these days is connected with some sort of anniversary, and with singer / rapper T-Pain, it’s no exception. The “TP20: Celebrating 20 Years of T-Pain” tour will hit the White Oak Music Hall on Tuesday, October 21, offering a retrospective of the career (so far) of the man who made auto-tune a “thing.” Tickets are on sale now, and it’s a standing / sitting room only affair on the lawn, so plan accordingly.

Alt-rockers Sevendust will play the House of Blues on Wednesday, December 10, as part of a tour that commemorates the (more or less) 20th anniversary (see what I mean?) of the band’s album Southside Double-Wide: Acoustic Live. Don’t know if it’s an expectation of audience demographics for the show or just a band preference, but this will be a seated concert, with chairs on the floor. Tickets are on sale now and going fast.

The Christmas season seems far away during these lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t pick up tickets now for Mannheim Steamroller’s holiday extravaganza coming to the Smart Financial Centre on Tuesday, December 30. It’s just the thing for those who want to get marginally festive during the holidays but can’t stand to hear “Silver Bells” one more damn time.

Concerts This Week

Though he’s not sporting the extreme dreadlocks (which some say were extensions) that characterized his look in years past, Adam Duritz is still leading Counting Crows and still writing top-notch songs. The band will play the Smart Financial Centre on Thursday, with the Gaslight Anthem opening. ‘Cause Knowledge is Power: Counting Crows received an Academy Award nomination for the song “Accidentally in Love,” which appeared in Shrek 2.

There’s no one else like the Reverend Horton Heat. He has been called “the father of psychobilly,” he plays some killer guitar, and he has an intriguing world view, as demonstrated in songs like “Baby, I’m Drunk,” “That’s Showbiz” and “Bales of Cocaine.” Check him out on Thursday at Main Street Crossing.

Saxophonist Dave Koz will bring his annual “Summer Horns” tour to the Smart Financial Centre on Friday. The concert is billed as “the ultimate summer party” and promises “all your horn section favorites in one show.” As detailed in Bob Ruggiero’s Houston Press interview, Dave Koz and friends have released a single in advance of the tour, a cover of the Ides of March 1970 hit “Vehicle.”

Who doesn’t love Weird Al Yankovic? Nobody, it would seem, as Al’s “Bigger and Weirder” tour – his first in a few years – has been doing boffo box office (as they used to say in Variety) across the country this summer. The multimedia extravaganza will make a stop at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on Friday. Expect all the hits (“Amish Paradise,” “Fat” et al.) plus some deep cuts which have never been performed live.