Metro Pulse- Entertainment- Midwest
 
April 4th - April 11th, 2011

Eddie Vedder , lead vocalist of Pearl Jam, who was scheduled to play 1 show on June 28th at the Chicago Theatre to celebrate his UKELELE, had such an overwhelming response to this unique performance that a second show was added and put on sale at 5PM the same day of the original onsale (April 1) and, with little fanfare, promptly sold THAT SHOW out in less than an hour. This is WITHOUT the release of the new album , creatively titled "Ukulele Songs" which is slated to be released in conjunction with a Pearl Jam live/documentary DVD called "Water on the Road" done by noted director Martin Scorcese on May 31st. It must be his buddies in Evanston Illinois , where Eddie spent some time growing up, that bought all the tickets. In addition, Pearl Jam is also planning several celebrations/festivals in the US to highlight the 20th Anniversary of the band this year.

Seeing as Eddie is touring thru the middle of July with his solo efforts, no definitive announcements have been made on this Pearl Jam venture at press time.

This summer is also bringing out some vintage bloodlines in the history of rock and roll with Buffalo Springfield announcing a summer tour. This iconic 60's group, most famous for it's hit "For What it's Worth" spawned several superstars and, by extension, supergroups. Stephen Stills and Neil Young, who went on to form the nucleus of Crosby, Stills , Nash and Young were from this band, as well as the lesser known Richie Furay, who went on to form the band Poco, a group which was an early influence on the supergroup "The Eagles" . As a matter of fact, Timothy B. Schmitt, the current bass player for the Eagles, was recruited from a latter day incarnation of Poco. All 3 of these original members are participating in this reunion tour, which kicks off in their home state of California on June 1st. Ticket prices are scaled from a top price of $250.00 at the intimate Fox Theatre in Oakland (June 1 and 2) to $199.50 at the cozy Wiltern Theatre in LA (June 4-5) to the larger Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, which has a top ticket price of $149.00. The band is also playing the monstrous "Bonnaroo " music festival in Manchester , Tennessee on June 11th. The festival is celebrating it's 10th Anniversary this year with Arcade Fire and Eminem headlining.

No information on Chicago or Midwest dates for Buffalo Springfield at press time.

Seeing as this Buffalo Springfield reunion is a Live Nation tour, one would think that the ANCIENT baby boomers that remember this band from the "DAY" would be cursed into attending this reunion concert at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, our stellar Live Nation shed in Tinley Park (NOT). And/or at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy Wisconsin, not as bad as the Tinley Park venue, but a REAL hassle to get in and out of nonetheless, not to mention the predatory Wisconsin State Troopers hungry for Illinois license plates for traffic ticket revenue coming AND going to and from the concert.

How about an arena show at United Center or the Allstate like Crosby Stills Nash and Young a few years ago here in Chicago at the UC, the aging boomers would appreciate it. Besides, none of us could potentially get soaked, no pun intended on ticket prices.

Ironically, Neil Young ends his little spring outing/tour on May 7th right here in Chicago at the Chicago Theatre. This was to promote his solo release "Le Noise".

And, while we are preparing for Spring this month in Chicago, Bob Dylan is touring China and Vietnam for the first time, one of the founding fathers of Rock and arguably one of it's most prolific songwriters and a self professed "road junkie" , this is the first time he is exposing himself in these markets. Robbie Robertson, a member of Dylan's original group of back up musicians in the 60's "The Band" is in the studio readying his first studio release in 13 years, so you know what's up in Dylan's world.

Speaking of other Rock and Roll vintage bloodlines on tour this summer, add the Monkees, who play June 30th at the Holiday Star in Merrillville Indiana by Chicago AND the Who, who are rumored to be plotting a late summer tour, no info on this at press time, but the scuttlebutt is they will be pulling a distinctively unique set list from their vast song inventory, as opposed to touring under specific themes, like "Tommy" and "Quadrephenia" or even greatest hits.
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Jeff Beck ,in my opinion one of the world's GREATEST guitarists, played 2 shows at the Cadillac Palace Theatre on April 1 and 2 and reminded us of the vintage bloodlines of rock with a Les Paul inspired performance that included instrumental favorites from the Apaches and the Ventures among others, and celebrated the history of the guitar as he sees it in an amazing show. It was a testament to the enduring legacy of the timelessness of Rock and Roll when handled by a master.

Ravinia Festival in Highland Park Illinois is contributing to the vintage bloodlines of classic Rock and Roll on tour this summer with Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin and his Band of Joy on June 16th, even after he does a gig at the Auditorium Theatre on April 9th, Deep Purple on June 18th, Peter Frampton of Humble Pie on July 5th, and easing into the seventies with Steely Dan for 2 shows on August 12 and 13 and the Doobie Bros on Sept 2nd.

Ravinia.org is a great resource for planning outings to this intimate outdoor facility, it allows for a listing of all summer events incorporating a calendar format that provides an easy convenient overview of the season's shows, check it out as they have many GREAT acts coming in this summer and all tickets are now on sale.

And, with a second generation Rock and Roll bloodline slipping into the 80's is the 25 year reunion of the Cars, who are releasing a new CD "Move like this" but have yet to commit to touring at press time, same with Soundgarden, who are in the studio for the first time since 1996 but they DID tour a little last year, playing an invitation only show at the Vic here in Chicago as a warmup to playing last years Lollapalooza.

The Grateful Dead are planning a MASSIVE CD box set to celebrate their creatively inspiring Europe 72 tour which started on April 1st 1972 and is remembered by band members as one of their 3 best tours EVER. 2 years in the making, it will showcase the ENTIRE tour in a 60 PLUS CD set covering ALL 22 shows tentatively retailing for $400.00, go to Dead.net for more info. Sadly, it represents the L:AST tour The Dead played with organist "Pigpen" McKernan, who died shortly after the tour ended in 1973.

Sir Paul McCartney plans releases of his first 2 SOLO LPs (McCartney-1970 and McCartney II=1980) after the Beatles breakup with outtakes and extra cuts later this year in what is billed as "Deluxe Editions". He is also composing the music to "Ocean's Kingdom", a ballet piece for the New York City Ballet that is set to premiere this Sept 22nd.

Back to the future.
Speaking of the future, did you see the SMOKING hot photo of 23 year old Rihanna on the April 14th cover of Rolling Stone? WOW.

July 9th is a battle of the bands here in Chicago, no, ladies, as Katy Perry and Britney Spears play the Allstate Arena AND United Center on the same night respectively, the Perry Allstate show is ALREADY sold out whereas Spears has yet to announce an onsale in support of her recent release "Femme Fatale" as of press time.

Note that Spears has included a TOP face price of OVER $300.00 for primo seats , where Perry wisely stayed under $100.00 for the house in her pricing, in 2009 when Spears toured "Circus" her sales plummeted in the last leg of the tour, if one thing is obvious as our economy delicately recovers, it is the FACE PRICE of tickets to shows is KEY to selling them, there is massive resistance in the marketplace to tickets that are too high priced, both at the primary and secondary levels, NO MATTER WHAT THE SHOW.

To illustrate this fact, did you CLEARLY see the empty seats in the premium sections behind home plate and down the baselines in LA and New York for the opening day baseball games on 3/31?

Bob Seger, who plays the Allstate Arena on Saturday May 14th, gets the reasonable face price mantra, he is at $75.00.

Lollapalooza, the festival that is the highlight of the Chicago summer and that is celebrating it's 20th Anniversary this year, is slated for Aug 5-7, onsales start April 5th, go to lollapalooza.com for more details and PRELIMINARY band lineups. We are proud to say that we are locked for this festival to stay in Chicago thru 2018 at Grant Park, even though the promoters, C3 (for the 3 Charlies who own it, but not Sheen , you troll) out of Austin Texas, have recently expanded the festival to Santiago, Chile.

We mourn the death of Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore recently, a poignant reminder that all of us aren't getting any younger, in my opinion, he was one of the greats at playing the blues, he will be missed.

Ditto for Captain Beefheart, AKA Don Van Vliet who passed last December, a true Rock and roll visionary and recluse.

Till the next time   MD
Michael .E. Dehn
metropulseinc@hotmail.com