Get ready…
We’re about to drop not one week o’ live gigs on you… not two weeks… but three whopping weeks of concerts. Because I’m heading out of town next Friday for a week of fun in the sun. And I don’t want the This Week in Live Music deadline looming over me like the sword of Damocles. Or the sword of the Black Knight.
Let’s get to the bumper crop of gigs, shall we?
Tonight, The Cult, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Zola Jesus play the Rose Music Center, and Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Poison and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts are at the Reds stadium. (In deference to my good friend Dan Lewis, I shall resist the temptation to make any sort of Rick Allen/Reds pitching staff comparison…)
Saturday, Kississippi headlines the Fountain Square free show… and Air Supply is at the Rose Music Center.
On Sunday, list member Mighty Joe Sampson and I will be visiting the Burl.
Sorry, wrong Burl. We’re going to the live music venue in Lexington to see Lucy Dacus and Camp Cope – a great double bill that’s totally worth the trip.
Meanwhile, back in the ‘nati, Elf Power is at MOTR (7:30 show – $10… new album is good) and Frankie & the Witch Fingers play the Woodward.
On Monday, 5 Seconds of Summer, a band that I’ve not even given a single second of my lifetime, plays a sold out show at the Brady.
But the Brady redeems itself the very next night, as Bonnie Raitt and Mavis Staples take the stage on Tuesday. (The New Yorker just ran a great profile of Mavis… she’s the real deal!)
That same evening, Mary Chapin Carpenter plays Memorial Hall, and The Barenaked Ladies, Gin Blossoms and Toad the Wet Sprocket play Rose… I think that tour is called “97X Throwback Bands.”
The Barenaked-Gin-Sprocket show comes to PNC on Wednesday – it’s sold out.
Wednesday features another 97X Throwback Show: The Psychedelic Furs and X play the Peter Brady. Meanwhile, Bonnie Raitt and Mavis Staples will be up the road a piece at the Rose.
Plenty of gigs on Thursday:
- Adrian Belew is at Ludlow Garage – list member Dave Tellmann and I will be there
- Little Feat plays the Taft, with opener Ida Mae
- Ricky Nye plays an outdoor gig at the Behringer-Crawford Museum’s amphitheater
- The World is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die (yes, that’s a band name) is at Southgate
- RiversEDGE in Hamilton hosts Completely Unchained: Van Halen Tribute show (this show could set a new world record for jorts… and in Hamiltucky, that’s sayin’ something)
- Last and least, Jimmy Buffett plays Riverbend, or as I like to call it, Rumspringa for repressed middle-aged Cincinnatians
Next Friday (7/22), Three Doors Down and Candlebox play Timberwolf.
Saturday 7/23, The Drive-by Truckers and Lydia Loveless are at the Dayton Masonic Center… looks like I picked the wrong week to go on vacation…
… and Chicago plays Riverbend for the umpteenth time, this time with Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin in tow.
The Tedeschi Trucks Band, Los Lobos and Gabe Dixon will be at Rose next Sunday (7/24) and Trouble No More (Allman Bros. tribute band) plays the “Eat a Peach” album in its entirety, with openers Rebirth Brass Band and TWILM favorite Aaron Lee Tasjan.
Tuesday July 26th:
- Southgate’s Revival Room hosts An Evening with Slaid Cleves
- Collective Soul and Switchfoot play the Ovation
On Thursday, July 27th, Earth, Wind & Fire play the Rose, and The Outlaws are at Ludlow Garage.
John Moreland is the headliner for the Fountain Square freebie on Friday, July 29th. If I weren’t out of town, I’d definitely be there. Here’s a track from his new album, Birds in the Ceiling:
That same evening, bluesman Tinsley Ellis plays Ludlow Garage.
Saturday, July 30th is jam-packed with live shows:
- Willie Nelson brings the Outlaw Music Festival to Riverbend – Gov’t Mule, ZZ Top and Larkin Poe will join Willie & Family on the bill
- Greta Van
ZeppelinFleet are at the Coliseum, this is the rescheduled date from their March postponement - Sarah Shook and the Disarmers play Southgate
- White Denim headlines the Fountain Square freebie
- Railroad Earth chugs into the old Annie’s, with Buffalo Wabs & the Price Hill Hustle as the opener
- Melissa Etheridge plays the Fraze
- Kansas carries on at the Hard Rock Casino
- Kool Moe Dee is at Ludlow Garage
On Sunday, July 31st, Rose Music Center has a great twin bill of Buddy Guy and John Hiatt & the Goners (featuring Sonny Landreth)
Roger Waters will finally play his originally-scheduled-for-2020 gig at the Coliseum on Tuesday, August 2nd. The show is called “This is Not a Drill”:
“This Is Not A Drill is a ground breaking new rock and roll/cinematic extravaganza, performed in the round, it is a stunning indictment of the corporate dystopia in which we all struggle to survive, and a call to action to LOVE, PROTECT and SHARE our precious and precarious planet home. The show includes a dozen great songs from PINK FLOYD’S GOLDEN ERA along side several new ones, words and music, same writer, same heart, same soul, same man. Could be his last hurrah. Wow! My first farewell tour! Don’t miss it. Love R.”
On Wednesday, August 3rd, Glass Animals (no relation to George Glass… or are they?) play an outdoor gig at the Jan Brady…
… and Joe Bonamassa is at the Fraze (sorry, couldn’t bring myself to use “plays the Fraze” twice in one post).
Andrew Bird, Iron & Wine and Meshell Ndegeocello are at PNC on Thursday, August 4th.
Friday, August 5th;
- Ben Levin and Joe Tellmann will join other Pinetop Perkins Foundation Masterclass participants in backing Bob Margolin at the Lebanon Blues Festival. (The Festival continues on Saturday – schedule is here.)
- The Fabulous Thunderbirds roll into Ludlow Garage
- Tab Benoit plays the Taft Theatre
- Holy F*ck will be at Madison Live. Yes, that’s what I said.
Letters to the Editor
You are correct, Dan! It’s really no way to treat someone who has been nothing but kind to me. But it’s still fun.
Keeping it in the Lewis Family
Dan’s son Cullen has an excellent Substack with a new post every Friday. A few weeks ago he highlighted this great piece from Pitchfork about the perils of music streaming services. Money quote:
When music is so abundant and our attention is scarce, there’s power in adding more intention to your listening diet, more chaos, more risk. The thrill in finding music that is wired to your singular life is not that thousands of other people have found the same thing. It’s that the music becomes something confounding and unique, a true reflection of where you are and where you’ve been. The beauty of the algorithm of your mind is that it makes perfect sense to no one but yourself.
Jeremy D. Larson
Cullen is currently looking for a gig in NYC, having recently been laid off by Landor/Fitch in their latest round of cuts. He’s good people – if you know of any agencies looking for someone with his profile, please let him know. And speaking of a Landor layoff leading to better things…
List member Dale Doyle (the original d2) is now a Grammy voter. Which means we can blame him if our favorite bands don’t win. Or maybe we can just call Dale and pressure him to “find” 10,000 votes for Japanese Breakfast.
Album Cover of the (Three) Week(s)
It wasn’t “free indeed” it was 37 cents at St. Vincent de Paul, but I still passed on it.
