A Little Bit of This, a Little Bit of That

     WBCN’s Ninth Annual River Rave (Tweeter Center, May 25th) is one of the exceptions to this summer’s lineup of tenured rockers. Sure to please the short attention spans of modern radio listeners, the event features more than 15 bands. Highlights include Beck (who will be doing a longer set the night before at the FleetBoston Pavilion with the Black Keys), Interpol, The Donnas (who are also on Lollapalooza), Hot Hot Heat and Blur. For a list of all the bands performing, check out wbcn.com. Another ‘more bang for your buck’ show is the 24th annual Kiss Concert (Tweeter Center, May 31st), which features Ja Rule, Michelle Branch, (who will be back in town at the Fleet Center on June 19th with the Dixie Chicks) Ashanti, Simple Plan and TLC, who despite having lost Lisa Lopes last year are not changing their name to TC. Kiss108.com has the full lineup.  Just a few nights later you can get your freak on at the SummerJam 2003 (Tweeter Center, June 2nd), featuring Nas, Li’l Kim, L.L. Cool J. and Ginuwine, among others.

Somewhere I Belong

     Although Lollapalooza (Tweeter Center, July 25th) features another Jane’s Addiction reunion, most of the other acts are newer alt faves like Incubus, Queens of the Stone Age, the Donnas again, Audioslave and Jurassic 5. Metallica is headlining the ‘Summer Sanitarium’ tour (Gillette Stadium, July 6th) which incorporates the same formula as Lollapalooza 2003, where an older, more established act gets a whole bunch of younger groups who have been changing the scene that the older group helped to create. On the bill with Metallica are Mudvayne, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit and the Deftones. Another traditionally consistent big bill of rawk is Ozzfest (Tweeter Center, August 14th and 15th) and in addition to Ozzy, you can expect some crushing music from 20 other bands including Marilyn Manson, Korn, and Disturbed. If you want to see the entire show, get there at 9 a.m. Seriously.

All I Wanna Do is Have Some Fun

     If you’re more interested in a Summer Sanitarium Lite, there is the Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow and Goo Goo Dolls show (Gillette Stadium, July 22nd) or the Irish version, in the ‘American Fleadh’ (FleetBoston Pavilion, June 21) featuring Black 47, Flogging Molly, Hothouse Flowers, Eileen Ivers and the Saw Doctors.

I Remember You

     Other bills that smack of an early nineties timequake are the Skid Row, Vince Neil and Poison triple bill (Tweeter Center June 15th), the Queensryche, Fates Warning and Dream Theater triple bill, (FleetBoston Pavilion, July 9th), and the pairing of Big Head Todd & The Monsters and Hootie & The Blowfish (FleetBoston Pavilion, July 19th). I think it would be cool if the back-up bands switched, and it was Hootie & the Monsters. Maybe more frontmen and backups should do this switcheroo. Hootie & the Revolution? Prince & the Gang? Big Head Todd & Oates? Hall & The Blowfish?

Keep on Loving You

     Have you kept on loving classic rock? If so, you might want to check out the ‘Classic Rock’s Main Event’ tour featuring Journey, REO Speedwagon and Styx (Worcester Centrum July 11th.) Be warned though, only REO Speedwagon has their original lead singer. Other classic rock acts back on the circuit include the triple bill of ZZ Top, Ted Nugent and Kenny Wayne Shepherd (Tweeter Center, May 20th) Fleetwood Mac (Worcester Centrum, May 27th and 28th) Boston (Tweeter Center, June 13th) Lynyrd Skynyrd, who have earned the proverbial ‘more selective appeal’ honor of playing at the Cape Cod Melody Tent (July 5th) and the Eagles (Fleet Center, July 15th and 16th). Heart is playing this summer (FleetBoston Pavilion, July 10th), and The Allman Brothers Band are playing with Susan Tedeschi (Tweeter Center, July 13th). James Taylor is back (Tweeter Center, June 28th) as is Neil Young with Crazy Hose and appropriate opener Lucinda Williams (Tweeter Center, July 1st). At the end of the summer Jimmy Buffet returns to town for two nights (Tweeter Center, August 28th and 30th) as does the Dave Matthews Band (Tweeter Center, September 8th and 9th) Both Aerosmith and Kiss are back in the saddle with a triple bill that also features newcomers Saliva (Tweeter Center, August 25th and 27th). With these two local dates spread out as such, some Aerosmith members will possibly relax at their South Shore homes. One has to wonder if they will have the other bands for a sleepover.

Come Along or Go Alone

     Other concerts this summer fall under the ‘you’d better go because they certainly don’t tour every summer, and you never know if this is the last time’ include Etta James and the Roots Band (FleetBoston Pavilion May 30th), Lou Reed (Orpheum Theatre, June 7th), Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (Gillette Stadium, August 1st and 2nd), the Dead, which is the Grateful Dead minus Jerry, and Steve Winwood (Tweeter Center, June 22nd), and Van Morrison with Solomon Burke (FleetBoston Pavilion, July 15th).

With a Little Help from my Friends

     Most of this season’s pairings make a lot of sense: Jack Johnson and Ben Harper with Kid Koala (FleetBoston Pavilion June 19th and 20th), John Mayer with Counting Crows (Tweeter Center, August 22nd). Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera (Fleet Center, August 5th and 6th) but others bills should be interesting in their diversity. Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band (FleetBoston Pavilion, July 27th) includes John Waite, Colin Hay from Men at Work, Paul Carrack and Sheila E. Wilco and Sonic Youth are playing together (FleetBoston Pavilion, June 23rd), and Grammy sweetheart Norah Jones and Gillian Welch (FleetBoston Pavilion, June 28th) are different enough to provide an evening of variety. Pearl Jam is playing two nights(Tweeter Center, July 2nd and 3rd) with punk godfathers the Buzzcocks. Both are promoting new albums, but you can expect to hear quite a few of the greatest hits from both bands.

(Pat Healy)