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Welcome to Artcetera. Arts-and-entertainment writers and critics post movie news, concert updates, people items, video, photos and more. Share your views. Check it daily. Remain in the know. Contributors: Mary Abbe, Jon Bream, Tim Campbell, Colin Covert, Laurie Hertzel, Tom Horgen, Neal Justin, Claude Peck, Rohan Preston, Chris Riemenschneider, Graydon Royce, Randy Salas and Kristin Tillotson.
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Posts about Concert news
Train, Hagar, Smash Mouth fill in State Fair grandstand dates
Posted by: Chris Riemenschneider Updated: June 10, 2013 - 8:35 AM
Patrick Monahan and Train headlined the Basilica Block Party last summer and will be back to play the fair on Aug. 29. / Star Tribune file
The Minnesota State Fair filled in the missing names on its grandstand entertainment lineup this morning, and only two of the three shows are all about nostalgia acts.
The previously leaked Aug. 24 stop on Sammy Hagar’s Four Decades of Rock Tour was confirmed alongside an Aug. 23 date with the Under the Sun Tour featuring ‘90s one-hit wonders Smash Mouth, Sugar Ray and Gin Blossoms. One of last year’s Basilica Block Party headliners, Train, took the Aug. 29 slot with another BPP alum, Michael Franti & Spearhead. Tickets for all the shows go on sale Saturday. Here’s the rundown on each show:
Train with Michael Franti & Spearhead -- 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 29. Tickets are $47 and $37 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 15.
Under The Sun featuring Smash Mouth, Sugar Ray and Gin Blossoms -- 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 23. Tickets are $28 and go on sale at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 15.
Sammy Hagar's Four Decades of Rock with opener Buckcherry -- 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 24. Tickets are $35 and go on sale at noon Saturday, June 15.
P.O.S. joins MN Music on a Stick
Meanwhile, a few noteworthy names were added to two of the previously announced concerts already on sale: The MN Music on a Stick concert with Trampled by Turtles, Mason Jennings and the Chalice on Aug. 30 will also now feature P.O.S. and the Suburbs, which ups the value of that one twofold.
Also, influential Brooklyn rap vet Talib Kweli has been added as an opener to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s long sold-out gig on Aug. 31 along with buzzing young Chicago star Chance the Rapper.
Visa issues force Tricky to postpone First Ave date
Posted by: Chris Riemenschneider Updated: June 7, 2013 - 3:46 PM
For the second time in three years, Tricky has been forced to cancel an upcoming date in Minneapolis, this time due to visa issues getting into the United States that have put his entire tour on hold. A makeup date for his June 18 gig at First Avenue has already been set for October 8, around when he was already scheduled to return to the states for a couple festivals. Fans should hold onto tickets in the meantime.
The British electro-rap guru – currently touring behind a strong new album, “False Idols” -- also had to cancel a First Ave-promoted show at the Varsity Theater in December 2010. That’s when his tour bus reportedly got stuck in a snowstorm coming down from Canada, and they endured a 30-some-hour wait before he and his crew were rescued by a local farmer.
As was reported in a story that originated in the New York Times last year, visa issues have increasingly stymied U.S. performances by international artists in recent years. They've especially been a problem locally at the ever-wordly Cedar Cultural Center. There were no specific details provided in Tricky’s case, but he did issue a statement via his publicist:
“I'm really sorry to have to tell you that I have to postpone the forthcoming US dates.It is a situation that is compeletely beyond my control due to a US Visa issue. All I can do is go through the proper channels and secure the right visa. I hope you'll bear with me and I'll make sure that the rescheduled shows are worth the wait."
Nine Inch Nails will kick off its fall tour Sept. 28 at Xcel Center
Posted by: Chris Riemenschneider Updated: June 6, 2013 - 8:52 AM
Trent Reznor's last jump through town was for a Nine Inch Nails show at Target Center in 2008. / Jerry Holt, Star Tribune
***UPDATE: Ticket prices have been announced by the arena: $37.50, $51.50, $77.50 and $101.50.
Lucky for Twin Cities fans, Trent Reznor has decided to make Nine Inch Nails more than just a summer festival kind of band. His ‘90s assault-rock vehicle will play its first date on a newly announced fall tour at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Sept. 28. The show was announced this morning along with the rest of the two-month Tension 2013 Tour, the band’s first full trek in five years. Tickets will go on sale June 14 at 10 a.m. through the arena box office and Ticketmaster. Prices have not yet been announced. Pre-sale offers will be available via www.nin.com.
The tour will follow a summer of festival dates for NIN, including an Aug. 2 headlining performance at Lollapalooza in Chicago, plus big fest gigs in Japan and all over Europe. St. Paul’s show arrives three weeks after the Sept. 3 release of the new NIN album, “Hesitation Marks,” news of which the band surprised fans with last week. The first single, “Come Back Haunted,” is expected to drop today and will be available via iTunes with a pre-order of the record.
NIN’s last time in Minnesota was a Target Center concert in 2008. Reznor's crew also performed with a last-minute fill-in drummer at Xcel Center in 2005.
Connie Evingson to sing Peggy Lee at NYC's Lincoln Center
Posted by: Tim Campbell Updated: June 4, 2013 - 11:12 AM
Connie Evingson
By Tom Surowicz
It'll be a big week for Twin Cities jazz singer Connie Evingson. She'll make her debut at Lincoln Center in New York, as part of the all-star cast of "Swinging With the Big Bands," a two-night, three-show event June 12-13 that's sold out.
Evingson will share the stage with jazz superstar Wynton Marsalis, cabaret king Michael Feinstein, the ever-charming and disarming Nellie McKay, rising singing star Sachal Vasandani, and Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks, the Big Apple's premier classic jazz ensemble, and the band that provides lots of the music for HBO's show, "Boardwalk Empire." Talk about fast company.
"I'll be singing two songs from my Peggy Lee tribute show that fit the big band theme -- 'Why Don't You Do Right?' and 'I Wanna Be Loved,' " Evingson told us. "And there's a surprise for listeners, an illicit thrill. Before it was a big Peggy Lee/Benny Goodman hit, the song 'Why Don't You Do Right?' was written by Kansas Joe McCoy for the Harlem Hamfats band. The original title was 'Weed Smoker's Dream,' and the lyrics were completely different. And by request of jazz journalist Will Friedwald, I'll be doing some of those original lyrics from 1936."
Before heading to the city that never sleeps, Evingson has a big date Sunday in the Minneapple with amazing pianist Jon Weber, venerable saxophonist Dave Karr and the trusty rhythm section of Gordy Johnson (bass) and Phil Hey (drums). She'll revive her winning show, "He's Hip: Songs of Dave Frishberg," saluting the witty St. Paul-born songwriting great, at the Jungle Theater.
There are performances at 4 & 7:30 p.m. Sunday ($25), and good seats can still be had. Hey, look over there, is that my attorney Bernie in the third row?
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'American Idol' & Sharon Jones scratch Minneapolis concerts
Posted by: Tim Campbell Updated: June 3, 2013 - 3:52 PM
Sharon Jones, left, and "American Idol" winner Candice Glover. (Photos by Tom Wallace/Star Tribune and Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
Twin Cities audiences won't be seeing two soul divas this summer -- one veteran and one newbie.
Sharon Jones, 57, the dynamo who fronts retro-R&B act the Dap-Kings, canceled an album release and summer tour -- including a July 13 date at the Basilica Block Party in Minneapolis -- after she was diagnosed with cancer.
According to a statement, doctors discovered a stage 1 tumor in Jones' bile duct, but she is expected to make a full recovery after surgery. Typically, she was upbeat in facing the news. "Luckily we caught it really early and fast and the doctors say it's operable and curable!" she said in the release.
Promoters for the fundraising festival at the Basilica of St. Mary said they are looking for a new headliner for that night.
Meanwhile, "American Idol" winner Candice Glover, 23, and the rest of the show's Season 12 finalists canceled 10 of 40 dates on their summer tour, including a July 2 concert at Target Center in Minneapolis.
Slow ticket sales evidently were to blame after a continuing decline in ratings for the Fox singing contest. Last summer's tour drew only about 6,000 fans to Target Center -- less than half the size of the crowds it pulled during its early years when Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Clay Aiken emerged as marquee performers.
Concerts also were canceled in Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Tulsa and Oakland.
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