***UPDATE: Tickets go on sale Saturday (Aug. 21) through Ticketmaster at 10 a.m. for $41, $1 of which goes toward the band's charity efforts in Regine Chassagne's native Haiti.
At first it sounded like the Arcade Fire tour behind "The Suburbs" wasn't going to come to Minnesota, at least not this year. Now, not only are the Canadian indie-rock giants headed our way, they're doing so rather quickly: Their tour itenerary announced today starts with a Sept. 22 date at Roy Wilkins Auditorium, where the band also played in 2007 (one of the rare shows that sounded great there). Kudos to them and their agent for tacking us onto the beginning of the trek. Arizona's lovely desert-blown ensemble Calexico will open. Ticket info should be announced next week. You can check the fan site Us Kids Know (run by local blogger/music-geek/Twins-fan Kyle Matteson) for updates. That will be three big underground/indie/Current-flavored rock shows in under two weeks at the St. Paul mini-arena, since it follows the Sept. 12 Wilkins date with Pavement and the Sept. 19 show by the Flaming Lips. And then there's the LCD Soundsystem concert on Oct. 23. Love it or hate it, at least The Roy is providing a landing strip for these mid-level tours.
