Even with the addition of the new Live Nation festival on Harriet Island and the reopening of Somerset Amphitheater, Twin Cities music fans will probably still have to road-trip deep into Wisconsin to see two of this summer's biggest outdoor tours.
The Dave Matthews Band announced its initial 2012 tour plans this morning with no Minnesota date on the itinerary, but the schedule does predictably include another two-day camp-out July 6-7 at Alpine Valley Amphitheater in East Troy, Wis. Meanwhile, Milwaukee's ever-enormous Summerfest announced that it landed the Beach Boys reunion tour on July 1 at the Marcus Amphitheater. Both acts have dates elsewhere the weekend of the still-festering Live Nation festival in St. Paul (June 23-24).
Matthews' new list of dates – his band's first outing in two years – goes all the way into mid-September. The tour will feature a cool trio of rotating openers: Gary Clark, Jr., the Delta Spirit and Brandi Carlile, the latter of whom is listed for the July 7 date at Alpine Valley (none is named for July 6). Tickets for those Wisconsin shows go on sale Thursday through fan-club pre-sale and March 9 for everyone else.
Tickets for the Beach Boys' Summerfest stop go on sale Feb. 25 through Ticketmaster, Wal-Mart and other Summerfest channels. Chances are good the tour – the first with Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine (and Bruce Johnston too) in over two decades – will come to the Twin Cities eventually, but it will probably have to be indoors. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers are also hitting two of the country's biggest festivals, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Bonnaroo.
Cross your fingers that we can still get at least get one or two of the other Bonnaroo headliners on an outdoor stage near us this summer (Radiohead? Phish? Bon Iver? The Chili Peppers will be in the UK that weekend).
