WHO: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers / Joe Cocker / Drive-By Truckers / ZZ Top / Buddy Guy / Crosby, Stills, & Nash / My Morning Jacket (openers vary by city)
WHEN:
June 1-Oct. 2
WHERE:
North America
DETAILS: The ever-grizzled Tom Petty is one of rock 'n' roll's most reliable live tickets, thanks to a back catalog that stretches through many a summer and a tight band in the Heartbreakers. This summer's installment of his world tour should be no exception, and it's also an indication of how he's responding to the music world's new, somewhat harsher realities. Petty's generation-spanning roster of opening acts is pretty savvy; it varies every night and includes the long-bearded, long-lasting Texas trio ZZ Top and the arena-rock-ready outfit My Morning Jacket. And Petty's management is responding to cratering CD sales in a smart way: A ticket to the show gets you a download of Petty's first album with the Heartbreakers in eight years,
Mojo, which comes out on June 15.
WHO: The Roots / Vampire Weekend / Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon / Clipse / "special appearance" by John Legend / & more
WHEN:
June 5
WHERE:
Penn's Landing, Philadelphia
DETAILS: The third installment of the
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon house band's hometown party, the Roots Picnic is an all-day affair in which the band gets together with a bunch of its pals and puts on a big show on Philadelphia's waterfront. The Roots themselves will perform double duty during a set of their own material and one where they back Wu Massacre, a Wu-Tang Clan splinter group made up of the Staten Island hip-hop powerhouse's Ghostface Killah, Method Man, and Raekwon. Also on the bill: local legend DJ Jazzy Jeff, surrealist New York trio Das Racist, and Vampire Weekend, whose inclusion will no doubt inspire more head-scratching about the exact nature of indie rock's racial politics.
WHO: Dave Matthews Band / Kings of Leon / Stevie Wonder / Jay-Z / Conan O'Brien / Flaming Lips ("Dark Side of the Moon" set) / Dead Weather / & more
WHEN:
June 10-13
WHERE:
Great Stage Park, Manchester, Tennessee
DETAILS: One of the first festivals to bring the British "let's all bring a bunch of bands into a field and call it a festival" idea to the U.S., Bonnaroo is a four-day affair that plops a bunch of music, comedy, and cinema into a 700-acre farm in middle Tennessee. Bonnaroo's great strength is in the breadth of its booking; it has been tagged as a "hippie" festival in the past, but any festival that allows the garishly costumed metallers GWAR, the saucy Nashville star Miranda Lambert, the chilly-yet-soulful Brits the xx, and the deposed late-night host Conan O'Brien to share a bill can't really be constrained by one adjective. (OK, so jam-band stalwarts Umphrey's McGee and Galactic are on the bill too, as is Dave Matthews. But c'mon, are you calling Jay-Z a hippie?)
WHO: Silversun Pickups / Against Me! / The Henry Clay People
WHEN:
June 15-Aug. 7
WHERE:
North America
DETAILS: The slow build of the Los Angeles band Silversun Pickups is something of a testament to the fact that tenacity works for musicians, even in the overheated, overblogged landscape that still refers to itself as "indie." You'd be forgiven for comparing the Pickups, whose first album came out in 2006, to another band with the same initials—the group's delicately constructed, reverb-heavy rock recalls the cacophonous early-'90s output of the Chicago standard-bearers of "alternative" Smashing Pumpkins. (Only the "bigger" production values give away the songs' 21st-century origins.) Opening is Against Me!, a politically charged Florida outfit with a stage presence that stretches all the way back to a venue's bathroom line.
WHO: "Weird Al" Yankovic
WHEN:
June 16-Sept. 3
WHERE:
North America
DETAILS: Every person throwing a hastily made "Bad Romance" parody onto YouTube should attend at least one show put on by the accordion-playing parodist who refers to himself as "Weird." He didn't invent the song parody, but his finely honed, often food-themed takes on popular hits of the day influenced an entire generation of yuksters thanks to their omnipresence on MTV—where they often appeared right alongside the songs they were sending up. Even more crucial to the wit of Al's food fights and polka covers was the sweetness at their core; sure, they were meant to be funny, but they were also homages to well-constructed pop songs. That he's still pumping out satisfying parodies (his R. Kelly-inspired ode to fast food "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" is almost as agonizingly twist-filled as Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet" saga) is a testament not only to his cross-generational appeal, it's a sign that pop music may not be as dead as some people are willing to claim.
WHO: Kelly Clarkson / Erykah Badu / Janelle Monáe / Mary J. Blige / Cat Power / Sarah McLachlan & more (lineup rotates on each date)
WHEN:
June 27-Aug. 16
WHERE:
North America
DETAILS: Sarah McLachlan's traveling circus of lady musicians returns after an 11-year hiatus, and its lineup might be the best the fest has had to offer. Unfortunately, not everyone on the tour is playing in every city, but highlights include inaugural
American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, who sprinkles her sets with left-field covers that she clearly gets a kick out of playing; the
Metropolis-inspired soul singer Janelle Monáe; the hard-living country ladies Miranda Lambert and Loretta Lynn; and the provocative dance-punk outfit Gossip. Tickets were apparently a hard sell, due in part to high prices and the rotating nature of the lineup. But here's hoping that Lilith makes it through what's shaping up to be a tough summer concert season so that this year's
Idol runner-up, Crystal Bowersox, can break free of that show's touring circuit and take her rightful place on the 2011 festival's main stage.
WHO: LCD Soundsystem / Pavement / Sleigh Bells / Robyn / Big Boi / & more
WHEN:
July 16-18
WHERE:
Union Park, Chicago
DETAILS: It's hands down the best-run of all the multiday festivals because of the way it balances community and intimacy, water's cheap, food comes from local merchants, there's a big record fair just off the main grounds. But the Pitchfork Music Festival is also a testament to the catholic tastes put forth by the online magazine throwing the fest, which often unfairly gets pigeonholed as a haven for indie snobs. Sure, the presence of the crabby New York post-disco outfit LCD Soundsystem and the reunited indie-rock stalwarts Pavement might bear out that description. But the futuristic robot-pop of the Swedish maverick Robyn, the hypnotizing hip-hop of OutKast's Big Boi, and the speaker-shredding take on pop-metal put forth by Sleigh Bells should put any notions of "indie cred" to bed quickly.
WHO: Paramore / Tegan & Sara / New Found Glory / Kadawatha
WHEN:
July 23-Sept. 19
WHERE:
North America
DETAILS: The Tennessee outfit Paramore, led by the flame-haired spitfire Hayley Williams, has become one of the best working live outfits in rock music since it first burst onto the national stage with its peppy call-out "Misery Business." Williams is an absolutely compelling frontwoman, whirling around the stage like a woman possessed as the band behind her powers through sophisticated, irresistible slices of pop-rock like the emo-honoring "That's What You Get" and the scorching "Ignorance." Tegan & Sara Quin, the Canadian twins in the tour's top support slot, specialize in snippy New Wave that's piercing and smart.
WHO: Lady Gaga / Soundgarden / Green Day / Arcade Fire / Phoenix / The Strokes / & more
WHEN:
Aug. 6-8
WHERE:
Grant Park, Chicago
DETAILS: Perry Farrell's traveling carnival of alt-rock acts has shifted to a three-day, one-city extravaganza. While its '90s bona fides are still in full effect—the reunited Soundgarden was on Lolla's main stage in 1992 and 1996; Green Day appeared on that same stage in 1994—the presence of Lady Gaga's pop spectacle and Erykah Badu's interplanetary R&B are a nod to the fact that "alternative" can probably use some alternatives of its own after congealing into a solid block of post-grunge acts and stuffy knowledge-worker indie acts. Thankfully, most of the other acts on the bill avoid those alt-rock traps—highlights of the lineup include the ever-cool Spoon, the brash Brits the Cribs, and the returning Canadian collective Arcade Fire, whose anthems will probably be a highlight of the weekend.
WHO: Slayer / Megadeth / Testament
WHEN:
July 23-Sept. 4
WHERE:
North America
DETAILS: Two of metal's most enduring acts—the "Slatanic" thrash outfit Slayer and the punishing, pyrotechnic-filled Megadeth—trot out sets featuring albums that celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2010. Slayer will play their blood-soaked 1990 epic
Seasons in the Abyss, while Megadeth will perform what this reporter believes is their pinnacle, the blistering, paranoia-filled
Rust in Peace.
