Madonna Plans One Big Dance Floor

April 12, 2006

Michigan’s favorite musical daughter, Madonna, has announced the dates for her upcoming Confessions Tour, which will begin on May 21 in Los Angeles.  Promising to “...turn the world into one big dance floor,” Maddie’s making plans for lots of disco balls and mostly songs from her newest album, Confessions on a Dance Floor, as opposed to more retro Madonna hits.  Tour dates so far (more are said to be in the planning stages) will include stops in Las Vegas (5/27), Montreal (6/21), and, of course, New York City (6/28 and 6/29), before she moves on to a final U.S. stop in Miami (7/22) and  European shows in London, Rome, several stops in Germany, and Denmark.  No Detroit show is scheduled as of yet - so far, it looks like the closest she’ll be is in Chicago on June 14...

Fellow female musician Aimee Mann is also prepping for her upcoming tour, backing her latest album, The Forgotten Arm - but Mann will be getting a boost from The Boston Pops Orchestra on two of her live dates.  The orchestra will bring their full symphony in to back up Mann during her two shows at Boston’s Symphony Hall on June 28 and 29.  The rest of Mann’s tour, in contrast, will feature just the singer and her guitar, making stops in Los Angeles (4/19), Denver, CO (6/20), Minneapolis (6/23), and Alexandria, VA (7/1 and 7/2)...

This year’s Lollapalooza event has been announced, and it will take place August 4 through the 6 at Grant Park in Chicago.  Eight stages will be available at this year’s show, with tix available now for 130 bucks, which gets you 130 bands - yep, you read that right.  Among the bands set for the 2006 lineup are the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eels, The Shins, Ryan Adams, The Flaming Lips, Wilco, Aqualung, The Redwalls, Queens of the Stone Age, The Secret Machines, Thievery Corporation, and Matisyahu - and, if that wasn’t enough of a draw, festival chairman Perry Farrell is bringing back the “Mindfield” game, making the entire festival grounds into a giant text-messaging scavenger hunt game...

The Goo Goo Dolls are back this month with their first album since their 2002 release, Gutterflower. Titled Let Love In, the new disc will hit stores on April 25, and the first single, “Stay With You,” is already streaming at the band’s website and should hit radio soon.  In addition to the new album, the Goos will also be taking the tour trail this summer, teaming up with Counting Crows for a series of live summer shows - and, speaking of Counting Crows, they’re also apparently in the pre-album stages, reportedly writing and making preparations for a new disc, although no target release date has been chosen...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:  Not one, but two great links this week!  Irish supergroup Danu performed in Harbor Springs, MI, last week to a sold-out crowd, fresh from their appearance on the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn.  Brought to town by the Blissfest Organization, the show was taped for future broadcast on NPR’s Our Front Porch show, with the talented (and funny!) six-member group performing a mix of Irish ballads and rollicking jigs, bringing one of their crew members out partway through the show to do a little Irish footwork right on stage.  You can find out more about Danu at www.danu.net, and you might also want to check out www.blissfest.org, where you can get the latest news on more upcoming shows (including Kiyoshi Nagata and the Michigan SongFest), plus a jump-start on this year’s Blissfest, which is set for July 7 through the 9...

MINI BUZZ:
French buzz indie rockers Phoenix will play a few U.S. dates in support of their third album, It’s Never Been Like That, which will hit stores on May 23; Phoenix tour dates will include Washington DC (5/6), Philadelphia (5/7), and NYC (5/10)...
Jason Mraz’ upcoming May tour will include stops in Fort Myers, FL (5/9), Atlanta, GA (5/11), Indianapolis (5/14), and Royal Oak, Michigan, where he’ll play at the Royal Oak Music Theater...
Pearl Jam will appear as musical guest on Saturday Night Live on tax day, April 15...
Lifehouse will begin an East Coast tour this week that will run to the end of the month, and they’re bringing along Matt White as opening act...
Foo Fighters will begin rehearsing in a few weeks for their upcoming acoustic tour in support of their new double album, In Your Honour...
And rumor has it that The Replacements may be reuniting - we’ll keep you updated...

In the meantime, here are this week’s new releases... ON CD:  the long-awaited new release from The Vines, Vision Valley... Rainer Maria’s Catastrophe Keeps Us Together... The Alarm’s The Best of the Alarm... Blue October’s Foiled... Placebo’s Meds... and Massive Attack’s Collected... ON DVD:  the also much-anticipated Gorillaz: Demon Days Live at the Manchester Opera House... and The Who’s Music in Review: The Essential Music of the Who - The Moon Years... Death Cab for Cutie’s Directions... and Pink Floyd’s Reflections and Echoes... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions?  Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com!