Cage and Beck Team Up for Tunes
Modern Rock
Hip ’90s hitmaker Beck is back, having teamed up with band Cage the Elephant for a collaborative single tune called “Night Running,” which can be found on the band’s current album, Social Cues. Directed by Jennifer Juniper Stratford, the video for the track mixes FX and gear to narrate a science-fiction storyline in which Beck lives “inside” a set of software as a controller, transporting Cage the Elephant’s Matt Schultz into a range of identities and places. The artists will team up again for this summer’s major co-headlining The Night Running tour, which kicks off in Washington state on July 11. Beck will also ostensibly promote songs from his own upcoming new album, Hyperspace, with its single co-penned by Pharrell Williams, “Saw Lightning”…
As mentioned last week, pop icon/diva and native Michiganian Madonna is prepping for the release of her new Madame X album (in stores June 14). Now we know that Maddie will also promote her newest record with a leisurely trek through a variety of theater shows and short-run residencies, including stops in Sept. 12–22 at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House in New York City; at the Chicago Theater Oct. 15, 16, 17, and 21; and at The Wiltern in Los Angeles Nov. 12–17. No shows are booked in Detroit as of yet …
Speaking of residencies, The Hold Steady will hold several of its own this summer on its North American Constructive Summer 2019 tour, which will launch with a run of three shows at The Crocodile in Seattle Aug. 15–17. October will find the band in the Windy City for a trio of shows: Oct. 22 and 24 at Thalia Hall, and Oct. 23 at The Empty Bottle. Additional stops on the trek will include Nashville and Boston, with most of the dates wrapping up by mid-September. For details and tix, visit www.theholdsteady.net …
And speaking of more live shows, you’ll find plenty of performances at the 2019 Austin City Limits Music Festival Oct. 4–6 and 11–13 at Austin’s Zilker Park. Known for its top-tier mix of big music names and cutting-edge bands and solo artists, ACL is much-anticipated every year, and no less this year with headliners Mumford and Sons, Childish Gambino, Tame Impala, Billie Eilish, and Cardi B. Also hopping on stage in Austin, you’ll find Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, James Blake, 21 Savage, Gary Clark Jr., and The Raconteurs, complete with Detroiter Jack White. Get details and tix at www.aclfestival.com …
LINK OF THE WEEK
Now that Game of Thrones has concluded, all we can do is watch the on-demand streams of the shows or listen to its music. One great pick is Florence and the Machine’s Thrones-inspired tune “Jenny of Oldstones.” Check out the live performance version on YouTube at https://youtu.be/ybUsle7TzGk …
THE BUZZ
Rain: A Tribute to The Beatles will take the stage at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids on June 30 …
Rockers X Ambassadors will stop by two Michigan cities on its fall 2019 headlining tour: Detroit (Nov. 6 at The Fillmore) and Grand Rapids (Nov. 8 at 20 Monroe Live) …
Iconic singer-songwriter Brian Wilson (The Beach Boys) has teamed up with The Zombies for a co-tour, with a performance at Detroit’s Masonic Temple set for Sept. 24 …
Michiganian-turned-Nashville resident singer Kari Lynch has spun her unique country-rock sound into a new studio album called The Other Side,out now … and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.
Comments, questions, rants, raves, suggestions on this column? Send ’em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com.