Concert Crop

June 14, 2006

Choosing which summer concert events you’d like to attend is a little like picking apples from a tree.  You want the most well-rounded apples, the ones with the most flavor, the ones that will be the most satisfying.  If you’re lucky, you’ll be picking those apples from an orchard that’s growing a wide variety of apples, in all colors, shapes, and sizes - and it’s luck you’ve got this year, indeed, ‘cause that’s definitely what the 2006 summer concert season looks like.
 
Starting stateside with the earliest event of the summer season, you can get down and dirty from June 15th to the 18th at the rustic Tennessee farm locale where the Bonnaroo Festival is located.  This is how southern hippies rock - the event annually welcomes a rootsy roster of musicians, this year including Blues Traveler, Les Claypool, Tom Petty, Nickel Creek, The Neville Brothers, Rusted Root, Shooter Jennings, and Bonnie Raitt; in an effort to draw the hipster crowd, the event has also added sets from the likes of Ben Folds, Bright Eyes, and, incongruously, Radiohead and Beck, with the bands playing sets on three stages.  Bonnaroo also offers camping, swimming, and batting cages for the sportsman (or woman) in you. That same weekend, the Vans Warped Tour hits the road, and will stay on their skateboard-and-black-eyeliner-cluttered bus until August 13th, trekking along with Less Than Jake, Helmet, Motion City Soundtrack, The Sounds, Senses Fail, Thursday, Saves the Day, NOFX, Anti-Flag, Bouncing Souls, Billy Talent, and Stretch Arm Strong all in tow. 
 
A little later in June, two more events are ready to branch out, namely Chicago’s Intonation Music Festival and the kickoff of Ozzy Osbourne’s famed Ozzfest.  June 24th and 25th are the dates for the Intonation Fest, an edgier event that features emerging or overseas artists such as The Streets, Bloc Party, The Stills, and Constantines, along with various jazz jams, DJ sets, and more.  At the core of Ozzfest, of course, are Ozzy himself and his crew - this year, the OzMan is taking System of a Down, Atreyu, Black Label Society, Disturbed, and Avenged Sevenfold on the road with him for his masters of metal extravaganza. 
 Moving into July, you’ll find a Coney Dog the perfect accompaniment for your apple - and you can get that Coney Dog on Coney Island, of course, when you spend July 15th at the 6th Annual Village Voice Siren Festival in Brooklyn, New York.  It’s an all ages and free event that runs from noon to 9 pm, featuring great live sets from a plethora of apple-cheeked indie rockers (and a few bigger names) such as ArtBrut, The Cribs, The Stills, She Wants Revenge, Tapes N’ Tapes, Scissor Sisters, and many more.  July is also the kickoff of our second Chicago event, the Pitchfork Music Festival on July 29th and 30th, which this year will offer up tunes from The Futureheads, Ted Leo, Spoon, Mission of Burma, Devandra Banhart, and Yo La Tengo. 
 
Two great musical events are ripe for the picking in August, just in time to wrap up the summer right.  On August 4th and 5th, it’s a little something for those of you headed to the West Coast - the San Diego Street Scene Festival, which will take up several blocks of the city and will feature sets from the likes of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Modest Mouse, My Chemical Romance, Tricky, The Futureheads, and Queens of the Stone Age, among others.  Also beginning on August 4th but running all the way through August 6th is our third Chicago event and the biggest yet - Lollapalooza, which will take place in Grant Park for twelve hours each day.  With the festival locale located right on beautiful Lake Michigan, you’ll see live performances from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eels, Death Cab for Cutie, Queens of the Stone Age, The Shins, Ryan Adams, Wilco, Flaming Lips, The Raconteurs (Jack White’s new band), Aqualung, 30 Seconds to Mars, The Redwalls, and many, many more, over 100 bands in all.  Also at Lollapalooza, you’ll find a Food Court with amazing Chi-town cuisine, the Lollapalooza Art Market, a Rock N’ Roll Petting Zoo, the Causeapalooza center with booths championing Stop Global Warming and other charitable and environmental causes, and a Hip Hop Workshop.  You’ll also have fun playing Perry Farrell’s Mindfield game at Lolla, using the entire Lolla grounds as a giant gameboard, and participating via text messaging clues and a cast of characters that will be scattered through Grant Park.
 
But let’s not leave the great orchards of other lands out - there are plenty of incredible concerts and festival events in Europe and Japan, too.  At the end of June (June 29th to July 2nd) you can check out the Roskilde Festival in Denmark, which includes the new Roskilde “Put N’ Take Lake” at which you can fish and swim (and perhaps pick more apples) after watching sets from the likes of Matisyahu, Death Cab for Cutie, Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Happy Mondays, Phoenix, Morrissey, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Editors, Goldfrapp, Kaiser Chiefs, and Sigur Ros; there’s also the more mellow Roskilde Lounge with singer-songwriters and electronica acts.  In July, bring your pickin’ basket to the Benicassim Festival in Spain from July 20th through the 23rd, with sets from Beth Orton, Echo and the Bunnymen, Madness, Franz Ferdinand, Rufus Wainwright, She Wants Revenge, Babyshambles, Editors, The Futureheads, Nada Surf, The Strokes, and Morrissey - or perhaps check out the famed Fuji Rock Festival from July 28th through the 30th in Niigata, Japan, with performances from Jason Mraz, KT Tunstall, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Hives, The Strokes, Kula Shaker, and more emerging acts at Fuji’s Rookie-A-Go-Go Stage. And, just like in the U.S., August brings more super concert festivals to Europe, from La Route du Rock in St. Malo France (August 11th - 13th), which will feature Franz Ferdinand, Belle + Sebastian, Calexico, and TV on the Radio;  Belgium’s Pukkelpop Festival (August 17th - 19th), which will include a Skate Stage for punk acts, The Boiler DJ Room, and The Dance Hall as well as appearances from Beck, Massive Attack, Keane, Radiohead, Belle + Sebastian, Daft Punk, We Are Scientists, The Shins, and more;  and, of course, the Leeds and Reading Festivals in England (August 25th - 27th) where everyone from Pearl Jam and Dizzee Rascal to Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Streets will be showing up to pick a few apples of their own.