Thornetta, Nora, Cafeteras to Headline Wheatland

Modern Rock

By Kristi Kates | June 2, 2018

The Wheatland Music Festival is returning to southwest Michigan in September, with much of their 2018 roster already in place, including one queen of Detroit blues, Thornetta Davis, secured as one of the fest’s headliners. The 45th annual Wheatland, which will take place just outside of Remus, Michigan, Sept. 7–9, will also include performances from Americana/country singer Nora Jane Struthers; honky-tonk Carolina string band Town Mountain; folk singer and storyteller John McCutcheon; Creole outfit Joe Hall and the Louisiana Cane Cutters; traditional Irish  music band Altan; East L.A. Chicano band Las Cafeteras; and fellow California acoustic pop-progressive band Front Country. Get all the info at wheatlandmusic.org …

A triple threat of new albums are heading your way this month: the Dave Matthews Band will release its ninth album, Come Tomorrow, on RCA Records, and will accompany same with a lengthy North American tour that’s already underway. Shawn Mendes’ third studio album, simply titled Shawn Mendes: The Album, will feature Mendes collaborations with Julia Michaels and Khalid. And 5 Seconds of Summer is returning with its third album, Youngblood, for which it’s also kicking off a tour in August …

Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac are experiencing something of a revival now that new fans are being introduced to their music through TV talent shows like American Idol, and they’re capitalizing on the resurge in popularity with a 2018–2019 tour set to launch this upcoming October. The twist is that this will be the band’s first outing in decades without longtime member Lindsay Buckingham. They’re bringing in guitarist Mike Campbell as a replacement because the tour didn’t mesh with Buckingham’s schedule. Fleetwood Mac will kick off the trek Oct. 3 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the tour will continue through late March of 2019 with nearby stops in Indianapolis (Oc. 16), Detroit (Oct. 30), and Toronto (Nov. 5).

And in more festival news, get your Las Vegas tickets now for Sept.21–23’s Life is Beautiful Festival, which has a huge lineup of indie, rock, and electronic/EDM artists on the bill. This year’s roster will include sets from The Weeknd, Florence and the Machine, DJ Snake, N*E*R*D, Justice, Bastille, Chvrches, Foster the People, Cold War Kids, Arcade Fire, and more …

LINK OF THE WEEK
Did your favorite artist win a Billboard Music Award this year? Well, if your favorites include Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Drake, or BTS, you’re in luck. Ccheck out the full list of winners at https://tinyurl.com/2018bbma …

THE BUZZ
Wiz Khalifa and Rae Sremmurd are teaming up for a dual headlining tour this summer, kicking off July 21 in Detroit …
Drake is hitting the road this summer, too, for his Aubrey and the Three Amigos tour, which will be making stops in Toronto August 10-11, and Detroit Au. 14 …
Also on tour, but not until fall, will be Nine Inch Nails on its Cold and Black and Infinite trek; you can catch them live in Detroit on Oct. 22 and 23, or in Chicago Oct. 25 or 26, appropriately, just in time for Halloween …
And Grand Rapids band Conrad Shock + the Noise is firing up the buzz for itself with performances around the GR area in support of its blues-rock debut album … 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.