Rapper-producer Lil Wayne, whose 2008 release Tha Carter III is one of the best-selling discs of the year, will perform Sept. 19 at the new BoK Center in Tulsa. Tickets are $139, $109, $75, $45 and $39 (air tank and compression not included) and go on sale at noon Friday at 1-866-7-BOKCTR.
Back in Beatles times, fans used to worry if their favorite bands went six months without releasing new material, but in the U2 era, you can wait three to four years and like it, consumer.
Well, Kings of Leon are bucking that by releasing their follow-up to Because of the Times, titled Only By the Night, a mere 18 months later. The Followills, who have family in town and spent their childhoods with their preacher dad on the circuit between OKC and Nashville, begin their tour this week at Glastonbury on Friday, and continue on throughout Europe during most of the summer.
Then, it is presumed, the States will get them. Something about Europe giving them a lot more love than they get here, but that undoubtedly will change.
Live Nation just announced that due to production delays, the first two weeks of Coldplay’s Viva La Vida tour have been rescheduled. The band’s scheduled appearance on July 10 at the Ford Center has been rescheduled for Nov. 16. All tickets will be honored for the new date. For more information and tickets, the Ford Center Web site, Coldplay.com or the LiveNation people.
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Tickets go onsale June 21 for Bob Dylan, Aug. 27 at the Brady Theater in Tulsa. For more information, go to BobDylan.com, Gettix or by phone at 866.443.8849.
1. Goldfrapp, “Happiness.” When I first saw this latest clip from Seventh Tree, I knew I’d seen something like this before. And as it is written in Ecclesiastes (turn in your pew bibles, please), there is nothing new under the sun:
2. Radiohead, “Sail To the Moon.”
3. Kaiser Chiefs, “Thank You Very Much.”
4. South, “All In For Nothing.”
5. Paul Weller, “Wishing On a Star.” Last month, sharing my brother’s birthday, Paul Weller turned 50, and his new disc, 22 Dreams, is his best since the Wildwood/Stanley Road days. This is, of course, a cover of the old Rose Royce song, because when I think about Paul Weller, I think about working at the car wash.
6. Spoon, “Everything Hits At Once.”
7. Electric Six, “The Model.”
8. Brett Anderson, “Intimacy.”
9. The New Pornographers, “Jackie, Dressed in Cobras.”
10. Chris Walla, “Sing Again.” The new Death Cab disc is a little low on ideas, but Walla’s Field Manual is boss.
The coolest people in the world are the ones who can dress and act like mad fools and still deserve your admiration because they’re abilities, talent and charisma trump any superficial impressions. In a town where cool is valued above all things except money, Jamie Lidell was king for a day.
Lidell began his career as techno artist, but by the time he was collaborating with Lo Fidelity Allstars on 2002’s “Deep Ellum”, it was clear he wanted to be a soul man. And he was in front of the packed El Rey audience, dragging along a band featuring a bongo player, a bassist, a drummer and a reedsman who could play two saxophones at once just like Dana Colley of Morphine, doing just that. Singing songs from “Multiply” and his latest, “Jim,” while wearing striped baggies and what looked like a too-small snakeskin jacket, Lidell came on like the truest believer in the power of classic R&B, but with an unquenchable desire to geekily tinker with his toys.
One minute, he could be singing like Otis Redding with a noticeable Terrence Trent D’Arby rasp, the next he would be hunched over his laptop, layering an audience singalong and his irrespressible and impressive beatboxing into a post-modern funk symphony. These exercises can be terribly boring in concert, but Lidell’s mad science kept everyone dancing.
For his finale, Lidell did his most recognizable song, “Multiply,” but instead of a laid-back, Macon, Ga.-style Southern soul song in the vein of Redding, Lidell recast it as a Wilson Pickett-style raveup, and it simply killed. I missed Lidell when he opened for Beck a couple of years ago at Cain’s Ballroom, and this made up for the loss. Jim, we need you to come back to Oklahoma and, give us a big dose of soul, pale Englishman-style.
Breathe Electric
Breathe Electric and The AB Theory play Convergence, 1755 NW 16, and the Kane Welch Kaplin Band performs at the Blue Door, 2805 N McKinley.
And of course, for all you five-finger button warriors, there’s Guitar Hero Mondays at Lit, 209 Flaming Lips Alley.
The Red Alert
Fat Wreck Chords band Strungout plays at 8 p.m. at the Conservatory, 8911 N Western, while B and Dylan do the Dance Night at Opolis, 113 Crawford, in Norman.
Also, Air Traffic, Norman’s The Neighborhood and The Red Alert, the young brother and sister team who started as the White Stripes tribute band, The Red Stripes, and are now doing their own glorious thing, play Cain’s Ballroom, 423 N Main.
The Police commissioners meet with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on May 7.
Making up is hard to do in pop music, and when major bands split the sheet, the reunion offers start flying before the ink dries on the divestiture contract.
But groups that beg out of their partnerships should know: there is a window of opportunity for viable, crowd-pleasing reunions. If you miss that golden moment, there is a good chance that a late regrouping will disappoint fans, and an equal chance that lapsed acolytes will greet it with deafening apathy.
Three recent breakup and reunion situations come to mind: the Police’s regrouping and recent re-divorce; the Velvet Revolver/Stone Temple Pilots/Guns ‘N Roses soap opera; and Sub Pop Records’ upcoming 20th anniversary festival, featuring reunited grunge legends Green River. Each represents found and lost opportunities, and at least one cautionary tale.
The Police fattened their wallets last year with a massive stadium tour over two decades after breaking up. There was interest on the part of Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers as early as 1999, but it took the band eight years to make it happen. By then, Sting’s cache as a solo act had been marred by horrifyingly lame mellow pop and lute-oriented renaissance music. And to accommodate his diminished vocal capacity, Police songs had to be transposed down so Sting could hit the high notes.
People bought tickets, but few raved about what they saw. So when the Police announced it would play one more fundraising concert in New York City this year before locking it up for good, the world said, “Whatever.” A reunited Police could have been great 10 years ago. Instead, they were OK at best, underwhelming at worst.
Here’s a fine idea when it comes to reunions: lead singers should stop believing the messiah in the mirror and learn to play nice. That sounds easy and trite, but Scott Weiland is doing it now with Stone Temple Pilots after a few years in a nonproductive relationship with Velvet Revolver.
Now, Velvet Revolver’s Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum are reportedly considering reality television as a way of solving their human resources problem. Meanwhile, there’s a guy who’s been working on a Guns ‘N Roses album for 14 years and cannot seem to keep any musicians around long enough to finish it. There’s a logical solution here, but when were rock musicians ever logical? Again, this should have been resolved 10 years ago.
On a high note, Sub Pop Records is hosting its SP20 Festival on July 11, 12 and 13 in Redmond, Wash. SP20 features bands from Sub Pop’s entire history with a special caveat: a reunion of Green River, the seminal grunge group whose members went on to form Mudhoney and Pearl Jam.
That is great news, but while I’m carping here, there is one great lost opportunity. Since Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam will be onstage with Green River, Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron might have a free day. And I hear Chris Cornell’s old bandmates in Audioslave have been raging against the machine lately.
Can Soundgarden not take a hint? Just a thought, guys: don’t wait too long.
Homer Hiccolm and the Rocketboys
By their name, you’d think Amarillo’s Homer Hiccolm and the Rocketboys were a psychobilly band, but we’re definitely talking Aware Records material — not that there’s anything wrong with it. They perform at 8 p.m. at the Conservatory, 8911 N Western.
Elsewhere, Hairy Apes BMX gets the funk out at the Deli, 309 White.
