Our Summer Concert Season 2009

We've already started lining up our concert weekends for the upcoming summer, guess we are getting a little anxious. Looks right now like Bella is going to getting a full dose of concerts in the months ahead!

Our summer concert season will begin July 10th and 11th, when we'll be taking a road trip up to Minneapolis to visit our friend Molly, and to check out the Basilica Block Party there. It's an annual outdoor show they've had there for a while, but this year there's a special treat. The band the Jayhawks, whose song "Blue" was the first dance for Michele and I at our wedding, will be reuniting and playing their first show since around 1997. They'll also have the Black Crows, Counting Crows, Matt Nathanson (another of our favorites), and one of Bella's favorites from Pitchfork last year, The Hold Steady. Should be a very cool getaway weekend.

The next weekend, and the one I'm looking forward to the most right now, is the Pitchfork Festival July 17th through the 19th. I'll be going solo on Friday night, which should be an interesting night where four bands (including one of my favorites, Yo La Tengo) will let everyone who bought a ticket vote on what songs they want to hear that night, and their setlists will be based on the results. Bella and Michele will be both be going with Saturday and Sunday (this will be Bella's third year there in a row), and we're really looking forward to see the Flaming Lips, one of my favorite bands, closing out the festival that Sunday night, among many other great bands.

We'll be taking it breather for a bit then, and only having one day of music on Saturday, Aug. 1st, where we'll be heading down to scenic Tinley Park to see the Warped Tour. The entire day is made up of punk, pop-punk, more punk, heavier punk, screamy punk, and for a little variety, some punk. It's a lot of fun though, the bands never have any idea what the lineup will be each day, the biggest names get just as much stage time as the newest kids just starting their band up, and it's just a great way to see lots of music and find new bands. Who knows, we may even have to dye Bella's hair just for the occasion.

Last up is the big one, the one that's still a mystery at the moment, Lollapalooza. This one is a mystery at the moment, since the lineup has not been released yet, but I already have a ticket for myself anyways. We'll be deciding about bringing Bella (and Michele of course) based on what bands end up being there and what days they end up playing. The list of bands will be announced next Tuesday the 21st, as you can guess I'm just slightly anxious to see that. There's a pretty reliable rumored list of some of the top names out there though that you can see here. If this list ends up being remotely true, I'm going to be a very happy boy that weekend.

We still have to make it through a few weeks of spring of course til the summer season starts, we're hoping to add a few dates here and there (and Bella really wants a Death Cab for Cutie ourdoor show of course!), so we'll see what else we end up attending as the year rolls on. Expect a overjoyed rant from me on Tuesday the 21st though...