Summer with Death Cab for Cutie

Codes And Keys, the new release Death Cab for Cutie, goes retail on May 31. Although passes for the band's short series of North American dates scheduled for May and June are all gone, the summer tour officially gets underway at the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion July 27.

Here's the full schedule:

Wed 07/27/11 Columbus, OH Lifestyle Communities Pavilion

Thu 07/28/11 Detroit, MI Fox Theatre

Mon 08/01/11 Boston, MA Bank Of America Pavilion

Tue 08/02/11 Brooklyn, NY Williamsburg Waterfront

Sat 08/06/11 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE

Sun 08/07/11 Columbia, MD Merriweather Post Pavilion

Mon 08/08/11 Cary, NC Koka Booth Amphitheatre At Regency Park

Wed 08/10/11 Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena

Thu 08/11/11 Alpharetta, GA Verizon Wireless Amph. At Encore Park

Fri 08/12/11 New Orleans, LA Lakefront Arena

Sat 08/13/11 Grand Prairie, TX Verizon Theatre At Grand Prairie

Mon 08/15/11 Phoenix, AZ Comerica Theatre

Tue 08/16/11 La Jolla, CA RIMAC Arena

Thu 08/18-19/11 Los Angeles, CA Greek Theatre

Sat 08/20/11 Las Vegas, NV The Cosmopolitan

Mon 08/22/11 Salt Lake City, UT Maverik Center

Tue 08/23/11 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheatre

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Member Review: James Blunt

BPD member East Coast Sarah writes:

Who knew England’s James Blunt, he of the high voice, sensitive love songs, and boyish good looks, would improve with age? Blunty - now 37 - played enthusiastically in support of his third album, Some Kind of Trouble, released last November.

Perhaps it was a case of Blunt, the former Kosovo military officer who struck musical gold with his 2005 ballad, You’re Beautiful although he’s never quite reached those heights again, finally finding the perfect venue for his soft pop-rock-folk music or maybe his confidence has just grown exponentially.

Whatever, the reason, the singer came out swinging off the top of his hour-and-50-minute show, running through the crowd from the back of the floor, stopping to kiss and hug an excited female fan, before jumping up on stage to launch into So Far Gone from Some Kind of Trouble.

Backed by a tight-sounding (and great-looking) five piece band, some of who wore matching grey jackets, Blunt - who alternated between acoustic and electric guitar and piano over the course of the night - was a flirty chatterbox too.

Before the show, he told me backstage “Make no mistake about it. This is a girl’s concert”. Then he went out and demanded the females in the audience take off their clothes as a source of inspiration for him to sing “like I’ve never sung before.”

He had few takers, but his performance was solid anyway.

SET LIST:

So Far Gone

Dangerous

Billy

Wisemen

Carry You Home

These Are The Words

I’ll Take Everything

Out Of My Mind

Goodbye My Lover

High

Same Mistake

If Time Is All I Have

Turn Me On

Superstar

You’re Beautiful

So Long, Jimmy

I’ll Be Your Man

Encore:

Into The Dark

Stay The Night

1973

BackstagePassDirect is a subscribers only service that provides full access backstage passes to its members on a first come, first served basis. We have these passes for virtually every relevant show in the US.

A 1 year subscription to our service is only $49 and it allows you to request up to five passes per show. Passes, if awarded, cost only $149 each.

Join us today!

Summer Bombshell: Maroon 5 + TRAIN

Maroon 5 and TRAIN have announced plans for a full US summer tour. Kicking off on July 22nd, the outing will encompass a whole bunch of dates before wrapping in Houston, TX this September. This tour will be an evening of music that will include over 20 charted hit songs from the two bands who have sold over 22 million records worldwide.

Gavin DeGraw is confirmed as the opening act on the tour’s first leg with Matt Nathanson set to join the outing as the show opener on the second leg starting on August 28th.

Confirmed tour dates for TRAIN and Maroon 5’s Summer 2011:

July 22 - Chula Vista, CA - Cricket Wireless Amphitheater
July 23 - Paso Robles, CA - California Mid-State Fair
July 25 - Hollywood, CA - Hollywood Bowl
July 27 - Albuquerque, NM - Sandia Casino
July 28 - Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre
July 31 - Mount Pleasant, MI - Soaring Eagle Casino Resort
August 2 - Charlotte, NC - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
August 3 - Virginia Beach, VA - Farm Bureau Live @ Virginia Beach
August 5 - Camden, NJ - Susquehanna Bank Center
August 7 - Mashantucket, CT - MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods
August 9 - Saratoga Springs, NY - Saratoga Performing Arts Center
August 12 - Wantagh, NY - Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
August 13 - Mansfield, MA - Comcast Center
August 15 - Hershey, PA - Hershey Park Pavilion/Stadium
August 17 - Nashville, TN - Bridgestone Arena
August 18 - Indianapolis, IN - Indiana State Fair
August 19 - Des Moines, IA - Iowa State Fair Grandstands
August 21 - Clarkston, MI - DTE Energy Music Theatre
August 22 - Toronto, ON - Molson Canadian Amphitheater
August 25 - Syracuse, NY - New York State Fair
August 26 - Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center
August 28 - Louisville, KY - Freedom Hall/ Kentucky State Fair
August 30 - West Palm Beach, FL - Cruzan Amphitheater
August 31 - Tampa, FL - 1-800-Ask Gary Amphitheater
September 1 - Alpharetta, GA - Verizon Wireess Amphitheatre
September 4 - Kansas City, MO - Starlight Theater
September 5 - Minneapolis, MN - Minnesota State Fair
September 13 - Auburn, WA - White River Amphitheatre
September 15 - Concord, CA - Sleep Train Pavilion at Concord
September 16 - Las Vegas, NV - The Pearl at The Palms
September 22 - Oklahoma City, OK - Zoo Amphitheater
September 23 - Dallas, TX - Gexa Energy Pavilion
September 24 - The Woodlands, TX - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

See the show from the back. Hang with your faves. This is what we're all about.

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Coachella Setlists: Arcade Fire and Kanye West

Just back from Coachella, BPD member Joachim21 sends in these setlists for Arcade Fire and Kanye West:

AF

Month of May
Rebellion (Lies)
No Cars Go
Haïti
City With No Children
The Suburbs
The Suburbs (Continued)
Crown of Love
Rococo
Intervention
Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
We Used to Wait
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Keep the Car Running
Wake Up
Encore:
Ready to Start
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)

KW

Dark Fantasy (with Justin Vernon)
Power
Jesus Walks
Can't Tell Me Nothing
Diamonds from Sierra Leone
Hell of a Life
Monster (with Justin Vernon)
Flashing Lights
Good Life (With "P.Y.T." by Michael Jackson intro)
Love Lockdown (With "Sirius" by The Alans Parsons Project intro)
Say You Will
Heartless
Swagger Like Us (Jay-Z cover)
Run This Town (Jay-Z cover)
E.T. (Katy Perry cover) (With "We Will Rock You" by Queen intro)
Homecoming
Through The Wire
All Falls Down
Touch The Sky
Gold Digger
All of the Lights
Stronger
Runaway (with Pusha T)
Lost in the World (with Justin Vernon)
Hey, Mama

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Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival 2011

In partnership with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Departmant, this year's Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival is scheduled for Aug. 12-14 at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. It's three days of music headlined by Muse, Phish and Arcade Fire.

This year’s lineup also includes The Black Keys, Deadmau5, MGMT, Beirut, Girl Talk, The Decemberist, Arctic Monkeys, The Original Meters, John Fogerty, Erykah Badu, Big Audio Dynamite, STS9, The Roots, Warren Haynes Band, Mavis Staples, Big Boi and Major Lazer.

Passes will be single day only. Request yours today.

Member Review: acoustic Jackson Browne

Member PammyP writes:

Jackson Browne is a renowned pop-folk-rock singer-songwriter whose hits have been recorded by himself and other artists of note, including The Eagles (Take It Easy, co-written with Glenn Frey) and Nico (These Days), over the last 45 years.

He was also responsible for producing the early albums of the late, great Warren Zevon.

So a solo acoustic evening with the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, who was signed to a publishing deal when he was a mere 17 years old, held great promise as the still shaggy-haired and lean Browne - now 62 - casually sauntered on stage in black shirt and jeans.

But if Browne's obvious strength was the songs and his confidence and charisma on stage, his unadorned singing was a bit rusty at times, along with his ability to remember lyrics, and when he wasn't talking, it sometimes became a pretty static performance.

He didn't do himself any favours by staying seated and hunched over for the entire show - save for rising to his feet a couple of times during Take It Easy - even remarking at one point: "It's much cooler to stand."

And without the accompaniment of a band, many of Jackson's tunes came across more somber than perhaps he originally had intended them although he did comment: "I don't have many happy songs."

To be fair, the format of the two-and-a-half hour show, plus a half-hour intermission, was loose and laid-back as Browne worked without a set list or teleprompter, letting the rowdy crowd - who never stopped shouting out song titles - often guide him to what he was going to play next.

Backstage, he confided that he had no set list. "I enjoy going out and winging it. But, I don't want you to think I'm going to do whatever they want me to do," he joked at one point. "I do have an idea."

During the show, sometimes he would literally be seated in front of the piano, like the request he heard and change his mind, and then move over to another chair to play guitar or vice versa.

SET LIST:

The Barricades of Heaven

Farther On

Rosie

Doctor My Eyes

These Days

Giving That Heaven Away

Something Fine

The Naked Ride Home

I'm Alive

Fountain of Sorrow

Somebody's Baby

Rock Me On the Water

INTERMISSION

For Everyman

Don't Let Us Get Sick (Warren Zevon song)

Life'll Kill Ya (Warren Zevon song)

Running on Empty

Love Needs a Heart

Your Bright Baby Blues

The Pretender

Sky Blue And Black

Shaky Town

Redneck Friend

The Load-Out/Stay

Going Down to Cuba

Take it Easy

ENCORE:

Before the Deluge

Member Review: Stevie Nicks and Rod Stewart

BPD member Al Batross sent us this detailed report:

Stevie Nicks still looks and sounds great at 62-years-old. Same goes for Rod Stewart, now 66, great flaxen hair and all.

Stewart told me backstage that he felt that Nicks was “one of the greatest rock voices of the era and the 21st century.” I didn't get to spend any time with Stevie. Something seemed to go wrong with the lighting about 15 minutes before the show began and she was preoccupied supervising the way she wanted it to be.

Her 80-minute set was composed of solo, Fleetwood Mac and Buckingham-Nicks hits plus Secret Love, the first single from her new solo album, In Your Dreams, due May 3.

Nicks, in a sequined, corsetted and ruffled black dress, and wedge-heeled black boots - a downgrade from her signature black suede platforms of the ‘70s - could also still move, if more gingerly, as she performed a signature twirl just minutes into her set opener, Stand Back.

And with her interpretive dance moves, long hair, and numerous accessory changes in a little black tent at the back of the stage that saw her work her way through two gold shawls - including one for set highlight, Gold Dust Woman - she conjured up her image from Fleetwood Mac’s heyday, especially when she hovered around guitarist Waddy Wachtel with her arms outstretched.

Other set standouts included the Mac’s classics Dreams and Rhiannon - which included a video of unicorns and produced the first crowd clap along of the night - the poignant Landslide, which featured pictures of Nicks family including her late father, and Edge of Seventeen with a loving, long walk around the stage by Stevie, waving to her fans and paying tribute to her musicians.

With his arrival Stewart transformed Nicks stripped-down stage into an impressive gleaming white production reminiscent of a ‘60s British music variety show with 13 musicians joining him, including three horn players (two women in heels), for his set opener, a cover of The O’ Jays’ Love Train.

“Good evening my friends, what a night!” said Stewart dressed in a gold blazer, white shirt, black tie and black dress pants, a shiny black patent shoes.

He then delivered his own, Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright), prompting a major crowd singalong, before returning to another cover with Sam Cooke’s Havin’ A Party.

Then it was time for two collaborations with Nicks (now in her signature black suede platform boots) with one slightly improved over the other but neither great - Passion (not so good), and Young Turks (only marginally better).

How about them doing Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around, Whenever I Call You Friend, or Leather and Lace - i.e. a proper duet from Nicks’ back catalogue - instead?

Stewart, who ditched the blazer and untucked his shirt pretty early in the show, also dug deeper into his five-decade long stash of well-known covers with Cat Stevens’ The First Cut is the Deepest and Bob Dylan’s Forever Young, the latter which he dedicated to his six-week old son - and eighth child - Aidan.

But mainly he seemed intent on having a good time over the course of an hour and 40 minutes, dancing around the stage, and swigging red wine, as he returned to such covers as Sam Cooke’s Twistin’ The Night Away, Tom Waits’ Downtown Train - complete with a Brooklyn Bridge backdrop - Tim Hardin’s Reason To Believe, and Chuck Berry’s Sweet Little Rock And Roller.

Stewart second dedication of the night was “to all servicemen, past and present,” during Rhythm of My Heart, which prominently featured his three female back up singers.

His standout outfit, however, was a purple suit and lavender shirt, which he donned for his cover of Van Morrison’s Have I Told You Lately, his own Hot Legs, the latter which saw him kick soccer balls into the crowd in his trademark move, the show-ending Maggie May and the encore number, Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?

STEVIE NICKS SET LIST:

Stand Back

Secret Love

If Anyone Falls

Dreams

Sorcerer

Gold Dust Woman

Fall From Grace

Rhiannon

Landslide

Edge of Seventeen

ENCORE:

Love Is

ROD STEWART SET LIST

Love Train

Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)

Havin’ a Party

Passion (with Stevie Nicks)

Young Turks (with Stevie Nicks)

The First Cut is the Deepest

Forever Young

Some Guys Have All The Luck

Twistin’ The Night Away

Downtown Train

Reason to Believe

You’re In My Heart (The Final Acclaim)

Sweet Little Rock and Roller

Rhythm of My Heart

Knock On Wood (by his backup singers)

Have I Told You Lately

Hot Legs

Maggie May

ENCORE:

Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?

Thanks so much, Al. Sounds like a great night.

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The Dynamic Duo Hit the Road

Kid Rock is taking his close friend Sheryl Crow on the road on the second leg of his US tour.

The singer/songwriter/rapper is touring in support of his seventh studio album, Born Free. The album, which was released in November on Atlantic, includes the single “Collide,” featuring Crow and Bob Seger on piano. The video for “Collide” quickly landed on the Top 20 countdown on VH1 and CMT. Crow previously teamed up with Kid Rock for the tune “Picture,” which hails from his 2001 album Cocky.

Born Free also features Martina McBride and T.I. on “Care,” Zac Brown Band's Zac Brown on “Flyin’ High” and Mary J. Blige on “Care.”

Last year Crow released her own seventh studio album, 100 Miles from Memphis. The album, which was released on A&M, features guest appearances from Keith Richards, Justin Timberlake and Citizen Cope.

Here are all the dates they'll be together:

Sat 07/02/11         Cincinnati, OH     Riverbend Music Center    

Sun 07/03/11         Milwaukee, WI     Summerfest, Marcus Amphitheater    

Wed 07/06/11         Burgettstown, PA     First Niagara Pavilion    

Thu 07/07/11         Hartford, CT     Comcast Theatre    

Sat 07/09/11         Mansfield, MA     Comcast Center    

Sun 07/10/11         Hershey, PA     Hersheypark    

Tue 07/12/11         Holmdel, NJ     PNC Bank Arts Center    

Wed 07/13/11         Darien Center, NY     Darien Lake Performing Arts Center    
       
Sat 07/16/11         Maryland Heights, MO     Verizon Wireless Amph. St. Louis    

Fri 07/22/11         Cheyenne, WY     Frontier Park    

Sat 07/23/11         Minot, ND     North Dakota State Fair Center Grandstand    

Tue 07/26/11         Wheatland, CA     Sleep Train Amphitheatre    

Fri 07/29/11         Mountain View, CA     Shoreline Amphitheatre    

Sat 07/30/11         Irvine, CA     Verizon Wireless Amphitheater    

Tue 08/02/11         Chula Vista, CA     Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre    

Fri 08/05/11         Phoenix, AZ     Ashley Furniture HomeStore Pavilion    

Sat 08/06/11         Albuquerque, NM     Hard Rock Casino Albuquerque Presents The Pavilion    

Tue 08/16/11         Cuyahoga Falls, OH     Blossom Music Center    

Fri 08/19/11         Noblesville, IN     Verizon Wireless Music Center    

Sat 08/20/11         Tinley Park, IL     First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre    

Mon 08/22/11         Bristow, VA     Jiffy Lube Live    

Tue 08/23/11         Virginia Beach, VA     Farm Bureau Live At Virginia Beach    

Thu 08/25/11         Raleigh, NC     Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion    
  
Sat 08/27/11         Charlotte, NC     Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre        
       
Sun 08/28/11         Atlanta, GA     Aaron's Amphitheatre At Lakewood    

Fri 09/02/11         Dallas, TX     Gexa Energy Pavilion    

Sat 09/03/11         The Woodlands, TX     The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

BPD member IMHO25 told us "Kid is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. He understands that he owes much of his success to his fans".

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Member Review: Queens of the Stone Age

Member and die-hard QOTSA fan EmilyJean writes:

After a successful run with Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones in Them Crooked Vultures, the lead singer Josh Homme reportedly nearly died during leg surgery in 2010. But he's back and writing the next chapter of his high-octane rock band by returning back to where it all began.


Queens Of The Stone Age - celebrating the reissue of their 1998 self-titled debut - performed the original album in its entirety (albeit not in sequence) before a frenzied crowd . And from the moment the band opened with the heavy, hard-hitting and relentless Regular John, you could tell they were running on all cylinders.


Backstage, the flow of booze was impressive. Even we passholders got in on the act. Out front, the swigs were kept to a minimum for most of the show, mainly because Queens Of The Stone Age rarely let up on the intensity or power of their performance. Whether it was the slightly more mainstream feel of If Only or the huge, bombastic blasts Homme, Van Leeuwen and drummer Joey Castillo created for Walkin' On The Sidewalks, the older material made the recent crop of radio-friendly rock nuggets seem a bit like child's play.


Aside from a few managing slightly successful crowd surfing, the audience of newer fans and diehards lapped up the punishing material such as How To Hand A Rope (A Lesson In The Lariat), a tune Homme wrote in reference to metal band Judas Priest being blamed for suicides in the 1980s.


After asking the crowd if they were having a good time, Homme and company dove into one of the evening's highlights in Mexicola prior to a quirky, retro-sounding garage-rock instrumental dubbed Hispanic Impressions that indeed made a memorable impression.


Nearing the homestretch of the album, the band definitely slowed things down with the extremely tame I Was A Teenage Hand Model yet raised the bar remarkably with You Can't Quit Me Baby that rounded off the main set.


The remainder of the evening featured Queens Of The Stone Age running through more of the recent nuggets like Sick, Sick, Sick and the slower Make It Wit Chu off of 2007's Era Vulgaris. Stopping to take requests, Homme also tossed in Infinity, a "deep cut" in the band's catalogue.


Regardless of which era fans wanted from Queens Of The Stone Age, the band delivered the old goods just as well - if not better - than the newer goods on this night. 

Thanx, Em. Hope you had a designated driver.

April has arrived and the concert scene is in full swing. So many great artists and bands will be performing in the months ahead. Want to get to hang with you faves?

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