With a new record to promote, locally beloved Seattle area soul-rocker Brandi Carlile seemed like a good candidate to headline either the Basilica Block Party or the Minnesota State Fair grandstand this summer, but she booked a smaller outdoor venue instead: the Cabooze Plaza on Aug. 2. As if her star power wasn't enough to cram the place, elegant indie-folk hero Iron & Wine will open for her along with rootsy newcomers Anderson East. Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. for $56 through Ticketmaster and a variety of local outlets, including the Joint, Electric Fetus and Know Name Records.
Fresh from playing David Letterman last night with the Avett Brothers at her side and President Obama for her opening act (video posted below), Carlile tops off the busiest summer yet at the parking lot next door to the 40-year-old Minneapolis West Bank club. One big difference: Live Nation started booking there this summer in addition to First Avenue. Carlile's concert is a Live Nation show, as are Third Eye Blind and Dashboard Confessional (June 28), AWOL Nation (July 21), Charli XCX and Bleachers (Aug. 4) and Counting Crows with Citizen Cope (Sept. 13).
Other concert news of note:
*German synth/electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk will hit Northrop Auditorium on Oct. 7 midway through the North American stretch of their 3D Tour, which could be as stimulating visually as it is musically. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. through the University of Minnesota's ticket site. This will be the band's second time in our area since regrouping, following a 2008 stop at the oddly chosen Myth nightclub.
*A reunion first, '90s British rock band Ride will return to town after a two-decade gap to play Mill City Nights on Sept. 29. Those tickets will be available Friday at 10 a.m. for $35 through AXS.com. The Oxford-bred fuzz-rockers earned raves off their big U.S. reunion debut at Coachella last month.
*The annual block party most favored by record-store clerks and beer geeks, the Longfellow Roots, Rock & Deep Blues Festival -- they added the "Longfellow" part this year – will return July 18 and feature Brooklyn roots-rockers Miss Tess & the Talk Backs, ex-Squirrel Nut Zippers guitarist Jimbo Mathus, Mississippi bluesmen Kent Burnside and Jimmy "Duck" Holmes and local favorites such as Charlie Parr, Willie Murphy & the Angel-Haired Hipsters, Spider John Koerner, Black Market Brass, Fury Things, Eleganza and Savage Aural Hotbed. It takes place outside Patrick's Cabaret and Harriet Brewing near the intersection of Minnehaha Avenue and Lake Street. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. for $20 and go toward Patrick's Cabaret's community arts programs.
*If you missed our other report, the Minnesota State Fair has added grandstand shows by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Patti LaBelle and "A Prairie Home Companion." Apparently the under-60 demographic was already taken care of at the fair this year.