St. Paul to Top the Bill at Meijer Gardens

Modern Rock

By Kristi Kates | April 8, 2017

Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park just revealed the first chunk of their concert schedule for the 2017 summer season at the park’s outdoor amphitheater, with several big names on the bill plus a show full of woman power. The biggest news is buzz band St. Paul and The Broken Bones (June 9), the soul-pop outfit from Alabama that’s been making a ton of, well, noise, with their new album Sea of Noise, which helped snag them a spot at last year’s massive Glastonbury Festival in England. Also appearing at Meijer Gardens this year will be classic rock icon and flute player Ian Anderson (of Jethro Tull – August 18), plus that triple female threat of Mary Chapin Carpenter, Joan Baez, and The Indigo Girls (June 12.) The remainder of the lineup will be announced later this month…

A couple of festivals out of town would make great road trip destinations this summer, the first being the 10th Annual Roots Picnic, hosted by none other than The Roots themselves. The Picnic will also welcome co-headliner Pharrell Williams, plus performances from Lil Wayne, Kimbra, Michael Kiwanuka, and 21 Savage on June 3. And July 6-16, you can head to Ontario, Canada for the Ottawa Bluesfest (which is only partially about the blues), to see sets by LCD Soundsystem, Pink, 50 Cent, Phantogram, and more…

‘90s outfit Blink-182 are returning with a new deluxe edition of their 2016 album California, which will include 11 new tracks plus an acoustic version of their album cut “Bored to Death.” One of the new tunes, “Parking Lot,” has already hit alt-rock radio and is causing a stir with its cranking beat and uber-catchy punk chorus. The new California album will hit outlets on May 19, and will be accompanied by a tour that will kick off on March 22 in Austin and will keep them busy across north America this summer…

Jake’s Music Festival, a benefit concert for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, had held its event at Grand Rapids’ Wealthy Theater, but this year the fest is set to take place at The Orbit Room (also in Grand Rapids), with Papa Vegas headlining a bill of five bands. It’s the first new venue in ten years for the fest, which will take place on April 22. Rounding out that lineup after Papa Vegas, fans will get to set live sets by The JetBeats, PotatoeBabies, The Autumnatic, and Lipstick Jodi. Tens of thousands of dollars are usually raised for the cause each year via the tickets sold, so the fest needed to change venues in order to accommodate its growing audience; get tickets and more info at jakesmusicfestival.com…

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK
When he’s not coaching newbie singers on The Voice, Adam Levine is frontman for his own band, Maroon 5, who just debuted a brand new single on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show; check out their performance of the brooding, faintly island-seasoned track “Cold” (with rapper Future appearing on the studio version) on YouTube at http://tinyurl.com/lmvqf4o…

THE BUZZ
311, New Politics, and The Skints will all be topping a triple bill presented by radio station 89X at The Fillmore in Detroit on June 25…
Folk-rock musician Sixto Rodriguez, the subject of the 2012 movie documentary Searching for Sugar Man, will be performing at The Crofoot in Pontiac on April 22, with tickets on sale now…
Sublime is set to hit the Michigan Lottery Amphitheater at Freedom Hill this upcoming fall, with tickets already on sale for the in-demand rock show, even though the show itself won’t take place until September 9...
Also in September is another show sure to be in high demand, namely that of English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, who will be at the Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit on September 27 to continue promotion of his third studio album, Divide…
And even farther ahead, legendary noise-rockers The Pixies are now set for a live show at 20 Monroe Live in Grand Rapids on October 7… 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.