R&B icon Patti LaBelle who has been inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame, Songwriters' Hall of Fame and Apollo Hall of Fame has announced a few winter tour dates in early 2014 that will include a return to the Triangle.
LaBelle will once again play the Durham Performing Arts Center on Saturday, January 11. Tickets are on sale now via the venue box office and Ticketmaster for $55 to $125.
She will also play the War Memorial Auditorium in Greensboro the following night, Sunday, January 12. Tickets for that show go on sale at 10 a.m. on Thursday, November 14, via Ticketmaster for $49 to $95.
R&B superstar R. Kelly had announced his Single Ladies Tour a while back, but he's just added a few new shows and he'll make his way to the Triad.
He'll perform at War Memorial Auditorium in Greensboro on Friday, December 7. Tamia will open. Tickets go on sale today, November 2 at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster for $45 to $125.
Check out the music video for the song "Feelin' Single" from Kelly's new album Write Me Back below.
Acclaimed country singer-songwriter Lyle Lovett is hitting the road this fall with His Acoustic Group in support of his latest album, Release Me, released earlier this year.
The tour will bring Lovett to the War Memorial Auditorium at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex on Friday, November 16. Tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster for $34.50 to $65.
Check out Lovett and the band performing "Isn't That So" from Release Me live on The View earlier this year below.
For those who may have missed the all-star tribute to Jimi Hendrix, dubbed Experience Hendrix, when it came to the Durham Performing Arts Center in 2010, never fear, because they're hitting the road again in the spring.
The tour will stop at the War Memorial Auditorium in Greensboro on Wednesday, March 7. Tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster for $39 to $75.
The new tour features and number of performers featured on the 2010 tour as well as some new faces. The Greensboro lineup includes Billy Cox (of The Band of Gypsies and Jimi Hendrix Experience), Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, Robert Randolph, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Dweezil Zappa, Brad Whitford (of Aerosmith), The Slide Brothers, Chris Layton (of Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble) and Mato of Indigenous.
Country music legend Merle Haggard is still going strong at 74 years old. He released a new album titled Working in Tennessee in October and will hit the road to support it in 2012.
The tour will stop at the War Memorial Auditorium in Greensboro on Saturday, April 14. Ticket info is not available yet, but we'll keep you posted. Tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster outlets for $37.50, $44.50 or $57.50.
Check out the jaunty title track from Working in Tennessee below.
Kentucky's indie/southern/jam rock band (or however you choose to describe them), My Morning Jacket, is touring hard supporting their latest album, Circuital. A new round of U.S. dates have been announced for December which will bring the band to the Triad.
They'll play the War Memorial Auditorium in Greensboro on Monday, December 12. Delta Spirit will open the show. Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. on Friday, September 23 for $47 via Ticketmaster and the Greensboro Coliseum box office.
Check out a video of the band performing "Holdin' on to Black Metal," found on Circuital, at the Lollapalooza Festival last month below.
Legendary alternative band the Pixies are hitting the road again this fall on what they're dubbing the Lost Cities Tour. It will take the band to cities that they've never played during their career.
The Pixies will play Greensboro's War Memorial Auditorium on Tuesday, November 8. Surfer Blood will open. Ticket sales will begin Friday, July 15, at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster and the Greensboro Coliseum box office. They'll be $39.50 or $49.50.
Check out a video below of the band performing "Wave of Mutilation," "Gouge Away," "Tame" and "Debaser" at the Summer Sonic Festival in Japan in 2010.
Country legend Loretta Lynn will be playing occasional dates in 2011 and will be heading to the Triad in February.
She'll play the War Memorial Auditorium in Greensboro on Sunday, February 27. Tickets info is not available yet, but we'll keep you posted.
[UPDATE: Greensboro tickets will go on sale Friday, December 10 at 10 a.m. for $53.90 or $64.70 via the box office or Ticketmaster.]
She will also play Ovens Auditorium in Charlotte on Saturday, February 26. Tickets for that show will go on sale on Friday, December 10 at 10 a.m. for $53.45 to $64.75 via the box office or Ticketmaster.
After Thursday night's Smashing Pumpkins show in Greensboro, it's obvious that Billy Corgan should have left the Pumpkins legacy alone.
The Pumpkins took the stage at War Memorial Auditorium opening with "Where Boys Fear To Tread" from Mellon Collie. It was obvious from the beginning that it was going to be a long night. The sound in the auditorium was awful and the band's loud, super-fuzz guitars sounded like a blurred wash of sound all night. "Where Boys" and the second song, Siamese Dream's "Cherub Rock" were both disappointing. The songs were sloppily played and unimpressive.
Throughout the night when they pulled out the "hits," Corgan sang them with such disdain, it made them hard to enjoy. He slurred the words on "Today" and "Tonight, Tonight" like he really was playing them out of total obligation and with no emotion at all. "Tonight, Tonight" and "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" among other old songs were played way too fast. "Tonight" was so fast it just wasn't enjoyable.
Corgan actually seemed to put forth an effort on the new songs from Zeitgeist. Unfortunately, most of those songs are just an awful attempt to recapture the Pumpkins heyday. The first single, "Tarantula," and "Bring the Light" were tolerable, but the other songs were painful. Fortunately the set only included four new songs, but, unfortunately the dreadfully repetitive ten-minute-plus song "United States" was among them. Corgan actually played "The Star Spangled Banner" towards the end of the song making it even more atrocious. I guess he thinks he's Hendrix.
Corgan played two songs solo in the middle of the set including "For God and Country." The lyrics are trite, repeating "For God and country, I'll fight, for God and country, I'll die." I don't know what Corgan was going for when he was writing that song, but it didn't work. He followed the song with the uber-crowd pleaser "1979." It got the crowd's lighters and cell phones in the air. The solo version of the Mellon Collie hit was respectable.
The band's set list choices seemed to bore and annoy many fans that night. Numerous people complained that "Zero" wasn't played and a lot the crowd sat through a large portion of the set. It's not surprising that the crowd didn't take to the set, but some of the more obscure songs made for the best songs of the set.
"Hummer" from Siamese Dream, "Stand Inside Your Love" from Machina/The Machines of God and the old obscure song "Drown" were the highlights of the show. The obscure "1979" b-side "Set the Ray To Jerry" was also a nice addition to the set.
Even though the Pumpkins played a few well-played obscure songs in the set, they managed to pull a Titanic at end of the set. The last two songs of the main set were "United States," mentioned above, and "Heavy Metal Machine" from Machina/The Machines of God. Just when you think the show can't get any worse, the band drug the song out for at least 15 minutes including a string of covers in the end. R.E.M.'s "The One I Love" was first up. It wasn't awful, but it did not suit Pumpkins. Next came an unidentified blues song and then the biggest travesty of the night. The played The Arrows tune "I Love Rock N' Roll" made famous by Joan Jett. Corgan made a fool of himself getting people to sing along to the lyrics. "Open your hearts," he said. "I'm up here in some pirate clothes, you gotta sing." He did look ridiculous in his aqua blue outfit (see an picture of the outfit from the Boston show). I find it odd that he seems to think fans expect him to dress like a jackass.
The band left the stage for about 5 minutes before coming out to play the an anticlimactic one-song encore. They played the song "Starla" from the 1994 b-sides album Pices Iscariot. The song wasn't particularly impressive and left the crowd, myself included, a little puzzled when that was it. Much of the crowd grumbled while making their way out of the venue and many seemed a bit confused. The encore was certainly was the icing on top of the very crappy cake that was the show.
The Smashing Pumpkins either need to leave the past in the past and focus on the evolution of the band's sound or embrace the past and play the old hits with as much conviction as the new tunes. They seem to want it both ways and it doesn't work.
---------- Here's the full setlist.
Where Boys Fear To Tread Cherub Rock Drown Bring the Light Tonight, Tonight Tarantula Home Hummer Bullet With Butterfly Wings For God and Country (Corgan solo) 1979 (Corgan solo) To Sheila Set the Ray To Jerry Today Stand Inside Your Love United States Heavy Metal Machine [The One I Love] [blues song] [I Love Rock N' Roll] ----- Starla
Here's a video of "Hummer," a highlight of the set.
R&B icon Patti LaBelle who has been inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame, Songwriters' Hall of Fame and Apollo Hall of Fame has announced a few winter tour dates in early 2014 that will include a return to the Triangle.
