Music Forecast April 11-17: Akron/Family, The Revival Tour, Bon Jovi and more
Artopia
Artopia, the annual Pitch-sponsored party at Screenland Crossroads, is a reliably weird celebration of art, fashion, food and, yes, music. In addition to burlesque performances, live painting and free shit from Accurso’s Italian Restaurant, the Melting Pot, Grace’s Best Cookies, Tallgrass Brewing and Smirnoff, $25 ($30 day of event) gets you a nice smattering of local music. Slated to perform: heartland rockers John Velghe and the Prodigal Sons, singer-songwriter Vi Tran, and DJs Brad Ireland and Joc Max.
Saturday, April 13, at Screenland Crossroads (1656 Washington, 816-287-0114)
Akron/Family
If there is such a thing as good, modern hippie music (and there is), Akron/Family has been quietly refining the aesthetic for about a decade. The group cuts its noisy psych-rock with cosmic freak-folk and sprinkles a little peak-era Grateful Dead mysticism on top. Its albums are relentlessly unpredictable without sacrificing approachability. What can we expect from the group’s latest, Sub Verses, out later this month? Says singer and bassist Miles Seaton, in an artist’s statement on label Dead Ocean’s website: “From Shamanic hypno-mantras to noise-damaged soul anthems to North African street frenzy, from droning microtonal balladry to modular synthesizer destruction to Lynchian doo-wop and back again.” Yeah, that sounds about right.
Thursday, April 11, at the Jackpot (943 Massachusetts, Lawrence, 785-832-1085)
Bon Jovi
I have now listened to the new Bon Jovi album, What About Now, three times all the way through. Will I ever play any of the songs again on purpose? Probably not, no. But for Bon Jovi, this is not a terrible album; I’d venture that it’s probably the best Bon Jovi album so far this century. Unlike, say, the group’s 2007 country-pop abomination, Lost Highway, What About Now is a rock-oriented record. Shimmering, U2-style guitars abound — come to think of it, I prefer these songs to most of the schlock that Bono and Co. have been armpit-farting onto the public for the last decade — as do sub-Springsteen populist lyrics about being down for the count and standing strong and never giving up. Yes, it’s cheesy and predictable. Yes, it’s about as rock-and-roll as the checkout lane at Kohl’s. But if you want to turn off your brain, stand in a crowd of about 10,000 people and hear some anthems, you could do far worse.
Saturday, April 13, at the Sprint Center (1407 Grand, 816-949-7000)
Howard Iceberg and the Titanics, with the Sawyers
Sometimes, all you want out of a Friday night are the basics: a couple of gritty Americana acts at a local venue and, let’s say, nine domestic beers. That is actually what I want every Friday night, and this week Davey’s delivers it. Howard Iceberg’s sad-eyed lit-rock tunes have earned him a kind of living-saint status in the Kansas City music community. He sets the stage for the Sawyers, a medium-gruff folk-rock act led by songwriter John Greiner. With Bonnie Montgomery.
Friday, April 12, at Davey’s Uptown Ramblers Club (3402 Main, 816-753-1909)
The Revival Tour
On tour years ago with his band, Hot Water Music, Chuck Ragan noticed that, most nights, everybody on the bill eventually ended up playing a couple of songs together onstage at the end of the show. He decided to build a tour around that idea of camaraderie, and in 2008, the Revival Tour debuted. It has become something of an annual thing, and it usually features former and current punks playing stripped-down songs on acoustic guitars. (Over the years, it has included Kevin Seconds and members of Lucero and Against Me.) At this stop, we get performances from Ragan, Rocky Votolato, Tim McIlrath, Dave Hause and Jenny O.
Friday, April 12, at the Granada (1020 Massachusetts, Lawrence, 785-842-1390)
