Photo: Jason Thrasher

If you’re still looking for a way to spend the Fourth of July weekend out of town but not too far from home, don’t forget about the third annual Classic City American Music Festival in Athens.

The fest, from 1 p.m.-midnight Sunday at The Melting Point, will feature music on the indoor and outdoor stages from Packway Handle Band, Mountain Heart, Drive-By Truckers’ Patterson Hood, Art Rosenbaum and The New Familiars.

Tickets are $17 in advance and $20 at the door ($12 for those with UGA student ID). Children 12 and under are free.

The Foundry Park Inn, which houses The Melting Point, has special packages available that include accommodations and two tickets to the fest starting at $109.

For more information, visit www.foundryparkinn.com or call 706-549-7020.

Continue reading American Music Fest sets up in Athens during July 4 weekend »

Perry native Ernest Greene, who records under the name Washed Out, will preview his upcoming full-length debut album, "Within and Without," at the EARL on Saturday, July 2. Photo: Will Govus

FRIDAY
The Mosier Brothers
You might have seen banjo man Jeff Mosier, guitarist Johnny Mosier and fiddler David Blackmon as part of Blueground Undergrass, an Atlanta band that combined jam-band sensibilities with a bluegrass base long before that became almost commonplace. Jeff was also part of Col. Bruce Hampton’s Aquarium Rescue Unit, and played with both Phish and Widespread Panic. Before any of that, though, the brothers played together in the more traditionally bluegrass outfit Good Medicine and their current incarnation takes them back in that acoustic string-band direction. This gig celebrates the release of the band’s self-titled new CD.
8 p.m. July 1. $18; $15 in advance. Eddie’s Attic, 515 N. McDonough St., Decatur. 404-377-4976.

Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine …

Continue reading Live music picks: July 1-7 »

This year’s Dove Awards proved such a success that the show will return to Atlanta in 2012.

The 2011 Christian music awards ceremony, filmed at The Fox Theatre in April, marked the first time in the show’s 41-year history that it was held outside of Tennessee.

The broadcast of this year’s ceremony on GMC – formerly the Gospel Music Channel – was its highest-rated ever, with more than 1.5 million viewers.

The 43rd Annual Dove Awards will take place in April 2012, but a venue has not yet been determined.

Follow me on Twitter: @ajclifestyle

Continue reading Dove Awards will return to Atlanta in 2012 »

Jordan Knight (second from right) and the rest of NKOTBSB performing at Philips Arena July 22. Photos: Robb Cohen

It’s about two hours before New Kids on the Block will electrify a swelling throng of fans at Philips Arena with their new buddies in the Backstreet Boys and what is Jordan Knight doing?

Eating a piece of chocolate cake.

The slender, handsome Knight is wearing jeans and a blue and white checkered shirt over a white T – his normal attire before transforming into a black-clad heartthrob who, at 41, possesses impressive abs that he’ll occasionally flash to the receptive crowd.

In the bowels of Philips Arena, Danny Wood and Donnie Wahlberg walk down a hallway, Wahlberg’s sturdy boxer dog Lumpy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bedGtRS_uvg)  pulling him along.

BSB’s Brian Littrell, a Georgia resident with family at tonight’s show, also breezes by, sporting long shorts and a grin.

But Knight’s pre-show ritual in Atlanta involves nothing exciting, just dinner in a backstage …

Continue reading Jordan Knight has some ‘Unfinished’ business »

Britain's Wild Beasts hit the road in support of third album "Smother," released earlier this year. The band hits the Variety Playhouse Spet. 20 and tickets go on sale July 1. Photo: Paul Phung

POSTPONED
EWO Tour featuring Banky W, Wizkid and Skales. 9 p.m. July 2. Variety Playhouse. $40. TM.

ON SALE NOW
Chastain Series B series and mini-series tickets on sale. Tickets for the full series or any combination of two or more shows will be available online at www.chastainseries.com Full series includes two more show to be announced. Individual show tickets on sale at a later date.

• Bob Dylan, Leon Russell. July 28. Chastain Park Amphitheatre. LN.
• The Go-Go’s, Tom Tom Club. Aug. 9. Chastain Park Amphitheatre. LN.
• INXS, Nikka Costa. Aug. 14. Chastain Park Amphitheatre. LN.
• Stevie Nicks. Aug. 15 (non-table set-up). Chastain Park Amphitheatre. LN.
• Elvis Costello and the Imposters. Sept. 24. Chastain Park Amphitheatre. LN.
• Bryan Ferry. Oct. 1. Chastain Park Amphitheatre. LN.

ON SALE …

Continue reading Hot tickets: June 28 »

Photo: Kai Regan

If you were hoping to see Cee Lo Green on his summer tour with Rihanna, well, forget about it.

The Atlanta-based singer and current quarter of the coaching team on “The Voice” has dropped off the tour, including a July 12 date at Chastain Park Amphitheatre.

A press release cites “scheduling conflicts,” which prompts skepticism considering that the date has been on the books for months. Perhaps the additional exposure on NBC’s hit talent show is prompting Cee Lo to consider his own tour? That seems more likely than the other rumbling, that a much-publicized Twitter rant earlier this month – one tinged with anti-gay sentiments — regarding a negative review has caused the singer to bolt from the Rihanna dates.

Green’s spokesperson told The New York Times in a statement, “He always puts 100 percent into his work and with the requirements and time commitment to ‘The Voice,’ on top of heading back into the recording studio and an upcoming book, he feels that he …

Continue reading Cee Lo Green scraps Rihanna tour, including Chastain »

British soul-pop sensation Adele has rescheduled the dates that she was forced to cancel this month when laryngitis sidelined her.

She’ll play The Fox Theatre Oct. 16 – a size upgrade from her previously planned show last week at The Tabernacle.

Those holding tickets from the Tabernacle show will be automatically refunded for their order and given access to an exclusive pre-sale July 8-15 to purchase premium tickets at the original price for the Fox show. Those ticket holders will be contacted directly by Ticketmaster with further instructions.

Tickets for the general public will go on sale at 10 a.m. July 22 at www.livenation.com, the Fox box office or by calling 1-800-745-3000.

In addition to making good on the canceled dates, Adele has added six additional tour stops to her itinerary, including Oct. 7 in Atlantic City, N.J., Oct. 8 in Durham, N.C., Oct. 13 in Orlando and Oct. 14 in Miami.

The singer’s sophomore album, “21,” has spent 10 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the …

Continue reading Adele reschedules with fall Fox show »

Part-time Atlantan Keyshia Cole joins R. Kelly and Marsha Ambrosius for a concert at Philips Arena Saturday. Photo: Meeno

TODAY
Steve Miller Band
Miller’s timeless hits — including “The Joker,” “Fly Like an Eagle,” “Take the Money and Run” and “Jet Airliner” — are familiar to folks who weren’t even born when these songs hit the charts. His greatest hits set is among the 100 biggest-selling albums of all time in the U.S., with more than 13 million sold. And at 67, the enthusiastic and gregarious Miller is still a concert staple. As he told me in an interview in 2008, “My plan is to play my entire lifetime. As long as I can do it, I’m going to do it.”
8 p.m. June 24. $26-$75. Chastain Park Amphitheatre, 4469 Stella Drive, Atlanta. 404-733-4949.

TODAY
Paul Thorn
A former boxer and the son of a Church of God minister, Thorn has slowly built an audience with his scruffy charm and terrific songs that straddle the boundary between country and rock. He can be laugh-out-loud funny one …

Continue reading Live music picks: June 24-30 »

New Kids On The Block and the Backstreet Boys (NKOTBSB) performed Wednesday night night at sold out Philips Arena. The Backstreet Boys were formed by producer Lou Pearlman in Orlando in 1993 and have sold over 130 million records worldwide, making them the best-selling boy band of all time. According to Billboard, they are the first group since Sade to have their first seven albums reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200. New Kids on the Block (also initialized as NKOTB)  were assembled in Boston in 1984 by producer Maurice Starr; they enjoyed success in the late 1980s and early 1990s and have sold 80 million records worldwide.

AJC photographer Robb Cohen covered the event with his camera. Check out the photo gallery. What did you think of  the concert? Who stole the show? What were your favorite songs from both bands?

(Photo Credit: Robb D. Cohen/ www.robbsphotos.com)  For other concert photography linked to Access Atlanta, please visit  Atlanta ConcertPhotography Galleries.)

Continue reading New Kids On The Block & Backstreet Boys Sell Out Philips Arena Wednesday »

You know what’s even louder than the squeals of 15,000-plus 13-year-old girls?

The shrieking of 15,000-plus 35-year-old women.

At Wednesday’s NKOTBSB show – a boy band behemoth if there ever was one – the predominantly female audience howled, cried, clicked dozens of cell phone camera photos and joyfully wallowed in the 2 ½-hour nostalgia fiesta unfolding before them.

These types of novelty packages are always a risky proposition. Will fans still care about their teenage crushes 20 years later? Are those teenage crushes in decent enough physical and vocal shape to endure a lengthy tour? Was the music just a forgettable snapshot of a few years in pop culture or is it authentic in spirit?

The answers: Absolutely. Completely. Surprisingly so.

A decade separates the insane peaks of success for ‘80s hunks New Kids on the Block (Jordan and Jonathan Knight, Danny Wood, Joey McIntyre and Donnie Wahlberg) and ‘90s heartthrobs Backstreet Boys (Georgia resident Brian Littrell, Nick …

Continue reading NKOTBSB bring spirited nostalgia to Philips Arena »