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JUNE 7
Jeff Beck
Wolf Trap, $25 lawn
People get ready for the new
Jeff Beck. The 2009 Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame inductee is using his vaunted guitar wizardry to ex- plore melodious, sensuous com- positions that have sent his latest recording, “Emotion and Com- motion,” rocketing up Billboard’s Top 200. The former Yardbirds’ axe-man helped define blues- based rock in the 1960s and has subsequently delved into genres as diverse as fusion, Tin Pan Al- ley and electronica. Beck’s turn to subtly inflected jazz has led him to observe “there’s been many more ladies in the audi- ence” recently. On many num- bers — “Corpus Christi Carol,” “Elegy for Dunkirk,” “Lilac Wine” and “My Favorite Things”— Beck’s playing resembles a lush, romantic vocal. But his forays into melody haven’t prevented him from letting loose. Recent shows have featured sizzling
standards, including “Hammer- head,” “Led Boots” and “Beck’s Bolero.”
JUNE 23
James Taylor and Carole King
Verizon Center, $62.50-$128
When James Taylor and Carole
King first took the stage together at the Troubadour in Los Ange- les, the year was 1970, Taylor had just recorded his debut album, “Sweet Baby James,” and King was a successful Brill Building songwriter struggling to find her footing as a performer. It didn’t take long for what happened on- stage that night to serve as the catalyst that changed the duo’s fortunes forever: The next year, King released her career-defin- ing record, “Tapestry,” and Taylor landed his first No. 1 hit with a cover of King’s “You’ve Got a Friend.” Now, it’s the “Trouba- dour Reunion Tour” that brings Taylor, 62, and King, 68, together again, alongside their original three-piece band, for their first ever tour.
JUNE 30
Chicago and
the Doobie Brothers
Jiffy Lube Live, $21-$91
Like Richard Nixon bumper
stickers, juggernaut rock bands with lineups hovering near dou- ble digits are a vestige of the 1970s that aren’t often seen these days. That’s not to say that such all-hands-on-deck musical ar- rangements can’t succeed in the 21st century: Chicago’s beefy horns section provides needed muscle and well-timed stabs of urgency to the band’s prog-laden arrangements. And the Doobie Brothers’ woefully under-imi- tated two-drummer arrangement keeps the band’s tunes moving and the audience’s toes tapping like few other bands of their gen- eration. But no matter how nu- merous the musicians onstage, when two bands on one bill can fire up such perennial crowd- pleasers as Chicago’s “Saturday in the Park” or “25 or 6 to 4” and the Doobies’ “Long Train Run-
Tony Bennett, still going strong at 83, performs Aug. 27 at Wolf Trap.
2008 PHOTO BY JOHN MCMURTRIE
ning” and “Listen to the Music,” it’s really a case of the more the merrier.
JULY 20
Iron Maiden
Jiffy Lube Live, $31-$91
Thanks to the popularity of video games such as Guitar Hero, eardrum-shredding ’80s heavy- metal recordings that would otherwise exist solely in record collections and “best of” compi- lations have been introduced to a new generation of music fans. So why sit at home trying to virtual- ly slash your way through Iron Maiden’s “Number of the Beast” when you can watch Steve Har- ris, Bruce Dickinson and Co. per- form an in-person master class? Longtime fans of the Londoners know that the band’s spectacular live show, highlighted by Dickin- son’s operatic wail on songs such as “Hallowed Be Thy Name,” hasn’t waned in nearly 35 years of almost-constant touring. And with another studio album, the band’s 15th, due out this sum- mer, the group isn’t likely to slow down anytime soon.
AUG. 27
Tony Bennett
Wolf Trap, $48 in-house; $25 lawn
TONY AVELAR/BLOOMBERG NEWS
Young fans who know Iron Maiden through Guitar Hero can see the band at Jiffy Lube Live on July 20.
6
Tony Bennett is the type of per- former who might fill an audito- rium to capacity, bring the sold- out crowd to its feet and then, before singing the first note, greet the crowd with a disarming “If it’s all right, I’d like to sing some songs for you.” It’s a rare
For complete listings of summer concerts around the area, many of which are free, go to
goingoutguide.com/music.
mix of gravitas, charm and cha- risma, shared by only a select few performers today, that allows the 83-year-old Queens native to tour almost annually and yet re- ceive a response usually reserved for more reclusive living legends: the Leonard Cohens and Barbra Streisands. Bennett’s voice has aged beautifully over the years, like a fine scotch, becoming smokier and smoother in equal measure.
SEPT. 18
Rush
Jiffy Lube Live, $25-$49
Arguably the world’s biggest
cult-rock band, Rush saw a huge boost in popularity when its ma- terial was incorporated into the 2009 movie “I Love You, Man,” starring Jason Segel and Paul Rudd. But outside of that recent Hollywood exposure, the Canadi- an trio has always had its share of devotees and devoted detrac- tors. What is beyond debate, however, is that for a three-piece band (idolized frontman Geddy Lee’s nasal upper-register defines its sound as much as Neil Peart’s superhuman drumming ability), Rush has always excelled at mak- ing an almost impenetrable wall of sound broken only by the soar- ing arpeggios at the heart of the band’s best-known works, in- cluding “Tom Sawyer” and “Limelight.”Newer fans will see similarities in the prog-influ- enced grandiosity of such bands as Mastodon and Muse.
— Alex Baldinger and Ernest Suarez
THE WASHINGTON POST • FRIDAY, MAY 28, 2010
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