*On sale this morning (April 7) were tickets for DEF LEPPARD and JOURNEY, who will be at Mohegan Sun Arena on Wednesday, June 28. Tickets are $70 and $85, and are available through all TicketMaster vendors.

Tickets will be available at the arena’s box office beginning Saturday morning.

*DAVE MATHEWS shows for 2006 at The Dodge Music Center have been announced, and tickets are going on sale this weekend. Soulive will be opening for DMB when the band returns to Hartford on Friday, July 28; Gov’t Mule will have opening dutires the following night.

Tickets will be on sale Saturday, April 8, at 10 am, through TicketMaster outlets and the box office at The Chevrolet Theater in Wallingford (the Dodge Center’s box office isn’t yet open for the season).

*The Material Girl will embark on a world tour this summer and will include a stop in Connecticut just about a month after she hits the road. MADONNA’s “Confessions Tour” will open in LA on May 21. It will be her first tour since 2004’s “Re-Invention Tour” and it will support the 2005 release, Confessions on A Dance Floor.

Tickets will be going on sale Monday, April 10, at 10 am, for a June 25 show at Hartford Civic Center. The show will be the first for Madonna in Connecticut since 1985 (some media outlets are saying that this is the performer’s first show in the state; they’re wrong).

Tickets will be going on sale for the Hartford show on Monday, April 10, at 10 am. These sales will be through LiveNation.com or TicketMaster outlets; tickets will not be available at the civic center’s box office until April 11 at noon.

It looks like tickets for this show may beat even what The Eagles were looking for (and got) a few years ago. Prices start at $35 and top out at $350.

*Look for LYNYRD SKYNYRD at the Dodge Music Center on June 21; and CHICAGO with HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS opening, also at The Dodge Center, on July 20.

*TOM JONES, who was recently knighted by Queen Elizabeth, will be at Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday, July 2. Tickets for that show will be going on sale next weekend – on Saturday, April 15 – through TicketMaster vendors. Tickets will be available at the arena’s box office the following day.

Seats for this show are very reasonable, just $20 or $30 apiece.

*Recently added to The Webster Theater’s calendar is a May 9 show by YNGWIE MALMSTEEN. Tickets for that show are $22.50, and are on sale now.

*Jim Koplik Presents is offering a Country Music MegaTicket for four shows coming to The Dodge Music Center in Hartford this summer. If you want to shell out $399 for a reserved seat or $99 for lawn seating, tickets are available now through LiveNation.com.

If you don’t want to go to all four shows, just be patient – each will be going on sale individually soon.

The shows include MONTGOMERY-GENTRY on May 27, KENNY CHESNEY on July 27, TOBY KEITH with Joe Nichols opening on August 20, and BROOKS & DUNN on September 9.

*Music returns to Mocha Coffee House this weekend, with the second of four planned Paint The Town Purplefest events by JOHN VOKET. This show, and the ones John has scheduled for May and June, is music with a plan: to raise funds for the Relay For Life event at Newtown High School on June 10-11.

John has pledged to match any contributions to Relay For Life, up to $15 per hour. Last month’s show raised more than $100. Let’s see if we can do even better this weekend. Saturday’s show will begin at 8 and run until just about 10.

On Friday (April 7), Mocha will host DEAD PRESIDENT SOCIETY.

The schedule then continues with the following: April 14, OUR NAMES; April 15, KEVIN GIANI; April 21, JENILEE and FREE THOUGHT; April 22, Infrasonic: Pink Floyd Night; April 28, JEFF LABLANCO; April 29, JSWine; May 5, Lisa Pulman; May 13, John Voket’s next Paint The Town PurpleFest show; and May 27, Infrasonic: R.E.M. Night.

Mocha will also have a high school open mic night on May 12, and Kerry-Go-Round for parents and kids on Wednesday, May 31. All shows run from about 7:30 until 9:30 or so; the Kerry-Go-Round event will run from 3:30 to 4:30, however.

Until next week I’ll be seeing you... on the road.

Questions and comments should be sent to Shannon Hicks c/o The Newtown Bee, 5 Church Hill Road, Newtown CT 06470, or shannon@thebee.com, or call the office at 426-3141. Shows listed at club locations are for ages 21 and over unless specified.

 

UPCOMING SHOWS

APRIL 7 — Dead President Society at Mocha Coffee House, Sandy Hook;

April 8 — John Voket at Mocha Coffee House; Fairfield Crossing at Starbucks, Newtown; Prophets of Funk, Eric Donnelly Trio and Brian Torff’s Bass Roots Quartet at The Acoustic Café, Bridgeport (benefit performance for The Kim & Tim Donnelly Music Scholarship at Fairfield University);

April 9 — Keyshia Cole at The Webster Theater, Remy Ma opening;

April 14 — Our Names at Mocha Coffee House;

April 15 — Kevin Gianni at Mocha Coffee House; Hat City Blues Band at The Spot, Bethel; Flyleaf and Revelation Theory at The Webster Theater;

April 20 — Buckcherry at The Webster Theater;

April 21 — Jenilee and Free Thought at Mocha Coffee House;

April 22 — Billy Joel at Hartford Civic Center; Hat City Blues Band at 59 Bank Street, New Milford; The Music of Led Zeppelin: Hartford Symphony Orchestra with vocalist Randy Jackson at The Chevrolet Theatre;

April 26 — Van Zant at The Palace Theater, Waterbury; Zox and State Radio at Toad’s Place, Bedouin Soundclash opening (all ages);

April 28 — Jeff LaBlanco at Mocha Coffee House;

April 29 — Maynard Ferguson at The Ridgefield Playhouse; Monty at The Webster Theater, Permanent Me opening.