*The Irish are coming!

U2 will be taking off on March 24 for its 80-city U2 Evolution Tour 2001. Dates for the first 34 cities in the international arena tour (not stadiums this time around) were announced this Tuesday and I am thrilled to report the band will be at Hartford Civic Center on Saturday, June 9. Guess where I’ll be for my birthday this year??!

According to SFX, the tour’s promoters, “first day sales for tickets purchased at the box office will not be subject to service fees. Ticket purchases will be limited to two tickets per person for ‘Best of the House’/general admission tickets on the floor and four reserved seat tickets.”

One group of North American tour dates will be going on sale January 13 (the full list of the first leg dates begin in the next paragraph). U2Tour.com says the second group will be going on sale the following weekend, on January 20, and the third group, which includes the June 9 Hartford Civic Center date, will be going on sale January 27. Get those charge cards ready, baby!

The itinerary of the first leg U2 Elevation Tour 2001 are as follows: March 24, National Car Rental Center, Miami; March 29, Charlotte Coliseum; March 30, Philips Arena, Atlanta; April 2, Compaq Center, Houston; April 3, Reunion Arena, Dallas; April 6, Pepsi Arena, Denver; April 9, Pengrowth Saddledome, Calgary; April 12, The Dome, Tacoma, Wash.; April 13, General Motors Place, Vancouver; April 15, Rose Garden, Portland, Ore.; April 17, Sports Arena, San Diego; April 19, San Jose Arena, San Jose, Calif.; April 23, Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim, Calif.; and April 28, America West Arena, Phoenix.

The tour continues in May on the 1st at Target Center in Minneapolis; May 3, Gund Arena in Cleveland; May 4, Rupp Arena, Lexington; May 6, Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh; May 7, Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio; May 9, Bradley Center, Milwaukee; May 10, Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis; May 12, United Center, Chicago; May 24, Air Canada Centre, Toronto; May 27, Molson Centre, Montreal; and May 30, back in the States at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit.

On June 2, the tour moves to Pepsi Arena, Albany; June 3, HSBC Arena, Buffalo; June 5, Fleet Center, Boston; June 9, Hartford Civic Center; June 11, First Union Center, Philadelphia; June 14, MCI Center, Washington, D.C.; June 17 and 18, Madison Square Garden; and June 19-21 at the Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, N.J. A number of these markets, not just the shows mentioned at Madison Square Garden and in New Jersey, will have a multi-date stand. PJ Harvey has been named as the opener for the North American dates.

This tour is of course to support the band’s latest release, All That You Can’t Leave Behind. I heard over the weekend record sales of this release have been as strong as 1991’s Achtung Baby.

The stage for the new tour has been designed to provide a full view to every seat in the arena, according to the band’s official web site. As was hinted at in an earlier paragraph, there will be general admission floor tickets offered at each stop of the tour, giving fans the best view in the house for $45 per ticket. Nearly half of the seats in each arena will be priced at $45, and additional tickets will be available at $85 and a very limited number of golden-circle seating at $130.

“We haven’t played arenas since 1992,” the band’s manager, Paul McGuinness, said this week, again according to the band’s web site. “With no seats on the floor, these shows are going to be very exciting. The fans and the band are going to be really close. Nearly half the house will be at the lower ticket price and some of those tickets, the ones on the floor, will be the very best in the house.”

A European tour, which will follow the North American dates, will be announced in the coming months and will include dates in The Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, France, Denmark, Ireland and England.

*BEN HARPER & THE INNOCENT CRIMINALS will kick off a headlining tour of North American clubs, small theatres and college campuses next month and right at the beginning of that tour is a stop at UConn’s Jorgensen Auditorium in Storrs. This outing comes on the heels of the band’s busy 2000 touring schedule which included opening gigs for a few legs of the DAVE MATTHEWS BAND summer tour.

Much of last year’s touring was not only in support of the Virgin release Burn To Shine, but also used as recording time for a forthcoming 2-CD live set that is tentatively scheduled for release this March. One disc will feature Harper and the Criminals while the second will feature Harper playing solo acoustically.

The UConn show will be on Friday, February 9. Tickets were offered to UConn students weeks ago and the remainders are now available to the public for $15 to $30 each. The auditorium is at 2132 Hillside Road in Storrs; contact the box office at 860/486-4226 weekdays between 11 am and 5 pm for details and ticket purchases. Singer-songwriter JACK JOHNSON (Brushfile Fairytales) will open.

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

Questions and comments should be sent to Shannon Hicks, c/o Bee Publishing Co., 5 Church Hill Road, Newtown 06470, or shannon@thebee.com. Include a phone number for confirmation, please. If you don’t have a stamp or a piece of paper or a writing utensil that works, give me a call! The phone number at the office is 426-3141. Shows listed on the calendar at club locations are for ages 21 and over unless specified.

 

UPCOMING CONCERTS

JANUARY 12 — Sol Dog at Café 127, Shelton; Gargantua Soul at Toad’s Place, New Haven (all ages), Sonic Plague and Eastside opening; Joe Proc at Putnam House, Bethel; Gandalf Murphy & The Slambovian Circus of Dreams at Acoustic Café, Bridgeport; Peanut Jones at Tuxedo Junction, Danbury; Junkie Hunx, The Limit and The Jeff Gidelman Trio at Laszlo’s Arts Café, Monroe;

January 12 & 13 — B.B. King at Foxwoods Casino, Ledyard;

January 13 — Nate Borofsky, Daniel Barrett & Kristin Cifelli at Acoustic Café; Joe Rock Star at Tuxedo Junction; Adva at Laszlo’s Arts Café;

January 16 — Cheap Trick at Foxwoods Casino;

January 17 — CT Songwriters Association Songwriters’ Showcase at Acoustic Café;

January 18 — Craig Petti’s Stratovision at Acoustic Café; Electric Mayhem at Laszlo’s Arts Café;

January 19 — 2 Skinnee J’s at Toad’s Place (all ages); Clutch and Corrosion of Conformity at The Webster Theater (all ages); As-Is and Mr Superlove at Webster Underground (21+); Joe Proc at Carl Anthony’s; Mappari at Acoustic Café; The Benjamins at Tuxedo Junction; Silencer and In Progress at Laszlo’s Arts Café;

January 20 — Frank Black & The Catholics at Tune Inn, New Haven; Burn Thru, E Ver and Strychnine at Webster Underground; Too Human at Acoustic Café; The Wallbangers at Tuxedo Junction; Sol Dog at The Avenue Café, Black Rock; N4A, Double Think and The Westones at Laszlo’s Arts Café;

January 21 — Christina Abbott at Acoustic Café; Insane Clown Posse at The Webster Theatre, Marz opening (all ages);

January 25 — Electric Mayhem at Laszlo’s Arts Café;

January 26 — Max Creek at Toad’s Place (all ages); Quiet Riot at The Webster Theater (all ages); Off The Hook at Sky Box Café (formerly Larkin’s), Fairfield; Professor Louis & The Cromatixs at Acoustic Café; The Zoo at Tuxedo Junction;

January 27 — Percy Hill, Truckload of Tweed and Feed at The Webster Theater; X-It at Acoustic Café, En4A opening; Fubar at Tuxedo Junction.

FEBRUARY 2 — Vertical Horizon at The Webster Theater, Hartford, Sister Hazel opening (all ages); Joe Proc at Carl Anthony’s, Monroe; Darik & The Funbags at Tuxedo Junction, Danbury; Morris Day & The Time at Foxwoods, Ledyard;

February 3 — G Soul, Toxic Field Mice, simple and Still Life at The Webster Theater (all ages); Joe Proc & Abu at Mimi’s, Danbury; Big Orange Cone at Tuxedo Junction;

February 9 — Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals at UConn’s Jorgensen Auditorium, Storrs, Jack Johnson opening;

February 16 — After Dark III featuring Rane, The Thang and Picasso’s Jelly at The Webster Theater (all ages)

February 17 — CSA Songwriters’ Showcase at Acoustic Café.