*HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH will play the second concert of the season this weekend at Ives Concert Park in Danbury. Early forecasts aren’t sounding good, but I’m hoping the humidity and thunderstorms that are being predicted for the weekend are out of the area by Sunday night, when Darius Rucker, et al, will be taking the stage at the amphitheater. Let’s not start the year with two rainy concerts; last Friday was not a wonderful night, weatherwise, for Melissa Etheridge fans.

Tickets for the Hootie show are $41 and $56 reserved, $26 for adult lawn seating, and $12 for children on the lawn.

Next up is POPS & FIREWORKS featuring Hartford Symphony Orchestra on July 4, PAT BENATAR AND NEIL GIRALDO on July 24 and PETER FRAMPTON on August 13. Tickets for Pops & Fireworks show are $36 for reserved seats and $21 for adults on the lawn. Tickets for the other two shows I just mentioned are the same at the Hootie tickets.

The season will also include a July 16 concert by AL GREEN ($46 and $61 reserved, $26 adult lawn) and an August 22 show by PATTY LOVELESS with Carolyn Dawn Johnson ($36 and $51 reserved, $21 adult lawn).

Tickets for any Ives Concert Park show are available through all TicketMaster outlets. There’s also an Ives Concert Park box office in Room 200 of the Western CT State University Ancell School of Business, on the university’s westside campus – off Mill Plain Road, up the same hill you have to drive up to get to the concert park. The box office is open Monday through Friday from 9 am to 4 pm, on the days of performances between 9 am and noon, and also when gates open for any show.

*Tickets are going on sale Friday morning for THE BOB DYLAN SHOW, which will pull into New Haven on August 7.

Dylan and fellow music legend WILLIE NELSON are teaming up for a 22-date tour that will visit minor league baseball stadiums and while these two singer-songwriters have appeared together a numerous shows in the past, this tour marks their first tour together. Shows will feature opening sets by HOT CLUB OF COWTOWN, an Austin, Tex.-based western/swing band.

The tour kicks off August 6 in Cooperstown, N.Y. – the home, of course, of The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. The following night the show will be in New Haven for a concert at Yale Field, rain or shine.

Tickets are $45 and will be going on sale through TicketMaster outlets on Friday, June 25, at 10 am.

This concert will be, I believe, one of the first for Nelson after he had to cancel a series of dates due to carpal tunnel syndrome. He recently underwent surgery for that after other treatments failed; he was expected to play his first show this week, in fact – Thursday night in Los Angeles for a John Kerry fundraiser at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

*Also going on sale Friday are tickets for HANSON, who will be at the careerbuilder.com Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford on Tuesday, August 7. All seats are $25 and on-sales begin at 3 pm through the theater’s box office (203-265-1501) and tickets.com venues.

On Saturday at 10, tickets will be going on sale for an August 11 show with CYNDI LAUPER and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS, who will also be at the Oakdale. These tickets range from $28 to $38 and $48.

Also at 10 on Saturday morning will be the start of ticket sales for YES, who will play at the Meadows in Hartford on Sunday, August 22. All seats for this show will be in the pavilion, and are priced at $25. Tickets – at $35, $55 and $85 – will also be available through the Oakdale box office and tickets.com. Dream Theater will open this show.

*And finally this week, ONCE REMOVED will be at Hamden Playwright Restaurant & Pub on Saturday night. The June 26 show will get underway around 9. The pub, at 1232 Whitney Avenue in Hamden, can be reached at 203-287-2401 if you need directions.

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 CONCERTS

JUNE 25 — Little Feat at Toad’s Place, New Haven, Rizzz opening; Tim McGraw at Meadows Music Theatre, Hartford, ; Dickey Betts & Great Southern at The Webster Theatre, Cosmos and Jonny Law opening (all ages); Three Dog Night at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den (also June 26); Larry Garner & The Road Lizards at Black-Eyed Sally’s; Roxy Perry at Georgetown Saloon; Jeremiah Long Band at The Brewhouse, South Norwalk (CD release party);

June 26 — Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire at The Meadows; Three Dog Night at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den; School’s Out For Summer Extravaganza featuring Gargantua Soul at Toad’s Place, Base 2, Sick Ticket, Beeners Revenge and Cade opening (all ages); The Benjamins at Tuxedo Junction; Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen at Black-Eyed Sally’s; Smokehouse at Georgetown Saloon; Once Removed at Playwright Restaurant & Pub, Hamden;

June 27 — Little River Band at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den; Aimee Mann at Toad’s Place, Paul Bryan opening (all ages); Believer-Fest at The Webster Theatre featuring Believer, Killing Jar and Vicious Disorder (all ages, door open 3 pm); CT Blues Society Blues Challenge at Black-Eyed Sally’s featuring Gina Gunn & The Bullets, Patriot Act, Troy T. Blues Band and Shoe Fly Blues;

June 28 — Van Halen at Hartford Civic Center.

JULY 2-3 — America at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den, Uncasville;

July 3 — Dr Mudd and The Gist at Tuxedo Junction, Danbury; Max Creek at The Webster Theatre, Hartford, Stan Sutton opening (all ages);

July 5 — Sting and Annie Lennox at Mohegan Sun Arena;

July 6 — Creedence Clearwater Revisted at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den; Explorations at Toad’s Place, New Haven;

July 7 — Terri Clark at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den;

July 10 — OzzFest 2004 at The Meadows Music Theatre, Hartford, with Black Sabbath headlining, also Judas Priest, Slayer, Slipknot, et al; Rufus Wainwright, Ben Folds and Guster at the Oakdale Theatre; Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes at Toad’s Place; Don Henley at Foxwoods Casino’s Fox Theatre, Ledyard;

July 11 — Kenny Chesney at Meadows Music Theatre; Uncle Kracker and Rascal Flatts opening; The Music of Led Zeppelin by Randy Jackson and Hartford Symphony Orchestra at Hartford Civic Center; Simon & Garfunkel at Mohegan Sun Arena; Village People at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den; L.A. Guns and Dokken at The Webster Theatre, Secret Smile and Promize opening (all ages).