*Following a successful first leg of a tour to support its third release – which included a show at Mohegan Sun Arena in May –MATCHBOX TWENTY will be returning to Connecticut next month. Tickets are going on sale Saturday morning for a show at The Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport on Tuesday, October 14.

Prices have been set at $36.50 to $47.50 and will be available starting at noon through the arena’s box office and through any TicketMaster outlet.

FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE will be opening.

*A reminder that LYNYRD SKYNYRD will not be at The Big E next weekend. The band has cancelled all of its shows through the end of this month because of complications lead guitarist Gary Rossington continues to deal with following open heart surgery he had in February. The band was to have been in West Springfield on Saturday, September 13. Full Big E details are available at TheBigE.com or 413-737-BIGE (2443).

*Tuxedo Junction is calling Newtown band SIDESHOW “the new up-and-coming attraction at Tuxedos” and the guys will have a chance to live up to that billing next weekend. Grady McAuliffe, Fred Dotson, Jay Bremen, John Dotson and Chriss Messner will be at 5 Ives Street in Danbury on Saturday, September 13.

Tonight the guys will be at Captain’s Cove in Bridgeport and then next Friday they’ll be at Shenanigan’s in South Norwalk, by the way.

*A few weeks ago my column opened with news about upcoming shows by EILEEN IVERS and THE CHIEFTAINS (Ivers will be at Wesleyan University’s Crowell Concert Hall on September 12; The Chieftains will be at The Bushnell on March 11).

Closer to home it’s time for the 9th Annual Greater Danbury Irish Festival, a three-day event returning to Ives Concert Park in Danbury the weekend of September 12-14. The festival will run Friday from 5 to 10:30 pm, Saturday from 11 am to 10:30 pm, and Sunday from 11 am to 7 pm. Tickets are $10 per day for adults, $5 for college students with ID, and free for kids age 12 and under.

The festival will of course be punctuated by endless live music including sets by THE TIPPERARY KNIGHTS, HIGHLAND ROVERS, THE MERRY PLOUGHBOYS and more. There will also be performances by step dancers, ceili and set dancing, cultural exhibits, Irish imports, plenty of food and drink, souvenir tents, children’s activities and sporting demonstrations.

Information is available from The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH is the event’s sponsor) Info Line, 730-8211, and also at www.danbury.org/aoh/Festival/aohfeis.htm.

*Tickets will be going on sale September 10 for ALICE COOPER’s return to Connecticut. Cooper will be at Foxwoods’ Fox Theatre in Ledyard on Saturday, November 1. The new tour supports the release of Catch The Eyes of Alice Cooper. Tickets will be priced at $49.50 and $60.50; call 800-200-2882.

*Blues guitarist JONNY LANG returns to the Shubert Theatre in New Haven on September 27, just about a year to the date of his last sold-out show at the New Haven venue. Tickets will be priced between $27 and $42 when they go on sale September 5 through tickets.com.

*Progressive hard rock band QUEENSRŸCHE will begin an eight-week headlining US tour on September 10 in California that will continue to promote its new studio album Tribe on Sanctuary Records. This latest trek follows on the heels of the highly successful recent tour with Dream Theater and Fates Warning.

Vocalist Geoff Tate, guitarist Michael Wilton, bassist/vocalist Eddie Jackson, and drummer/percussionist Scott Rockenfield, along with guitarist Mike Stone, will undertake an extensive run of shows starting on the West Coast and ending in the East. One of the final stops on the tour will be in Hartford at The Webster Theatre on October 28. The show is a 21-and-over event and all tickets are $27.50, available through tickets.com or the theater’s box office (860-525-5553).

The new album – the band’s ninth studio album – marks the writing and recording return of DeGarmo, who left the band in 1997. The album is “a rich vein of sounds in songs that take an unblinking, critical look at America and the state of the post-September 11 world,” according to a tour and album announcement from the band last week.

*Grammy Award-winner INDIA.ARIE will be at UConn’s Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts in Storrs on Saturday, October 17. Tickets for the 8 pm show are $17 to $32, with discounts being offered to seniors and students. For tickets and infor call the Jorgensen box office at 860-486-4226 or visit www.Jorgensen.ct-arts.com.

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

SEPTEMBER 5 — Peter Frampton at The Fox Theatre/Foxwoods Casino, Ledyard; SideShow at Captain’s Cove, Bridgeport; Ol’ Dirty Bastard at Toad’s Place, New Haven (all ages); radio 104 Five Bands For Five Bucks at The Webster Theater, Hartford, with Less Than Jake, Reliant K, Yellowcard, Drunkin Beer Nuts (and fifth band, TBA); Tom Rush at UHartford’s Millard Auditorium, West Hartford; David Sanborn at Norwalk Oyster Festival, Norwalk (9 pm show);

September 6 — Crosby, Stills & Nash at careerbuilder.com Oakdale Theatre, Wallingford; America at Norwalk Oyster Festival; John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band at CityCenter Green, Danbury (rain location Ives Concert Hall); The Gyst at Tuxedo Junction, Danbury; Mariah Carey at The Fox Theatre/Foxwoods Casino; Billy Bob Thornton at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den, Uncasville; Reach 454 at The Webster Theater; Rufus Wainwright at The Ridgefield Playhouse, Ridgefield;

September 7 — The Charlie Daniels Band at Norwalk Oyster Festival, The Yonrico Scott Band opening; Spam Brando at CityCenter Green (follows performances by Catholic War Veterans Drum Corps & US Coast Guard Band Masters of Swing, closing concert of Summertime Festival 2003; no rain location); Maceo Parker at The Webster Theatre, Dreamswell and Sister Funk opening; Billy Idol at The Fox Theatre/Foxwoods Café;

September 9 — Tommy Stinson & The Figs at Toad’s Place, New Haven; Julianna Theory at The Webster Theatre, Count The Stars and Punchline opening;

September 10 — Steely Dan at the Oakdale Theatre;

September 11 — Anthem at Black-Eyed Sally’s BBQ & Blues Café, Hartford;

September 12 — Mariah Carey at the Oakdale Theatre; SideShow at Shenanigans, South Norwalk; Saves The Day and Taking Back Sunday at The Webster Theater; From Autumn To Ashes at Toad’s Place, Cave In, Every Time I Die and Funeral For A Friend opening (all ages).

; Sam Cockrell & The Groove at Black-Eyed Sally’s; Lucy Kaplansky at UHartford’s Wilde Auditorium, West Hartford;

September 13 — An Acoustic Evening: Carpenter, Colvin, Griffin & Williams at The Fox Theatre/Foxwoods, featuring Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin & Dar Williams; Overkill at The Webster Theatre; SideShow at Tuxedo Junction; Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den; Heather Hardy at Black-Eyed Sally’s;

September 14 — 4th Annual Jim Edelman Benefit at Tuxedo Junction featuring Future Tense, Sapphire, et al; Fighting Gravity at The Webster Theatre, Stephanian, Far From Here, Raine and Brown Couch opening.