*PEARL JAM will bring its 11-date tour to the XL Center, with Band of Horses opening, on Saturday, May 15.

All seats are $69 and tickets will be on sale Friday morning (March 19) at 10 am through LiveNation.com, TicketMaster vendors and by phone at 800-745-3000.

*Also going on sale Friday morning are tickets for SUGARLAND, who will be at the Comcast Theatre in Hartford on Sunday, March 23. Tickets run from $30.75 for lawn seating to $41.50 and $55.50 for the reserved pavilion seats. There are also specially priced four-packs available: $99 for reserved seats and $75 lawn.

These are also available through LiveNation.com.

*After learning last week that their Mohegan Sun tickets were no good after all now that LADY GAGA had officially cancelled her stop in Uncasville (after postponing due to illness back in January), word comes this week that fans of the Lady G have hope for a Connecticut show after all.

On the heels of her sold-out European tour, Lady Gaga will return to North America with her Monster Ball Tour, which includes a stop at the XL Center in Hartford on Thursday, September 16.

Tickets for The Monster Ball were going on sale in select markets including New York, Vancouver, Toronto, San Jose, Los Angeles and Boston beginning March 19. Tickets for Hartford should be going on sale shortly thereafter. If you were a ticketholder for the Mohegan Sun show, contact LiveNation.com to find out when you can expect to receive your presale password. These were promised to ticketholders for the Uncasville show, as a first-purchase option when the earlier show was cancelled.

 *The Blue Z Coffee House in Newtown will be hosting SUNDAD, comprised of father and son guitarists John Eurell, Sr and John Eurell, Jr, on Friday, March 26.

John Jr lives here in Newtown, and John Sr lives nearby in New York. Sundad performs what they call “a new class of acoustic … filled with beautiful rhythms, harmonies and chord changes. Their original repertoire consists of acoustic guitar instrumentals that have been described as a blend of World Fusion and New Age.” The duo is, as John Jr told me last week, an acoustic jazz-fusion guitar duo.

*The following night Newtown resident and musician JIM ALLYN will return to The Blue Z. With Jim this time around will be special guests Rick Brodskey, Korey Brodskey, Ryan Daley and Alaskan fiddler Kalia Yeagle. Admission is free and the music starts at 7 pm Saturday night.

*OLD SCHOOL will be returning for another show at Proud Mary’s, 19 Main Street in Newtown, next weekend. Lou and Tony will be at the lounge below The Inn at Newtown for an 8 pm show on Saturday, March 27.

*For those who love Bon Jovi and/or have a rock band that needs a big chance and/or hasn’t been listening to some of the state’s biggest radio stations: When BON JOVI makes their highly-anticipated return to Mohegan Sun Arena to perform concerts on Friday and Saturday, March 26 and 27, they will share the stage with two lucky, up and coming local bands.

To facilitate the competition, Bon Jovi has partnered with local radio station 96.5 TIC FM to present a Friday Opening Act Contest. For March 27, Clear Channel Radio’s The River 105.9 FM, Country 92.5 FM and KISS 95.7 FM have been selected as presenting stations. All stations are promoting these contests on air, online and through station newsletters.

The Opening Act Contest, which launched Monday, March 15, is open to all bands in the Connecticut region. Friday night’s opening act contest can be entered at 965tic.radio.com. Entries for Saturday night will be accepted at  www.theriver1059.com, www.kiss957.com and www.country925.com.

All sites will feature homepage banners linked to a dedicated webpage where bands will submit a video of themselves playing an original song. Each winning band will perform a 30-minute opening set at Mohegan Sun Arena as well as receive five pairs of tickets to see the show.  The deadline for receiving submissions is Monday, March 22.

*For BON JOVI fans who still haven’t picked up tickets for these shows, seats in the upper (third) level at Mohegan Sun Arena were still available for both shows as of this past Tuesday morning (St Patrick’s Day eve). Tickets are $125 and $195 (!!!!) apiece and are available through TicketMaster.  

*KINGS OF LEON have been confirmed for August 3 at the Comcast Theatre. No ticket details as of my deadline this week.

*ROBERT CRAY will be at The Ridgefield Playhouse next Thursday night, with The Eran Troy Danner Band opening.

In fact, the playhouse has a ton of shows coming up (KEITH EMERSON & GREG LAKE, April 3; TODD RUNDGREN, April 11; LITTLE FEAT,  May 6; COLIN HAY the following night; and SOPHIE B. HAWKINS, June 11, among them), and this weekend the playhouse box office will open with tickets for five more shows later this season: Going on sale Friday, March 19, will be tickets for MARC BROUSSARD, who will be in Ridgefield on, Saturday, June 26 (tickets are $35 mezzanine and $40 orchestra); CREDENCE CLEARWATER REVISITED on Wednesday, July 21 ($90 mezzanine, $95 orchestra); CYNDI LAUPER, for Wednesday, July 28 ($85 mezzanine, $95 orchestra); SUZANNE VEGA &  PATTY LARKIN, for Saturday, August 7 ($55); and JOHNNY LANG, who will be there Wednesday, August 7 ($90).

Call 203-438-5795 or visit RidgefieldPlayhouse.org for tickets and additional information.

*Also on sale this morning will be tickets for REO SPEEDWAGON and PAT BENATAR, who are teaming up for a co-headlining summer tour. The tour will actually kick off Thursday, June 24, at Mohegan Sun Arena with special guest Keaton Simons.

Tickets are $35 and go on sale Friday at 10 am through TicketMaster (online, over the phone and in person). Tickets will also be available at the Mohegan Sun box office starting Saturday, March 20th, subject to availability.

*STING will bring his summer world tour, which will include performances of his most-renowned songs alongside The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, to Mohegan Sun Arena on Tuesday, July 6.

Tickets are $85 and $115, and go on sale Monday, March 22, at 10 am through TicketMaster. Tickets will also be available at the Mohegan Sun box office starting Tuesday, March 23, subject to availability.

*Two shows have been confirmed for the 2010 summer season at Ives Concert Park over in Danbury. No ticket details are available yet, but the venue’s website is posting this week that THE MOODY BLUES will be performing there on July 13 and CAKE will be there July 15.

*Speaking of the Ives Concert Park, Western CT State University will welcome COBRA STARSHIP and 3OHI3 when they bring their Too Fast For Love Tour to Danbury as part of WestFest 2010 on Saturday, May 8.

Tickets for the 7 pm show, which will be at the concert park, are all priced at $27 and can be purchased through tickets.com. This will be a fully general admission event.

*A quick note to close this week’s column that the March 29 COHEED and CAMBRIA show at The Webster in Hartford is listed as sold out on the venue’s website.

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 clubs are for ages 21 and over unless specified.

 

UPCOMING SHOWS

MARCH 19 — Mental Health at The Georgetown Saloon, Redding; The Way-Back machine at Rivalry Sports Grille, Monroe;

March 20 — Carrie Underwood at MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods Resort & Casino, Mashantucket;

March 21 — Killswitch Engage at The Oakdale, Wallingford, The Devil Wears Prada opening; Big Bad Voodoo Daddy at Infinity Music Hall, Norfolk;

March 26 — Sundad at The Blue Z Coffee House, Newtown; Mass Distraction at The Black Duck Café, Westport; Norah Jones at The MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods; Bon Jovi at Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville (also March 27); Sister Funk at The Georgetown Saloon; The Doug Wahlberg Band at The Atrium at Foxwoods Casino;

March 27 — Bon Jovi at Mohegan Sun Arena; Daughtry at The MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods, with Lifehouse and CAVO; Jim Allyn & Friends at The Blue Z Coffee House; Old School at Proud Mary’s, Newtown; The Bernadettes at The Georgetown Saloon;

March 28 — Jeffrey Gaines at Infinity Music Hall, Rebecca Pidgeon opening; Dashboard Confessional at The Webster, Hartford, An Horse and Civil Twilight opening.