Grab yourself a pen and a empty calender. You may want to note a lot of these musical events happening only in Cincinnati this summer.
Can’t make it to Bonnaroo this summer? That’s okay. There’s plenty of acts playing the festival this year, that are also stopping in and around Cincinnati this summer. Let’s take a look at some of those shows:
Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers come to the Southgate House parlour on Wednesday, May 19. Tickets are just $8 in advance and $10 at the door. Opening the show is Zeb Dewar & the Fed.
Ingrid Michaelson comes to the Southgate House just one day after her Bonnaroo debut, on Monday, June 14. The show is in the ballroom, and includes opener Matt Morris, who wooed the Bonnaroo crowds in 2008. Tickets are $17 in advance and $20 at the door.
Blitzen Trapper will also be at the Southgate House, fresh off of their Bonnaroo debut. They’re touring with The Moondoggies, who are also playing the festival this year. They play the ballroom on Sunday, June 20. Tickets are just $12 in advance and $15 at the door.
Joshua James is also coming to the Southgate House. He’ll be in the parlour on Tuesday, June 29. Tickets are just $10 in advance and $13 at the door.
The last act scheduled to appear both at Bonnaroo and the Southgate House this summer, is The Bridge, who are playing the ballroom on Wednesday, August 4. The opening act has yet to be determined. Tickets are just $10 in advance and $13 at the door.
There’s also a plethora of other amazing shows happening in town this summer. Mark these shows on your calenders, you won’t want to miss them:
The Taste of Cincinnati has just announced who will be performing this year on a number of stages spread throughout downtown around 5th Street. First, there’s the P&G Garden Stage sponsored by Metromix (located just across from the Taft Theatre). On Saturday, May 29 the stage features Kristen Key, DJ Evan Scott, Mia Carruthers & the Retros, The Pinstripes, Lovely Crash, A Continuous Now, Giant Wow and the Katie Reider Award Presentation. Sunday, May 30, Bad Veins, DJ Matt Joy, Lions Rampant, The Guitars, Minor Leagues, Goose and the Turkeys will be playing, and on Monday, May 31, it’s Paul Otten & Bad Parade, Tonefarmer, Cover Model and Mad Anthony.
Then there’s the Government Square Stage, which for the first time will be featuring a number of local comedians. Saturday, May 29, there’s Josh Sneed, Dave Waite, Alex Stone, Tabari McCoy, Ryan Singer and music from the Sullivan Janszen Band, GreenSweep and the Otten Brothers. Sunday, May 30, there’s again, Josh Sneed, Dave Waite and Ryan Singer, along with other comedians Gabe Kea and Mike Cronin, and music from 3 Day Rule and Kelly Thomas & the Fabulous Pickups. Monday, May 31, it’s music from Natalie Wells and the Blues Brothers Tribute Show.
On Fountain Square, they’ll have the Cintas sponsored stage, featuring the Rusty Griswolds, DV8 and Core (May 29), 4th Day Echo, Bootleg Rider and Robin Lacy & DeZydeco (May 30) and Leroy Ellington & the E Funk Band, Stays in Vegas and the Sonny Moorman Group (May 31).
The Chemed Plaza stage features Groove Crew, Ricky Nye and Perfect Sequel (May 30) and the G Burton Story, Tracy Walker Band and Kevin Fox Band on May 31.
Quasi is in the Southgate House ballroom on Friday, April 30, with openers Let’s Wrestle and one of my more recent local favs, The Harlequins. Tickets are just $10 in advance and $13 at the door. On the same night, another one of my local favs, The Tillers, will be upstairs in the parlour with the Whiskey Bent Valley Boys. Those tickets are just $5 for 21+ and $8 for 18-20.
Will Hoge returns to the Southgate House, for the first time since his 2008 scooter accident. He was left in critical condition with a number of broken bones and lacerations to his face, arms and torso. He has undergone a number of surgeries and an intensive rehab program which lasted a year. He’ll be joined by Andy Davis, who is opening the show on Wednesday, May 5. Those tickets are just $10 in advance and $13 at the door.
Thursday, May 6 will also be a great night to be at the Southgate House for a few reasons. Frightened Rabbit is in the ballroom with Maps & Atlases and Our Brother the Native ($13/$15) and upstairs in the parlour is Stoll Vaughn, Rob Fetters of the Psychodots and Mark Utley of Magnolia Mountain ($5/$8).
Many great shows happening at the Southgate House around the middle of May. On Tuesday, May 11, Harlem is in the parlour ($8/$10); Wednesday, May 12 The Verve Pipe and Mia Carruthers & the Retros are in the ballroom ($12/$15), while These United States will be upstairs in the parlour ($8/$10). The Marco Benevento Trio will be in the ballroom on Thursday, May 13 ($8/$10); Midlake play in the ballroom on Sunday, May 16, with opener John Grant ($12/$15); Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings are in the ballroom on Monday, May 17 with The Heavy ($17/$20). Towards the end of May, I’d recommend shows like Tim Fite and The Wailing Wall on Monday, May 24 ($7/$10) and Jessica Lea Mayfield on Friday, May 28 ($12).
In July, save the dates of Friday the 16th and Saturday the 17th. That Friday, Wolf Parade comes to the Southgate House with The Moools ($20/$25), while Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles return for their second time this year ($12/$15).
But obviously the Southgate House isn’t the only venue to catch a great show at in town. There’s plenty of venues in the area, each with their own distinctive feel, giving these shows their very own unique experience.
In Covington, you’ve got both the Madison Theater and the Mad Hatter, each within a couple blocks of each other. A couple of shows at the Madison I like are Minus the Bear with Young the Giant, on Wednesday, April 28 and Les Claypool and the Hot Head Show on Thursday, June 10. Les is playing Bonnaroo the very next day. The Mad Hatter isn’t really my scene, but occasionally I’ll find a few shows I just have to check out there. Around this time of year, those shows include Los Campesinos with Cymbals Eat Guitars on Wednesday, April 28; Flobots with Trouble Andrew and Champagne Champagne on Friday, June 4; and the Brian Jonestown Massacre on Thursday, June 10.
Then you make your way across the river, and the musical venues never seem to stop. Northside’s quite the hot spot for musical and art enthusiasts. There’s always great music going on at the Tavern, not to mention it’s always free but does go on a little late (seems like they usually start around 11 pm). Upcoming good times there include the Buffalo Killers and Nate Wilson Group (April 23), The Tillers (April 25), Greg Mahan (April 28), No No Knots, Chappo and Kry Kids (April 30 – more on this show later), Royal Bangs and Eat Sugar (May 5), 500 Miles to Memphis (May 7), the Northside Music Festival (May 8), Billy Catfish (May 12), the Respite Care Center Benefit featuring Jake Speed, The Tillers and Nick Tuttle (May 14), the final show from Caterpillar Tracks with Heevahava and Knife the Symphony (May 15), The Minor Leagues, Midstates and the Choir of Ghosts, The Sleeping Sea and Panda Riot (May 22) and Damien Jurado (June 11).
There’s also the newest but not so new venue in town on Spring Grove Avenue in Northside called Mayday, which used to be the Gypsy Hut. They seem to specialize in putting together great DJ nights like the Earthquakes Dance Night featuring Kendall Bruns and John Hogan (April 24) with special guests Pop Empire and Throwing Stars.
Some people only like to check out the really big concerts of the summer at Riverbend and the PNC Pavilion, and that’s okay too. They’ve got everything this summer from Willie Nelson (May 12) to Tony Bennett (May 14) to Earth, Wind & Fire (June 2) to Harry Connick Jr (June 12) to the Bamboozle Roadshow featuring All Time Low, Boys Like Girls, LMFAO and Third Eye Blind (June 19) to the Moody Blues (June 22) to Jeff Beck and Imelda May (June 23) to Santana and Steve Winwood (July 6) to Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band (July 9) to Sting backed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (July 20), the Mayhem Festival featuring Korn, Rob Zombie and Lamb of God (July 21), Paramore, Tegan & Sara, New Found Glory and Kadawatha (August 12), REO Speedwagon and Pat Benatar (August 19) and Kings of Leon (September 4). And of course all the Riverbend regulars are stopping by again this summer like Jimmy Buffett (May 17), Brad Paisley with Darius Rucker and Justin Moore (June 6), Dave Matthews with Robert Earl Keen (June 15), Tim McGraw with Lady Antebellum and Love and Theft (June 18), 311 with Pepper (June 26), Chicago and the Doobie Brothers (July 13), Tom Petty with the Drive-By Truckers (July 15), Brooks and Dunn with Gary Allan (July 18), Rascal Flatts with Kellie Pickler and Chris Young (August 6), Sugarland with Vonda Shepard (August 14) and Toby Keith with Trace Adkins (August 27).
So start saving your money up, because there’s so many great shows this summer that it’s just too hard to only pick one attend.