Concert Notes: Coachella Cruises; The Who, Dylan Go on Tour

There are a couple of tours to talk about in this edition of Concert Notes, as well as a much more unusual kind of performance: the first-ever Coachella Cruises. Odd? Yeah, but at least all the endless jokes about the Coachella Cruise will distract us here in the U.S. from all the presidential election talk.

Here's what's news on the concert scene:

It may sound like a gag, but the S.S. Coachella is for real.

* Coachella Cruise to set sail: Building on the popularity of its first two-weekend festival this year, the folks behind the Coachella festival are sponsoring two rock-fueled floating parties. The "S.S. Coachella" will sail to the Bahamas this Dec. 16th to 19th and to the Bahamas Dec. 19th to 23rd.  Tickets go on sale this Saturday at 1 p.m. Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific. Pricing starts at $500. See the Coachella Cruise FAQ for more details.

The lineup for both cruises features Pulp, Hot Chip, Yeasayer, Girl Talk, James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem (doing a DJ set) Sleigh Bells, Simian Mobile Disco, DJ Harvery, El-P, Black Lips, Grimes, and Cloud Nothings, among others.


Above: Townshend and Daltrey held a lengthy interview to announce the "Quadrophenia" tour.

* The Who to tour playing "Quadrophenia": Love live rock! The Who are getting back on the road after four years off to play "Quadrophenia" live in its entirety. Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey will play The Who's 1973 rock opera in more than 30 North American cities starting in November. Each show will conclude with some of the band's classic tunes. 

The NYC area will host five shows:  Brooklyn's Barclays Center (Nov. 14th), Madison Square Garden (Dec. 5th), Prudential Center (Dec. 6th), and Nassau Coliseum (Feb. 21st, 2013). There will be a presale July 20th; the public on-sale date is July 27th. (Link to The Who tickets.)

Related: There will be one-night-only screenings of a film on the making of the "Quadrophenia" album on July 24th. "The Who: Quadrophenia: Can You See the Real Me?" will be shown at theaters around the country, including AMC's Empire and Kips Bay in Manhattan and Edgewater and Secaucus in NJ. (See complete list of theaters here.)

* Bob Dylan announces more tour dates: Fresh off announcing his forthcoming album, "Tempest" (due Sept. 11th), Dylan has booked dates for some additional gigs in the Fall, with Mark Knofler. The only one in the NYC area is at the Barclays Center on Nov 21st; other dates not too far from the metro region are Bethel Center for the Arts (near the Woodstock site) on Sept. 2nd and the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut on Sept. 8th. (See all Bob Dylan tour dates here.)