Concert Notes: Many Festivals this Weekend; Metric & More On Sale Friday

It's not even officially summer yet, but this weekend is shaping up to be one of the busiest of the year in the NYC area. There are no less than seven festivals going on (in addition to events at the usual concert venues), and tickets for a number of popular shows are going on sale soon. And there's news about a very popular concert on the West Coast...

NYC Popfest is on now with low ticket prices and hooks galore.

This Weekend's Festivals:
Maura Johnston of the Village Voice gives a brief synopsis of all seven festivals, but here the ones of interest to readers of this blog:

NYC Pop Fest (today through the 20th, Manhattan and Brooklyn) — An affordable pop explosion with advance tickets for many events only $10 (and one free show). Among the acts are 'Allo Darlin, Seapony, and Habibi.

The Bamboozle (May 18th to 20th, Asbury Park and environs) — Top acts include Skrillex, Incubus, and Mac Miller (18th), Foo Fighters and My Chemical Romance (19th), and Bon Jovi, The Gaslight Anthem, and Brand New (20th).

The Great Googa Mooga (May 19th and 20th, Prospect Park, Brooklyn) — This new festival celebrates food and live music (oddly, the food vendors were announced before the bands). Also odd: free tickets were given away but didn't last long, and the only other way to attend is to buy a VIP pass for $249.

Great Googa Mooga music acts include The Roots, Holy Ghost!, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and Bear Hands (19th) and Daryl Hall & John Oates, Fitz & the Tantrums, Lez Zeppelin, and Peelander-Z (20th).

Tickets for Metric (featuring Emily Haines, above) go on sale May 18th.

Concerts On Sale:

• Metric at Radio City Music Hall, Sept. 23rd, on sale: Friday, May 18th, 9 a.m.
• Leonard Cohen at Madison Square Garden, Dec. 18th, on sale: Friday, 12 Noon.
• Jackson Browne at the Beacon Theatre (with special guest Sara Watkins) Aug. 3rd, on sale: Friday, 11 a.m. [UPDATE: 2nd show added, Aug. 4th. Tickets for both here.]
• Neon Trees at Webster Hall,  July 10th, on sale: Friday, 12 Noon. 
• Brandi Carlile at Wellmont Theater (Montclair, NJ) with the Barr Brothers, July 31st, on sale: Friday, 12 Noon.
• Conor Oberst at Carnegie Hall, Nov. 21st, on sale: Monday, May 21st, 11 a.m.

Saturday Night Live Finale:
Yes, "SNL" always has a musical guest (and sometimes a musician host), but this week's season finale is packed to the gills with music and should be something worth tuning in to. (Besides being the season's last show, this is the May sweeps period for networks.)

Mick Jagger hosts, and the show has announced that the Foo Fighters, Jeff Beck, and Arcade Fire will also appear. I have no idea how they'll fit all this in to one-and-a-half hours without doing one of those annoying everyone-on-stage all-star jams, but I'll be checking it out.

Coachella 2013 Advance Sale:
No, it's not your imagination: tickets for the 2013 edition of the California festival are on sale now. Once again, Coachella will take place on two weekends (April 12th to 14th and 19th to 21st). From the Coachella home page:

"We are excited to announce Coachella 2013 will again be held over two consecutive weekends.

Advance passes go on sale beginning this Thursday, May 17th, 2012 10:00 am PDT through the following Thursday, May 24th, 2012 10:00 pm PDT. This advance sale will be the only opportunity to take advantage of the Coachella Purchase Plan. New for 2013, the price you see is what you pay — prices reflect all fees included. The general on sale will happen early next year."

In NJ This Weekend: Weezer, Ke$ha, and More at The Bamboozle; Fountains of Wayne in Hoboken

There's some great live music in North Jersey this weekend, and some of it's even free. First off is the not-free event, the annual NJ edition of The Bamboozle festival in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford.

The Bamboozle takes place Saturday and Sunday, May 1st and 2nd, and they've got a great lineup of acts on both days. The May 1st show features Paramore, Drake, Something Corporate, Ke$ha, Angels & Airwaves, The Maine, and more. The May 2nd lineup has Weezer, MGMT, Ke$ha, OK Go, Matt & Kim, and Girl Talk, among many others. You can buy NJ Bamboozle tickets here.

You can get a FREE Spin 2010 Bamboozle mixtape download, with 13 songs by Bamboozle artists including Saves the Day, Say Anything, and Wale.

Set times and a map for The Bamboozle in NJ are posted here. 

A few miles away, the May edition of the Hoboken Arts & Music Festival takes place on Sunday with a strong headliner in Fountains of Wayne (which features at least two NJ natives, as far as I know). Also on the bill is a favorite singer-songwriter of mine, Freedy Johnston, who is originally from Kansas but lived in Hoboken for a time and has played at Maxwell's in town many times.

Freedy Johnston goes on at 3 p.m.; the Fountains of Wayne set is scheduled for 4:30. There are local acts performing as well. (Schedules and links to artists for the Hoboken Arts & Music Festival.)

New York Area Concerts: Bamboozle, Pete Seeger Tribute, Dark Was the Night

It's a busy concert weekend in the New York area, and three multi-artist events look to be very promising.

The Bamboozle festival continues Saturday and Sunday at the New Jersey Meadowlands in East Rutherford. On Saturday Fall Out Boy is the headliner, with Third Eye Blind, the Get Up Kids, Asher Roth, and many more acts on the bill. Sunday boasts headliners No Doubt; also slated for the final day are acts including Taking Back Sunday, Rise Against the Used, Face to Face, and Sum 41.

For set times, tickets, and more visit the Bamboozle Web site above or check them out on Twitter: @thebamboozle.

Sunday features two benefit shows. Over at Radio City Music Hall is Dark Was the Night, the latest show to benefit the Red Hot organization (and the live companion to the recent CD of the same name). On the bill are David Byrne, Dirty Projectors, Feist, Dave Sitek, Bon Iver, My Brightest Diamond, The National, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, and more. Get more info and Dark Was the Night Concert tickets at the Radio City box office Web site.

Madison Square Garden is probably the only venue big enough to hold all the stars, big and small, who'll be performing at the Pete Seeger 90th birthday celebration on Sunday. The music legend has influenced countless performers over the decades, and many of them will be singing and playing at Sunday's show: Bruce Springsteen, Arlo Guthrie, Bela Fleck, Joan Baez, Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine), Richie Havens, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

Get Pete Seeger birthday celebration tickets here at the MSG box office. Proceeds benefit Clearwater, the environmental organization Seeger founded 40 years ago.