Concert Notes: Tickets for Leonard Cohen, The National, Bad Religion, & More On Sale Friday

There are lots of good concerts in the weeks and months ahead, and a bunch of them are going on sale this Friday, Jan. 18th. Leonard Cohen, who recently played at Madison Square Garden, plays the more intimate Radio City Music Hall in April. Bad Religion plays a couple of area shows in March, as does Savages.

And The National (below), which has been largely off the road for what seems like months (and hasn't played in NYC for more than a year), takes the stage at Brooklyn's Barclays Center.

Enjoy!

The National playing at BAM in 2010. Photo: Kenny Chung

* Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires at Mercury Lounge, Mon., Feb. 4th. On sale Friday, Jan. 18th at 12 Noon.
* Savages at Bowery Ballroom, Mon., March 8th. On sale Friday at 12 Noon.
* Savages at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Tues., March 19th. On sale Friday at 12 Noon.
* Bad Religion at the Wellmont Theatre (Montclair, NJ), with Against Me! and Polar Bear Club, Sat., March 23rd. On sale Friday at 12 Noon.
* Bad Religion at Terminal 5, with Against Me! and Polar Bear Club, Tues., March 26th. On sale Friday at 12 Noon.
* Alicia Keys and Miguel at the Barclays Center, Fri., April 5th. On sale Friday, at 12 Noon.
* Leonard Cohen at Radio City Music Hall, Sat., April 6th. On sale Friday at 9 a.m.
* Alica Keys and Miguel at Madison Square Garden, Thurs., April 11th. On sale Friday at 12 Noon.
* Daughter at Bowery Ballroom, Wed., May 1st. On sale Friday at 12 Noon.
* Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at Terminal 5, Sat., May 4th. On sale Friday at 12 Noon.
* The National and Youth Lagoon at the Barclays Center, Wed., June 5th. On sale Friday at 11 a.m.

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."

Free Album Streaming: New CDs from Leonard Cohen, Ingrid Michaelson, Matt Pryor, & More

This is another good week for album previews, with new releases from Ingrid Michaelson, Leonard Cohen, Martin Sexton, and even rock and roll legend Dion, among others.

Ingrid Michaelson's "Human Again" is one of the albums streaming free this week.

There are also new streaming albums from some artists who I've just recently heard of, including the Belgian musician who goes by the name Gotye and Canadian band The Darcys (whose new EP "AJA" is, as you'd guess, a set of Steely Dan covers). And there are albums from musicians that are totally new to me, such as Ana Tijoux and Adam Arcuragi.

Of Adam Arcuragi NPR Music wrote, "This isn't groundbreaking music: You can hear Bruce Springsteen here, 16 Horsepower there, and some dark, gospel-infused folk along the way. But it's all so full of soul, so unadorned; it's a sound that always feels as if it's reaching toward the sky."



And some albums from last week's post are now streaming at other sites (listed below). Enjoy!

Spinner.com's Listening Party:
"Tank Full of Blues" by Dion
"AJA" by The Darcys
"Fall Like Rain" by Martin Sexton
"May Day" by Matt Pryor (formerly of The Get Up Kids)
"Plastic Moon" by Madi Diaz
"The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy" by Nada Surf
"Something" by Chairlift
"Clear Heart Full Eyes" by Craig Finn
"The Lion's Roar" by First Aid Kit
 Also at Spinner: new albums by Leila, Cardinal, Lazerbeak, and Mark Stoermer.

AOL Music Listening Party: 
"Human Again" by Ingrid Michaelson
"Emotional Traffic" by Tim McGraw
"Sinners Never Sleep" by You Me at Six
"Listen to This" by Anchored

KCRW Album Preview:  (all streaming until Jan. 31, and also at NPR Music)
"Old Ideas" by Leonard Cohen
"Making Mirrors" by Gotye
"La Bala" by Ana Tijoux

NPR First Listen:
"Like A Fire That Consumes All Before It…" by Adam Arcuragi

Leonard Cohen Live: Broadcast, Podcast, and More

Legendary songwriter Leonard Cohen has traditionally been an infrequent live performer, but is now making his first concert tour in many years. He recently gave an acclaimed show at New York's Beacon Theatre, and you can now hear this show several ways. Radio station WNYC will be broadcasting the Cohen concert Saturday night on its FM station, 93.9. (I'm guessing that the show can also be heard through the station's live Web stream.) Songs you'll hear during this concert include Cohen classics like "Chelsea Hotel," "Hallelujah," and "Suzanne."

Also, public radio's All Songs Considered is offering Leonard Cohen's Beacon Concert as a free podcast download.

For those in the New York area, Cohen will be playing the Big Apple again on May 16th with a concert at Radio City Music Hall (tickets on sale March 9th here). For more tour dates, check the official Leonard Cohen Web site.

Video & Lyrics - Jeff Buckley Doing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"

I love it when underappreciated songs and artists get mainstream attention. Jeff Buckley's stirring version of the classic Leonard Cohen tune "Hallelujah" is one such song, and it apparently got some increased attention when a contestant on "American Idol" performed the song (in the style of Jeff Buckley's rendition, I've heard).

You can hear Jeff Buckley's version, straight from the record label, BMG here... so it's good quality, not some grainy that's been copied a zillion times so you that you can almost count the distorted pixels. (But for some reason BMG won't let people embed the video.) And if you want to read the lyrics to "Hallelujah," you can find them here.

Though to be honest, you probably can't say that Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" is unknown or underappreciated; it's been featured in many TV shows and movies, including one of the blockbuster "Shrek" movies (I haven't seen any of them, so I don't know if it's Shrek 1, 2, or 3).

"Hallelujah" can be found on Jeff Buckley's album "Grace," which came out in 1994, just a few years before Buckley's untimely death at age 30.