Concert Notes: Tickets for The Breeders, The Postal Service, Johnny Marr, & More on Sale Friday

The reunion tours of The Breeders and The Postal Service highlight the concert tickets that are going on sale tomorrow (and Saturday, in one case). The Breeders are playing Webster Hall to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their breakthrough "Last Splash" album (which is being re-released), and touring with the band's lineup from that album. Their March 29th show at the Bell House sold out in a nanosecond, but you'll have a better chance of getting tickets to their May 6th show.


It's a new year, and The Breeders are celebrating with a reunion tour.

Meanwhile, Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello are headlining the Barclays Center to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Postal Service's lone album, "Give Up."(The album will be given the deluxe-reissue treatment in April, with two new songs and 15 unreleased tunes.) The Postal Service's show also includes Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis and Laura Burhenn (of Mynabirds).

And there's another reunion, this time with a brand-new album: Redd Kross plays an early show at Santos' House Party to promote its comeback album, last year's well-reviewed "Researching the Blues." Tickets for this show are on sale now.

The Hives are also returning to New York to headline Irving Plaza, as are the Presidents of the United States of America and Johnny Marr (of The Smiths).

It's a great lineup of shows on sale this week; pull out your credit card and get ready to buy some tickets!

* Redd Kross at Santos House Party, Sat., April 6th. On sale now

* The Hives at Irving Plaza, Sun., March 24th. On sale Friday at 10 a.m.

* Local H at Gramercy Theatre, Wed., March 27th. On sale Friday at 10 a.m.

* Chris Thile and Brad Mehldau at Bowery Ballroom, Tues., April 9th. On sale Friday at 12 Noon (Thile, a former member of Nickel Creek and current member of the Punch Brothers, is one of the most recent winners of a MacArthur Foundation grant)

* The Presidents of the United States of America at Irving Plaza, Mon., April 15th. On sale Sat., Feb. 9th at 10 a.m.

* Johnny Marr at Irving Plaza, Thurs., May 2nd. On sale at 10 a.m.

* Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite: An Evening of the Blues at the Beacon Theatre, Fri., May 3rd. On sale Friday at 10 a.m.

* The Breeders at Webster Hall, Mon., May 6th. On sale Friday at 12 Noon

* The Postal Service at the Barclays Center, Fri., June 14th; with Jenny Lewis and Laura Burhenn. On sale Friday at 10 a.m. (See other tour dates and more on the Postal Service reunion tour at Consequence of Sound.)

* Happy Together Tour with The Turtles, Gary Puckett, and more - State Theatre (New Brunswick, NJ), Thurs., June 20th; Paramount Theatre (Asbury Park, NJ), Sat., July 27th; Bergen Performing Arts Center Englewood, NJ), Tues., July 30th. On sale now

Yo La Tengo Wraps Up 8 Nights of Hanukkah

Maybe it's taken me a week to recover from the Dec. 11th Yo La Tengo show at Maxwell's, the eighth and final night of Hanukkah, and of the Hoboken band's eight-night run at the club. It's a great tradition and a great idea: each show begins with a different opening act, followed by a set by a comedian, followed by a full set from Yo La Tengo, plus some very special guests (more about that later). In addition, YLT designates a different charity (or two) to receive the proceeds from the night's ticket sales.

Though YLT has been doing these multiple Hanukkah shows for several years, this is the first year I've actually thought about the event enough in advance to snag a ticket before all the shows sold out (I bought mine at least a month before the show). It's probably been at least a decade since I've seen Yo La Tengo in concert (and it was probably at Maxwell's), and I wasn't an unabashed fan. Some of the more experimental, free-form, guitar-noise pieces grated on me, so I usually passed on seeing the band when they came around.

Their Dec. 11th was very enjoyable, though, and while it did have its moments of discordant noise, the band played a number of tunes from all phases of its career, from soft acoustic tunes to straight-ahead rockers like their cover of "Eight Day Weekend."

The young Columbus, Ohio band Times New Viking opened the show, followed by comedian David Cross recreating his "Ask a Rabbi" routine. Then came YLT. Reading Ira Kaplan's diary of the previous shows, I was marveling at some of the special guests the band had managed to get to come to the shows to perform: Redd Kross (who have a fun podcast; more about that in a later post), Alex Chilton, and The New Pornographers. I would have loved to see the latter, but I was completely satisfied with the eighth night's guest: none other than Howard Kaylan, a.k.a. Eddie of Flo & Eddie and The Turtles.

Kaylan popped up on stage to sing harmony vocals on the latter part of YLT's first encore, a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Hungry Heart," and then did some great rock and pop tunes, starting with The Turtles' hit "You Baby" and continuing with some Turtles and non-Turtles songs, including "She'd Rather Be with Me."

It was a great show in all, and a Yo La Tengo Hanukkah concert (at least one each year) is going to be part of my holiday season from now on.