Meijer Gardens’ teaser announcement of four summer concerts at the Grand Rapids amphitheater covers several genres and includes a few popular returning acts to the series.
Collaborative Power: Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers will team up on tour this summer with Edie Brickell, making a stop at Meijer Gardens.
When word leaked out last week through David Byrne’s website that the musical innovator and former Talking Heads frontman would return this summer to the outdoor amphitheater at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park for the first time since 2004, it got many folks salivating about the potential lineup for the 2013 series.
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After all, David Byrne & The Tosca Strings’ incredible appearance at the then-two-year-old amphitheater still ranks among the best concerts ever held at Meijer Gardens, a show that pushed the musical envelope and helped expand the repertoire of eclectic acts that would eventually grace the lush venue.
So, his pairing on tour this year with singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Annie Erin Clark, aka St. Vincent, with whom he released the album, “Love This Giant,” builds a fair amount of anticipation for the July 7 Meijer Gardens concert and for the rest of the summer series.
St. Vincent and David Byrne
And today’s official “sneak-peek” announcement by Meijer Gardens of that show and three others – country duo Montgomery Gentry on July 5, rock’s Steve Miller Band on July 18 and bluegrass/folk’s Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers featuring Edie Brickell on July 29 – continues to pique interest in what else lies ahead.
Last year, Meijer Gardens’ 1,900-seat amphitheater hosted a record 25 concerts and Utah promoter Chris Mautz told me while organizers haven’t set an exact number for 2013, it’s likely to fall “in the 20-plus range.”
It’s also liable to continue the tradition of diversity, displayed last year in shows that ranged from the reggae of Jimmy Cliff to the indie folk-pop of The Head & The Heart to the jazz of the Wynton Marsalis Quintet. “I don’t want to be too formulaic,” says Mautz.
Montgomery Gentry
Look for the final lineup and ticket prices to be announced in April.
As usual, Meijer Gardens members will get first crack at discounted tickets, starting April 27. Individual adult memberships start at $40; for membership information, visit meijergardens.org/membership. Tickets go on sale to the general public on May 11.
Here’s the lineup thus far:
July 5 – Montgomery Gentry (Country duo Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry’s last album, 2011’s “Rebels on the Run,” cracked the Top 10 on Billboard’s country chart. It’s the duo’s first appearance at Meijer Gardens.)
The Steve Miller Band
July 7 – David Byrne & St. Vincent (The funky, art-rock duo collaborated on the “Love This Giant” album, released last September.)
July 18 – Steve Miller Band (This classic rock outfit returns to Meijer Gardens after playing a sold-out show at the amphitheater last June.)
July 29 – Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers featuring Edie Brickell (The comedic actor-turned-Grammy-winning bluegrass banjo player and band team up on tour with this acclaimed singer-songwriter who once fronted the New Bohemians. Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers played Meijer Gardens in 2011.)
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