The Orange County Register (5.22.98)
HOT TICKETS
BEN WENER
It's a holiday weekend, and that means only one thing.
Nothing's going on sale.
Well, nothing major, at least, though a second date (Sept. 23) for Tori Amos at the Greek Theatre has been added. Tickets, $30, are on sale and are going fast. The first Greek date, Sept. 22, is sold out, and her Sept. 18 show at Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim is getting close. Act soon.
Otherwise, it's pretty quiet. The most unusual additions are two shows from the Creatures. Who are the Creatures? Well, way back when Siouxsie and the Banshees were still the pinnacle of dark rock, Siouxsie Sioux and drummer Budgie had a little side project and issued an album under that name. What they're doing back now I've no idea, but they play July 14-15 at El Rey Theater, with (and this is worth your while) John Cale. Tickets, $22.50, go on sale at noon Saturday.
Also at the El Rey and on sale at that time are tickets for former Brand New Heavies vocalist N'Dea Davenport, who will play the club June 11. Tickets are $15.
Swervedriver will play the Troubadour on July 3. Tickets, $12.50, go on sale at noon Saturday, as do tickets for All with Hagfish and Zeke, who play the Roxy on June 27, $10.
Also on sale are tickets for Versus with Creeper Lagoon at the Troubadour, June 14, $8; and the Swingin' Utters with U.S. Bombs, the Stitches and the Weaklings, June 19, $10.
If reggae is your bag and the "Reggae Sunsplash" show this weekend doesn't sate your appetite, then pick up tickets for The Unity Tour, which comes to the Santa Barbara Bowl on July 31.
Scheduled to appear are Steel Pulse, Shaggy, Lucky Dube, Beres Hammond, Let's Go Bowling and the Ghetto Youth Crew featuring Stephen, Damian and Julian Marley. Tickets, $19-$28, go on sale at noon Saturday.
Some changes and postponements: The Boyz II Men/Next/Destiny's Child/Uncle Sam/Mya event that was set to take place last Tuesday at Irvine Meadows was postponed at the last minute because of illness on, well, someone's part. It's been rescheduled for June 4. The San Diego show will now take place on June 5.
And a few shows at the El Rey, increasingly mired by overcapacity fire-hazard problems, have been moved. The June 2 Tortoise show is now at the Palace, while the June 3 Rocket From the Crypt gig is now at the Hollywood Athletic Club. Also, expect the May 28-30 Sonic Youth stand to move as well.
Information on all the above shows is available at (714) 740-2000. All dates, times and prices are subject to change. Prices don't include service charges, facility fees, tax or anything else they might want to charge you.
What's next: Look for Deep Forest at the Wiltern on July 23, Pollstar says, while pianist George Winston should play the venue in December. Kenny Loggins is coming to the Cerritos Center of the Performing Arts in September. (Told you it was a slow week.)
Cheap Trick has announced that its four-albums-in-four-nights tour will come to Los Angeles, though a venue and dates have not yet been determined. The band will play its first four albums ("Cheap Trick," "In Color," "Heaven Tonight" and "At Budokan") in four separate shows _ one album per show. Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard has canceled a planned U.S. tour, which was to include dates on Lilith Fair. She's working on a tune for Michael Mann's "Dungeons & Dragons" (tentative title) instead. And the greatest of all festivals, Peter Gabriel's WOMAD (it stands for World Of Music And Dance, if you recall), will be playing all of one weekend for its big return _ and you'll have to journey to see it. It's July 31-Aug. 2 in Redmond, Wash. The more than 30 performers slated to appear include Joan Osborne, Billy Bragg, Bela Fleck, Spearhead, Wilco, Tuatara, the Tragically Hip, Ravi Shankar, the Klezmatics and Sky Cries Mary. Those are the ones you might know. There are dozens more you should hear. Hope someone films it.
Contributed by Jerry Burch.