Monday, September 10, 2007

Fall concerts galore

I don't remember a season as packed with concerts as this autumn is turning out to be in Boise. It's getting to the point where music fans need to pick and choose among shows to avoid blowing the monthly entertainment budget in a week.

Even more amazing is the prospect of two great shows going head-to-head on the same night - not once, not twice, but three times in September alone. It's a happy, if somewhat frustrating, situation indeed for a remote metro area that often gets overlooked on tours. Let's hope it lasts!

Here's a partial listing of big and/or interesting shows coming up in the next two months:

September 10 - Beyonce (Taco Bell Arena)
September 13 - The Academy Is ... (The Big Easy)
September 14 - Bright Eyes (The Big Easy)
September 14 - Richard Thompson (The Egyptian)
September 20 - Helmet (The Big Easy)
September 22- They Might Be Giants (The Egyptian)
September 26 - Smashing Pumpkins (Qwest Arena) canceled
September 26 - Dave Alvin (Alive After Five)
September 26 - The New Pornographers (The Egyptian)
September 27 - Queensryche (The Big Easy)
September 28 - Slightly Stoopid (The Big Easy)
September 28 - The White Stripes (Idaho Center) canceled
September 30 - Bryan Adams and George Thorogood (Idaho Center)

October 2 - Curtis Stigers (The Egyptian)
October 3 - The Black Crowes (The Big Easy)
October 4 - Nick Lowe (The Egyptian)
October 8 - Widespread Panic (Idaho Center)
October 16 - Interpol (The Big Easy)
October 18 - Neil Young (Morrison Center)
October 20 - Josh Ritter (The Egyptian)
October 30 - James Taylor (Idaho Center)

November 3 - Built to Spill (The Egyptian)

When making your plans, be aware that the touring show of Monty Python's Spamalot is in town at the Morrison Center October 30 through November 3.

Update 9/13/07 - The White Stripes have canceled due to drummer Meg White's anxiety attacks, but I've added two other shows I forgot: They Might Be Giants on September 22 and Dave Alvin, who closes out the 2007 after-work Alive After Five series on the Grove on September 26 - allowing plenty of time to get to either the Smashing Pumpkins or the New Pornographers afterward. Rock on, kids!

Update 9/18/07 - The Smashing Pumpkins show has been canceled, too, probably due to slow ticket sales. The lesson may be that Boise can only handle so many major shows in a short time frame. The Pumpkins and the New Pornographers probably do appeal to much the same demographic, and maybe overlapping with the last (free) Alive After Five show wasn't such a good idea, either.

Update 9/22/07 - Just added the Bryan Adams/George Thorogood and James Taylor gigs.

3 comments:

wolf21m said...

That is an amazing lineup. I would just put in my vote for the Richard Thompson concert on Sept 14. He puts on a great show. Some great local artists are opening up for him. I'll be there.

gemstater said...

Congrats on your new gigs. I have enjoyed lurking at RSR for years and will follow this new blog as well.

But if you are just going to cover events in the greater Boise area, then don't bill them as Idaho events. They are Boise events.

Julie Fanselow said...

Thank you both for making the first comments on Sidewalk 208.

I am most excited about Josh Ritter. Aside from being an Idaho guy (Moscow), he's one of the most versatile and literate songwriters I've heard in a long time.

Kathy, thanks for reading all these years. Yes, this will be a fairly Boise-centric blog, but I do hope to wander afield and get some coverage of other Idaho cities and towns in here, too. (You may or may not know I am the author of Idaho Off the Beaten Path, now in its sixth edition, and I am currently working on its update.)