Peppers, Mars Volta to play Pepsi Center
Red Hot Chili Peppers’ booty-shaking fusion of funk and punk sounds positively quaint these days, as myriad newer bands have taken their torch and dashed away with it. Still, in the 22 years since its first album, the band has never devolved into docile crooning or nu-metal posturing – something most of its peers cannot claim.
Best known for its 1991 multiplatinum breakthrough “Blood Sugar Sex Magik,” Red Hot Chili Peppers have followed a safe but melodically rich path since then, ruling the airwaves with one irresistible single after another. “Dani California,” off their new album “Stadium Arcadium,” is another one of these, a slab of delicious pop-rock about the band’s favorite subject: its home state.
Red Hot Chili Peppers will hit the Pepsi Center on Aug. 18 with The Mars Volta, an artsy prog-metal outfit that should provide a nice contrast to the squiggly jams Anthony Kiedis & Co. engage in these days. Expect Mars Volta guitarist Omar Rodriguez, who plays on “Stadium,” to join the Peppers onstage for an extended bout of guitar histrionics. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday. ($45-$65, Ticketmaster)
KC & The Sunshine Band will lead a cast of ’70s disco-boogie all-stars, including Gloria Gaynor, Tavares and Sister Sledge, when the KOSI Copacabana presents KC’s Boogie Blast on Aug. 1 at Coors Amphitheatre. Don’t be surprised if hits like KC’s “Get Down Tonight,” Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” and Sledge’s “We Are Family” sound a bit crustier than they did in the heady days of Studio 54. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday. ($25-$69.50, Ticketmaster)
The Black Crowes have never quite attained the same level of recognition as they did in the early ’90s with their bracing cover of Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle,” or the bluesy, Stones-leaning single “She Talks to Angels.” Still, the band found itself reunited last year to great acclaim, playing long, loud concerts with classic rock swagger to spare. The new DVD “Freak ‘N’ Roll into the Fog” captures the band at San Francisco’s Fillmore in August 2005 for a raucous 19-song set. The Crowes will hit Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Aug. 12 with Robert Randolph & The Family Band and Drive-By Truckers. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday. ($42.50-$49.50, Ticketmaster)
Joe Cocker’s signature voice and convulsive stage mannerisms have endeared him to everyone from the Woodstock generation to ’80s kids who grew up listening to his cover of The Beatles’ “A Little Help From My Friends,” the theme song to “The Wonder Years.” Tickets for his Aug. 11 Paramount Theatre show go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday. ($45-$65, Ticketmaster)
Folks Festival announced that Jeff Tweedy will join its previously cemented lineup of heavy hitters like Ani DiFranco, Amos Lee, Kathleen Edwards, The Waifs and others at the Aug. 18-20 Planet Bluegrass- sponsored festival. Tickets for the camping-friendly fest along the St. Vrain River in Lyons are available at 800-624-2422 or bluegrass.com/folks.
