Have you noticed that more and more musicians are coming to Salt Lake City on a weekend this year?
Take a look at a lineup of musicians who will perform on a Friday or Saturday this year: Josh Groban, Sugarland, Rascal Flatts, Alter Bridge, Yanni, Iron & Wine, Buddy Guy, Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw and the Vans Warped Tour.
Utah used to be a midweek stop for tours traveling from Denver and on their way to the greener — and typically more profitable — pastures of Las Vegas, Phoenix and California. But times they are a-changing (consider the recent Lady Gaga and George Strait concerts). And with more weekend concerts scheduled, it makes nights like tonight ripe for tough questions: Should you go see Raul Malo at The State Room, or My Chemical Romance at In The Venue?
One factor in the decision is this: My Chemical Romance’s show is sold out. But in an era of eBay, Craigslist and StubHub, any ticket can be accessed without much sweat.
The Tribune interviewed Malo and My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way to offer some background for music lovers.
Raul Malo • The former frontman of the genre-bending country band The Mavericks doesn’t have the name recognition of My Chemical Romance, but when it comes to his voice, no one else compares.
Malo has the finest singing chops of anyone in the city tonight. (Apologies to all 360 members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.)
The 45-year-old Cuban-American Miami native is touring to promote his sixth solo album, 2010’s fine “Sinners and Saints,” and he’ll be playing guitar accompanied only by an accordion player. The concert is his first time in Salt Lake City as a solo artist.
“I never really had any vocal training,” Malo said. “I did go to a vocal teacher when I was in a band in Miami, and she said I wasn’t any good. She said I would just be a harmony singer.”
She couldn’t have been more wrong. Despite his history as the leader of a country band, Malo doesn’t have an off-putting twang, but instead a rich, clear voice that caresses notes with a firm but not bombastic tone. Close your eyes and listen, and in Malo’s voice you’ll hear the lonesome ache of Roy Orbison. “I learned a long time ago not [to] strain,” he said. “I never screamed, I never emoted in a rock ’n’ roll way.”
“Sinners and Saints” continues Malo’s confident brand of bread-and-butter rock ’n’ roll with a side of mojo, not relying too heavily on his Cuban roots but still acknowledging them. But his attention to his voice has made him avoid one aspect of his heritage. “I don’t smoke cigarettes, and I don’t even smoke [Cuban] cigars, though people think I do,” he said.
My Chemical Romance • When the New Jersey-bred progressive rock band announced it was performing at In The Venue, it seemed a strange choice. The band’s surging popularity seems to suggest it could sell out a much larger concert hall.
Frontman Gerard Way said this year’s tour for “Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys” is designed to be more stripped-down. That’s in contrast to the over-the-top-but-in-a-good-way approach the band used when touring to support 2006’s ambitious concept album “The Black Parade.”
“The whole thing about ‘Danger Days’ is rebooting the band,” Way said. “To me, being a rock band is you do the things people don’t expect from you. Rock and roll is us saying we are not going to do what people expect us to do.”
The album debuted at No. 10 in November, a good number for any other band but a disappointment considering that “The Black Parade” dropped at No. 3. (In the band’s defense, it released the album right before Thanksgiving, when record labels release high-profile albums in preparation for the Christmas season.)
Along with the album, the band wanted to return to its roots as a successful touring band, with less fanfare and pyrotechnics. “We realized that we’re a live band,” Way said. “We won a lot of people over live. … No matter how big we [get], we’re still much how we were in 2001.”
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home2/51570528-183/malo-band-chemical-romance.html.csp?page=2
Groban’s back; Frampton’s still with us
Josh Groban, who just played a small concert in Toronto in January, is going big this summer: he’s playing the Air Canada Centre on July 18. Tickets ($70-$100) for the piano-pop star listening on sale now via Ticketmaster, Livenation.com and the ACC box office; students can get $25 ducats, but only at the ACC.
Other concert announcements:
• Peter Frampton is staging a Frampton Comes Alive! 35th anniversary tour — you are within your rights to call it the Frampton Still Alive tour — and it hits the Molson Amphitheatre on July 9. Tickets ($20-$80) on sale Friday from Ticketmaster and Livenation.com.
• Selena Gomez, the Disney star who at age 18 may be running out of time to be the new Miley Cyrus, plays the amphitheatre too, on Aug. 23. Tickets ($25-$50) on sale Saturday as per Frampton above.
• The Cars, whose new album Move Like This — their first in 24 years — is out May 10, will play Sound Academy on May 20. Tickets ($55-$75) available Friday courtesy Ticketmaster, Livenation.com and Rotate This and Soundscapes
• Veteran Dutch metal ensemble Within Temptation play the Sound Academy on Sept. 7; tickets ($25) from Ticketmaster, Livenation.com and Rotate This and Soundscapes.
• Critically acclaimed Illinois folk-rocker Lissie, having like Josh Groban sold out a show in January, comes back on May 28 to play the Phoenix. Tickets ($24) through Ticketweb, Rotate This and Soundscapes.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/article/968688--groban-s-back-frampton-s-still-with-us
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