August 04, 2004

No Lollapalooza? Try this...

From ABC's The Note this morning comes the hot musical news of the month:

Vote For Change, a concert series of epic proportions, is officially out from under wraps. In no uncertain terms, some of the biggest bands and most influential musicians in modern American music — we're talking Springsteen, we're talking Vedder, we're talking Raitt — will participate. On the heels of the Republican National Convention, they will embark on an ambitious battleground tour, performing in at least 34 shows, in 28 cities, in nine states: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Florida, and North Carolina. Concerts begin Oct. 1 and run over the course of eight to 10 days, in venues varying in size from large indoor arenas to smaller "intimate" theaters.

Tickets go on sale (to the public) through Ticketmaster on Aug. 21.

The roster of more than 20 artists — talent spanning generations, geography and musical genre — will appear on separate bills on the same night in selected cities. While some of the artists' music may inspire the listener to go home and write a letter to your long lost high school love rather than to start a revolution — Move On has managed to line-up an enviable host of talent without a Millie Vanilli in the bunch.

Preliminarily, the tickets may look something like this:

— Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band/REM/Bright Eyes/John Fogerty
— Dixie Chicks/ James Taylor
— Pearl Jam/Death Cab for Cutie
— Dave Matthews Band/Ben Harper/Jurassic 5/My Morning Jacket
— Bonnie Raitt/Jackson Browne/Keb Mo
— John Mellencamp/Babyface

The Note has yet to figure out the Mellencamp/Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds pairing — but the groovin' Matthews/Harper/J-5/MMJ ticket makes such perfect sense — it has to trust.

The tour is being organized by MoveOn's political action committee, MoveOn PAC with all funds fueling the voter education and mobilization efforts of ACT.

Update: Here's the LA Times story. It includes a partial schedule. (Reg. required; try bselig/bselig or search for a Times login at BugMeNot).

Posted by Linkmeister at August 4, 2004 08:51 AM
Comments

I always wanted to be the backup singer on Jackson's Browne's "Stay"....
I am glad that everyone is pulling out all the stops to get people to vote-whether through rock concerts or baseball-the general public has to become more involved.
This is an important election!!!
(they all are, actually....)

Posted by: toxiclabrat at August 4, 2004 04:09 PM