What started as a trickle of new concerts a month ago has turned into a flood for First Avenue's promotions team, which is announcing a swath of fall, winter and spring indoor dates this week at an assortment of venues — including shows with the Flaming Lips, Rufus Wainwright and José González (yes, together), Glass Animals, Laura "LP" Pergolizzi and dance-pop pioneers Dead Can Dance.
And there's apparently a lot more where those come from.
"We've got another 12 shows already on the books to announce next week," said a gleeful Ashley Ryan, marketing director at First Ave. "I have a feeling that number is just going to grow between now and then."
Here's a rundown of some of the newly announced shows, all soon to be for sale via First-Avenue.com and new ticketing partner AXS.com:
- Rufus Wainwright and José González: Sept. 23, Northrop Auditorium (on sale Friday at 10 a.m, $40).
- Dead Can Dance: Oct. 20, State Theatre (on sale Friday at 10 a.m., $55-$100).
- The Lemonheads: Nov. 15, Fine Line (on sale now, $30-$50).
- Dan Deacon: Nov. 21, Fine Line (on sale Thursday at 10 a.m., $18-$33).
- Glass Animals: March 17, the Armory (on sale info TBA).
- The Flaming Lips: April 8, Palace Theatre (on sale Friday, 10 a.m., $45-$75).
- LP: April 23, Palace (on sale now, $35-$50, tickets from 2020 date will be honored).
These new bookings help offset the bummer tone setting in for big summer concerts.
Case in point: The First Ave team just had to cancel their Aug. 9 date with the Decemberists at Surly Brewing Festival Field, which had already been postponed from 2020. At least the Ween show is still being planned there outside Surly on Aug. 22.
First Ave's namesake venue also saw a batch of main-room gigs announced last week, including the Osees (Sept. 16), Lucero (Nov. 6) and K. Flay (Feb. 25), plus the hotly anticipated Idles tour is now set to land at the Palace on Oct. 7. These are all in addition to many concerts that were postponed from last year or announced in recent weeks in the main room, such as Waxahatchee (Sept. 12), Dinosaur Jr. (Sept. 14), Japanese Breakfast (Sept. 19), Julien Baker (Sept. 24), Ministry (Oct. 6), the Hold Steady (Nov. 13-14) and Soccer Mommy (Nov. 17).
Over at First Ave's still-new competitor the Fillmore — which was barely open a month before the lockdown set in — Live Nation's promotions team already has a smattering of dates set for late 2021 and early 2022. They include Beartooth (Aug. 27), Gavin Dance Gavin (Sept. 17), Alec Benjamin (Sept. 24), CloZee (for Halloween night), Milky Chance (Nov. 26), the Revivalists (April 9) and Jacob Collier (May 17).
Live Nation is also behind a lot of postponed dates at the Armory rebooked for the latter half of this year — many still in danger of being delayed again — which include Megadeth and Lamb of God (Aug. 4), Lindsey Stirling (Aug. 9), the Deftones (Aug. 12) and Machine Gun Kelly (Sept. 9).
The Armory's 2021 calendar also includes makeup dates with New Order and the Pet Shop Boys (Oct. 3) and Jason Isbell (Dec. 1).
Looks like it's time to start setting aside concert-ticket money again.
Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658
@ChrisRstrib
