Spring music preview 2023: A little bit of country and a little bit of rock ‘n’ roll
You don’t have to step outside and look at the trees to see if the seasons have changed. You just need to see what bands are on tour.
Spring is a time when indie bands that college students flock to start to fade and radio hitmakers from decades past resurface in full force. Without the threat of snowstorms, large arena tours are a safer bet, and outdoor — or semi-outdoor, in the case of the Xfinity Theatre in Hartford or Bridgeport’s Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater — shows start to happen.
Nostalgia is a factor, but some of these bands never went away. What matters most in the post-COVID times, it seems, is reliability. Familiar famous acts are rampant right now. Nothing wrong with that.
Some of these shows may feel like summer shows, but a few acts know what time it is. The venerable Southern rock act Little Feat is calling its tour “Boogie Your Spring Away.” Good advice.
Here are some of the top musical acts to hit the stage in Connecticut this spring.
Taking it back to the old school
The spring concert season belongs to acts that have been around for 30 years or more, though many of the current members of these historic acts are on the younger side. The oldest of them is likely The Temptations and the Four Tops on May 20 at Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater (hartfordhealthcareamp.com), and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons on June 2 at Mohegan Sun Arena (mohegansun.com).
Survivors of the 1960s and ‘70s survivors include Chicago at Mohegan Sun Arena on April 14 (mohegansun.com), Kool & the Gang May 13 at the Oakdale Theatre (livenation.com) and Styx on May 13 at Foxwoods (foxwoods.com).
Some famous names have changed what they do. The final remaining member of The Monkees, Micky Dolenz, celebrates the band’s legacy on April 14 at Ridgefield Playhouse (ridgefieldplayhouse.org), Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry is at Foxwoods April 15 with the solo project he founded in 1979, The Joe Perry Project (foxwoods.com). John Fogerty, who left Creedence Clearwater Revival behind decades ago, is at Mohegan Sun Arena on April 27 (mohegansun.com) and Daryl Hall is on tour without John Oates but features multi-threat rock god Todd Rundgren on the bill on June 4 at Foxwoods (foxwoods.com).
Little Feat’s best-known member, Lowell George, died in 1979 but the band regrouped in 1987 and carries on and still boasts founding member Bill Payne. They will play at College Street Music Hall on April 21 (collegestreetmusichall.com).
The Church has technically never broken up, though there have been line-up changes and experiments with new styles over the decade. The band’s “Hypnogogue” album tour hits the relatively intimate Infinity Music Hall Hartford on April 10 (infinityhall.com).
Of slightly more recent vintage (just 20 years ago) acts, “American Idol” Season 2 icons Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken will reunite on April 24 at Norwalk’s Wall Street Theater (wallstreettheater.com).
The revered ‘90s punk band Chisel, with Ted Leo, reunites on May 10 at the Space Ballroom in Hamden (spaceballroom.com).
There are precious few women among all these resurgent classic acts, though Kut Klose is part of the R&B Rewind Tour with Tony! Toni! Tone!, El DeBarge and Silk on April 8 at Foxwoods (foxwoods.com), Roxanne Shante is part of the May 6 “Tribute to 50 Years of Hip Hop” with Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane, EPMD, at Rakim at Foxwoods (foxwoods.com) and Pat Benatar is at the Mohegan Sun Arena on April 15 with longtime partner Neil Giraldo and ‘80-friendly opening act Charlie Farren (mohegansun.com).
Going country
Connecticut gets all the major country music tours. Mohegan Sun Arena (mohegansun.com) has Kenny Chesney on April 6 and Thomas Rhett on June 9 and 10, with up-and-comers Maddie & Tae at the Mohegan Sun Wolf Den on April 8. Foxwoods (foxwoods.com) has Clint Black on April 23. Bridgeport’s Total Mortgage Arena (totalmortgagearena.com) welcomes Cody Johnson and Randy Houser on May 20. Outside the major arenas, check out Miko Marks and Rissi Palmer at The Kate (katharinehepburntheater.org) on May 4.
All that jazz
Hartford Public Library’s piano-required Baby Grand Jazz series continues at Center Church through April 30. The closing act is Matt Dwonszyk and the Dwonztet. A complete schedule is at hplct.org/classes-seminars-exhibits/baby-grand-jazz.
Smooth saxophonist Boney James graces the SCSU Lyman Center jazz series on March 31 (tickets.southernct.edu). The series also features Najee on April 21, Marcus Anderson, Julian Vaughn and Lin Roundtree, all on May 11, and Four 80 featuring Jeff Kashiwa on May 20.
Spiro Gyra is at The Kate on April 5 (katharinehepburntheater.org), vocalist Timmy Maia fronts the Harold Zinno Jazz Orchestra on April 15 at Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury (7atheatre.org/timmy-maia), and the Rico Monaco Band with Tito Puente Jr. plays the Shubert Theater in New Haven on April 29 (shubert.com).
Singer/songwriters
Gentle, thoughtful, uncluttered shows by solo artists are one of the delights of the spring concertgoing season. This is the category where women outnumber men. The divine Suzanne Vega is at The Kate (katharinehepburntheater.org) on April 18. Indie talent Lydia Loveless is at Hamden’s Space Ballroom (spaceballroom.com) on May 3, and The Buttonwood Tree in Middletown (buttonwood.org/) has Laurel Knight on April 21 and Lynn Hanson on May 20.
Guatemalan singer/songwriter Ricardo Arjona is at Mohegan Sun Arena (mohegansun.com) on June 3. Marc Broussard is at The Kate (katharinehepburntheater.org) on April 11 and Ridgefield Playhouse April 16, and Jim Messina is at Infinity Hall Hartford (infinityhall.com) on April 20.
A little hip-hop and R&B
There’s a shortage of major hip hop and R&B artists on tour right now, outside of the ‘90s nostalgia tours (see “Classics” section above), but to many, the prospect of Metro Boomin on April 28, hip hop-influenced reggaeton artist Feid on June 2 at Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater in Bridgeport (hartfordhealthcareamp.com) and Lizzo on May 6 at Hartford’s XL Center (xlcenter.com) is plenty.
Outside the arenas, hip hop/jazz singer/songwriter Yasmin Williams is at FTC in Fairfield (fairfieldtheatre.org) on April 11.
Tribute acts
Never far behind the nostalgia acts are tribute bands. There’s a special thrill to hearing Elton John or Phil Collins songs done on a theater stage like the Ridgefield Playhouse.
A few theaters that go for a wide range of tributes are the Ridgefield Playhouse (ridgefieldplayhouse.org) with One Night of Queen for two nights, April 11-12, the Phil Collins tribute Hello I Must Be Going on April 20 and The Doo Wop Project on May 20. The Kate in Old Saybrook (katharinehepburntheater.org) has the James Taylor tribute Sweet Baby James on April 7, the AC/DC tribute Dirty Deeds on April 14 and The Linda Ronstadt Experience with Tristan McIntosh May 20, and Nelson Hall in Cheshire (nelsonhallelimpark.org) runs the gamut from the Billy Joel-devoted Cold Spring Harbor on April 4 to the Van Morrison tribute Moondance May 26.
The Oakdale in Wallingford (livenation.com) is one of the large venues booking topflight theatrical spectacles like The Concert: A Tribute to ABBA on April 8 and the Beatles tribute Rain on April 28. The Electric Light Orchestra Experience is at Mohegan Sun Arena on April 21 (mohegansun.com), and the Hammer of the Gods Led Zeppelin Experience is climbing the stairway on April 8 at the Waterbury Palace (palacetheaterct.org).
Finally, the Garde Arts Center (gardearts.org) in New London offers Another Tequila Sunrise — an Eagles tribute, naturally — on May 13.
Folk music takes many forms
One of the best folk rooms in the state is the Buttonwood Tree in downtown Middletown (buttonwood.org), where upcoming acts include Hunter Skye and Still Rivers on April 22 and Don White on April 29.
The Kate (katharinehepburntheater.org) has Tom Rush on April 22, the updated duo Aztec Two-Step 2.0 with The Kennedys on April 21 and the current generation’s Della Mae on April 19.
The bluegrass ensemble Nickel Creek is at College Street Music Hall on April 18 (collegestreetmusichall.com), and the modern folk trio, A Girl Named Tom, is at UConn’s Jorgensen Hall on April 14 (jorgensen.uconn.edu).
Singing the blues
Hartford is known as a blues town, and its center is the restaurant Black-Eyed Sally’s. Upcoming attractions include a Blues Harmonica Showcase on April 1, Cassandra and the Knighthawks on April 7, Murali Coryel and Liviu Pop on April 8 and Carl Ricci & Union Avenue on April 14. (blackeyedsallys.com/live-music).
Big blues names headed to Connecticut include the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band at the Garde on March 26 (gardearts.org), Ana Popovic on May 18 at Norwalk’s Wall Street Theater, George Thorogood and the Destroyers at Foxwoods (foxwoods.com) on May 19 and the legendary Buddy Guy’s Damn Right Farewell Tour on June 9 at Ridgefield Playhouse, a show which doubles at the theater’s annual summer gala event (ridgefieldplayhouse.org).
Worldwide representation
The Wesleyan University campus in Middletown has an excellent ethnomusicology program and some of the best world music concerts in the state. At the end of this semester, there’s a Javanese Gamelan and Dance concert on May 6 and a Chinese Music Ensemble spring concert on May 10. wesleyan.edu/cfa/.
Classical compositions
There are four more concerts in Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s Masterworks series at The Bushnell’s Belding Theater before the season ends: “Mozart 40” March 31 through April 2, “Beethoven by the Rivers” April 14-16, “Mendelssohn Taking Flight” May 12-14 and “Tchaikovsky & Pride” June 9-11. The Hartford Symphony Orchestra is also playing a live score to “Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix” on April 29 at The Bushnell’s larger Mortensen Hall. hartfordsymphony.org.
The Manchester Symphony Orchestra and Chorale play “Masterworks of Underrepresented Composers” on April 1 at Manchester High School (msoc.org) and the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra is holding an Earth Day Celebration concert on April 20 at the Garde in New London (ectsymphony.com/).
Yale’s acoustically wonderful Morse Recital Hall (music.yale.edu) has two major composers, Martin Bresnick and Christopher Theofanidis, at its latest New Music New Haven concert on April 20 and Rossini’s “Le Comte Ory” sung by Yale opera students on May 15.
“Don Giovanni” opera by the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and Connecticut Lyric Opera is May 5 at the New Britain Museum of American Art, May 7 at The Bushnell and May 19 at the Garde (ctlyricopera.org).
A chorus of song
There are more choral groups in Connecticut than you can count. Most of the groups do two concerts a year: one around Christmas time and the other in the spring.
The weekend of May 13 and 14 is particularly busy this year, with Hartford Chorale’s King of Instruments: Music of the Masses on May 13 at Immanuel Congregational Church, Another Octave/Connecticut Womens Chorus on May 13 at Unitarian Society of New Haven in Hamden and the Hartford Gay Men’s Chorus, May 13 and 14, at the Wadsworth’s Aetna Theater.
There’s joyous singing on other days as well. CONCORA presents “Passion for the Planet” April 22 at Asylum Hill Congregational Church, the West Hartford Women’s Chorale sings June 9 at St. James’s Episcopal Church in West Hartford and the Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorus takes the stage at The Kate May on 21.
Others to watch
Here are five more popular acts to look out for this spring:
Lewis Capaldi at Foxwoods on April 7 (foxwoods.com).
Broadway and TV star Billy Porter on June 3 at Foxwoods (foxwoods.com).
Louis Tomlinson, formerly of One Direction, at Mohegan Sun Arena on May 26 (mohegansun.com).
The heavy duo For King and Country plays April 23 at the Oakdale (livenation.com).
A metal match-up of Trivium Beartooth, Malevolence and Archetypes Collide on May 13 at College Street Music Hall (collegestreetmusichall.com).
