Not-to-be-Missed Music News
State Fair Announces Closing Act
Grand Funk Railroad will perform Aug. 1 at Craft Beer Fest
American blues rock band Grand Funk Railroad will close the Delaware State Fair on Saturday, Aug. 1, from 6-9 p.m. at the fair’s Craft Beer Festival.
The three-hour concert and beer event will showcase more than 50 beers from craft breweries across the U.S. Attendees will sample beers on the M&T Bank Grandstand to the sounds of Grand Funk Railroad and regional band lower case blues.
General admission is $25 for a concert ticket and $35 for a ticket plus souvenir cup and five 4-oz. craft beer samples. Additional tickets may be purchased at the event.
Guests are encouraged to arrive 30 minutes early for ID checks. Also, in order to receive tasting tickets and a 21+ wristband, the printed paper ticket must be in hand.
Tickets are available at DelawareStateFair.com.
Conor Oberst at The Queen
Singer-songwriter comes to town June 4
Singer-songwriter Conor Oberst, best known as the frontman of Bright Eyes, has been writing and recording music since 1993. Hailing from Omaha, Neb., Oberst has collaborated with or led various bands, including Commander Venus, Monsters of Folk, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Park Ave., Desaparecidos, and most notably Bright Eyes.
He’ll be joined by national act Larkin Poe on Thursday, June 4, at World Cafe Live at The Queen in Wilmington. Doors open at 7 p.m., the show begins at 8, and tickets, available at queen.worldcafelive.com, are $30.
Kick Cancer
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society fundraiser is May 15
Help raise money for cancer research at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Kick Cancer show on Friday, May 15, at the Elks Lodge in Wilmington.
Musicians who will perform include area mainstays Chip Porter, Kevin Walsh, Tony Cappella, David Poland, Ritchie Rubini, Bill Sweezy, Matt Lock, Eric Montange and Jimmy McFadden.
Tickets are $15 and the event is from 8-11 p.m.
For those who can’t attend but would still like to donate, visit firstchairopen.com.
Neko Case Coming to the Grand
Rolling Stone calls her “one of the best”
Neko Case, Grammy-nominated soloist and member of Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers, brings her smoky, sophisticated vocals to the Grand on Sunday, June 14, at 7 p.m.
The Washington State singer-songwriter has developed a sound of her own: a mix of country, gospel, torch, and pop. Her newest album (2013), The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You, reveals her raw emotion. Rolling Stone pegs her “one of America’s best and most ambitious songwriters.”
Special guest Jennifer O’Connor will join Case. O’Connor has released a series of well-regarded solo albums and has either toured or played with Wilco, the Indigo Girls, Feist, and more.
For more information, visit tickets.thegrandwilmington.org.
Summer Concerts Begin May 3
Old Brandywine Village announces lineup
Old Brandywine Village, Inc. will host the Third Annual Sunday Summer Concert Series, which takes place in the plaza behind the Hercules Building, 1313 N. Market Street, Wilmington, on the first Sunday evening of each month.
The kickoff concert on May 3 will feature the First State Symphonic Band, which has opened the series the previous two years.
Additional musicians and dates are: Alfie Moss/Dexter Koonce Project, June 2; Bruce Anthony with Gerald Chavis and Harry Spencer, July 5; Joseph Whitney Steel Pan Trio, Aug. 2, and a TBA artist Sept. 6. All concerts are 4-5:30 p.m. There are no rain dates.
Guests are asked to bring a lawn chair or blanket to sit and enjoy the concert. Parking is free around the Hercules Building, and across King Street behind St. Patrick’s Church.
For more information, visit oldbrandywinevillage.org or contact Beverly Zimmermann at 588-5983, or bevzimm@comcast.net.
Nathan Gray Goes Solo
BoySetsFire singer releases EP, plans summer tour
Newark’s legendary post hardcore-punk band BoySetsFire formed in the early 1990s, gaining popularity in Europe and at home. The band retired in 2007, and some of the members formed other bands, like lead singer Nathan Gray, who started The Casting Out and I am Heresy. But something he had never done until recently, even after those bands ended and BoySetsFire members decided to reunite in 2010, was try out a solo act.
Gray, 42, from Elkton, Md., digitally released his four-track debut solo EP, Nthn Gry, last winter. The EP displays a different side to Gray—loops, synth, acoustic drums. An eight-song expanded version will be released on vinyl and CD in August through BoySetsFire’s End Hits Records, and will be followed by one-week European tour.
BoySetsFire also will play the Family First Festival in Germany at Köln Palladium venue in Köln on Aug. 21.
For more information, visit nathangraysongs.com.
