MUSIC
Parklife: Artpark’s stellar summer concert line-up
By Christopher Schobert
A sunset shot of Artpark from last summer; photo by Mike Smith.

The best place to see rock shows in WNY? That depends on one’s taste, proximity, and tolerance level. UB’s Center for the Arts has incredible acoustics, lots of comfort, and plenty of parking, not to mention a pretty stellar history of acts. (I still venerate the greatness of the David Byrne and Morrissey shows, and don’t plan to shut up about them anytime soon.) Babeville has become a recent favorite, including its intimate Ninth Ward spot. Then there are smaller venues like Town Ballroom, the Tralf, and the charmingly dingy Mohawk Place. And Rockin’ at the Knox returns to the Albright with headliners Rufus Wainwright and the National. (Let’s leave HSBC Arena and especially Darien Lake out of this conversation, shall we?)

But when it comes to summertime shows, Artpark is hard to beat. The first indication for me came in the summer of 2009, when Wilco, Jeff Tweedy’s post-Uncle Tupelo outfit—responsible for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, one of the defining albums of the last decade—was booked for a July performance. Even Conor “Bright Eyes” Oberst couldn’t bring down the vibes, and the resulting concert was a triumph, from the ramshackle bliss of “I am Trying to Break Your Heart” to Wilco (The Album)’s tortured “Black Bull Nova.”

This summer’s lineup proves the Wilco show was no fluke. It began in May with the appropriately named and thematic kindred spirit “Gruesome Twosome” pairing of Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper. Primus frontman Les Claypool and the rising Avett Brothers perform on June 2. The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir and Phil Lesh return to WNY as Furthur on July 8. But July 22 is the mightiest show of the summer: Oklahoma’s psychedelic titans, the Flaming Lips.

Summer performers the Flaming Lips; photo courtesy of the artists.

Why exactly is this announcement so stunning? For starters, if my spotty internet research is to be believed, the last time Wayne Coyne and company played the Queen City was November 9, 1994. That was shortly after the band’s one true radio hit, “She Don’t Use Jelly,” a rather nonsensical bit of alt-rock genius that nonetheless got the Lips a performance at the Peach Pit on an episode of Beverly Hills 90210. (If it’s good enough for Steve Sanders …) The music stayed lovably strange, leading to the four-CDs-to-be-played-simultaneously Zaireeka. (Warner Bros.’s tolerance level is rather astounding in this age of major label foolishness; not only did they release Zaireeka, but they distributed the band’s nutty sci-fi film Christmas on Mars and recently released its second album of 2009, a song-for-song cover of Dark Side of the Moon—with guest Henry Rollins!)

Sometimes patience is rewarded, and for the band, it paid off with the huge success—strong sales and big-time critical love—of 1999’s The Soft Bulletin and 2002’s Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. (Both produced, among several other Lips releases, by Buffalo native and occasional Fredonia State College prof Dave Fridmann; one of the group’s early albums, In a Priest Driven Ambulance, was said to have been recorded with Fridmann for $5 an hour in a studio on the Fredonia campus.) The Lips are now rock royalty. Their concerts are events, their albums—sometimes varying in quality but always fascinating—are buzzed about for months before and after release, and Coyne is a certifiable celeb, to the point that his space-station-ey Oklahoma City house is newsworthy, especially when Coyne made internet noise by taking a bath out front.

So the Flaming Lips concert announcement is thrilling, and this is to say nothing of the popular summer series—First Niagara’s Tuesday in the Park and Coors Light’s Wednesdays at Artpark. They’ve pretty handily eclipsed Thursday at the Square, the Molson Canal Concert Series, and other local summer series in the free-show-you can-enjoy-comfortably derby. [See the music calendar on page 27 and the box on this page for June’s dates.] In 2009, the Tuesday series featured some of the usual, perennially popular suspects—54-40, Peter Frampton, Blue Rodeo. But it also brought to town Chris “Special Agent Chester Desmond” Isaak and the Reverend Horton Heat. Wednesdays were headlined by, among others, Canadian faves Sloan and the Trews. (Other non-Tuesday and Wednesday concerts included the Tragically Hip, Diana Krall, and Ani DiFranco.)

Artpark president George Osbourne says the renewed emphasis on concerts began with the introduction of the Tuesday in the Park concerts. “The motivation for the series was to create a greater awareness of Artpark among a much more diversified audience,” he says. “The success of this series paved the way for us to begin to book more ticketed shows in the main theater, and also began to make Artpark an attractive site for other local promoters to present concerts. Booking concerts both for ticketed shows and for the free shows is challenging—we face competition from the casinos in Niagara Falls, New York, and in Ontario, as well as from the various other free and paid concert venues in the region. We’re working directly with artist agents and local promoters to gain access to the widest variety of talent available.”

Summer performers Furthur; photo courtesy of the artists.
Osbourne believes these examples are a solid indicator of things to come. “I believe you can expect to see even more concerts like Wilco and the Flaming Lips, Furthur, the Avett Brothers, and Les Claypool in coming years as we adjust our programming to fit the changing demographics of our audiences,” he says, adding that he believes Artpark compares favorably with a venue like Darien Lake or Shea’s—two sites that bring in a similar level of touring talent. “We’re a unique space that’s quite different than either of those venues. We have a fully equipped stage that accommodates the largest of theatrical productions, and we can accommodate up to 4,500 people in the audience. We’re on the Niagara River with breathtaking views of the Gorge, and in a beautiful park with hiking trails, fishing, and picnic areas. So if you come to a concert here, you can take in a lot of things other than just the music. I think many concertgoers come to Artpark for the total Artpark experience.”

Even in a summer that already features shows from Tom Petty, Kings of Leon, and Green Day, Artpark’s lineup can stand tall. It’s eclectic, unique, and fun—any venue that can boast a band known for pushing its frontman into the audience in a giant hamster ball can comfortably be called progressive, and that’s a description that now fits Artpark well.

Summer concert goin’
As we went to press, the folks at Artpark were busy putting the finishing touches on the summer season. For exact times, and headliners for the free Tuesday and Wednesday shows, visit www.artpark.net or see our calendars in this and our July/August issues. —CS

• June 2: Les Claypool & the Avett Brothers (Mainstage Theater)

• Tuesdays, June 15–August 31: First Niagara Presents Tuesday in the Park (Outdoor Amphitheater)

• June 21: Glenn Miller Orchestra (Mainstage Theater)

• July 8: Furthur (Mainstage Theater)

• Wednesdays, July 14–August 25: Coors Light Wednesdays (Outdoor Amphitheater)

• July 17: Great Big Sea (Mainstage Theater)

• July 22: The Flaming Lips (Mainstage Theater)

• July 23: Celtic Woman (Mainstage Theater)

• July 24: BPO presents Amadeus (Mainstage Theater)

• July 26: The BPO Big Band Show (Mainstage Theater)

• July 31–August 1: BPO Beethoven Festival (Mainstage Theater)

• August 12–15, 19–22: All Shook Up (Mainstage Theater)

• Aug. 27: Bachman & Turner (Mainstage Theater)

Associate editor Christopher Schobert blogs at schobertigo.blogspot.com and occasionally contributes to the film site The Playlist.


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