Free Summer Shows

Photo - Cat Power among the crowd at Hartwood Acres in 2006: HughShows

With Jennifer O'Connor and Donora set to play a free show tomorrow night in Oakland, it seemed like as good a time as any to draw yer attention to the handful of solid freebies the coming months hold. While I think the Arts Fest speaks for itself, several other shows well worth the price of admission are peppered throughout the summer:

June:
20 - Delbert McClinton, Kittanning Riverfront Amphitheatre

26 - YEP Summer Music Festival, Schenley Plaza

28- The Old 97's, Hartwood Acres

July:
4 - Three Dog Night, Point State Park
17 - Steve Earle, South Park
26 - Los Lobos, Hartwood Acres

August:
7 - Foghat, South Park (Slow Ride, anyone?)
9 - Son Volt, Hartwood Acres

EDIT: Add one more to that list...

September:

6 - Rusted Root @ Hartwood Acres

Three Rivers Arts Fest Dates Announced

Pittsburgh's largest, longest-running outdoor festival is set to run June 5-14 this year. See the "official release" here.

No artists to name yet, but two items stood out:

1) Instead of the three-week format of past years, the festival only runs 10 days this year. It's been no secret that Arts Fest has been cash-strapped for years and we hope that this tighter format will increase the per-show budget - making way for a few more notable acts than we've seen recently. Remember when Wilco played?

2) Despite the millions of dollars in local and state funding spent to make Point State Park more "crowd friendly", the release gives no indication that music will return to enjoy those new digs. Indications are that we'll be rocking in Gateway Center, again. Hopefully the on-going "Bore to the Shore" project forces the concert stage somewhere other than the sweaty doorstep of 5th Avenue Place.

Looking forward to artist announcements.

Hope they bring back my favorite of last year's acts: the Avett Brothers: