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Blogs / Lounge Act / June 2009 / Thursday Night Picks: Everybody Talk About-MMM-Pop Music!

Thursday Night Picks: Everybody Talk About-MMM-Pop Music!

Wow, where to start? Thursday this week has some seriously monster-sized (at least in a normal economy) concerts competing for your entertainment dollar as you head into the weekend. Check it out:

- Down at Utah Valley University campus, it's the feel-good story of American Idol season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson. I'm calling it a feel-good story because she actually managed to shake off the binding American Idol contracts to make an album she really wanted to make (her third, which bombed), and now she's back with more "Since U Been Gone"—style ear candy on her latest album, All I Ever Wanted. Tickets are $25 at Smith's Tix outlets. The show is scheduled for the baseball field, but if it's raining, plan on huddling in the McKay Events Center.

- Thursday at Urban Lounge, it's the electro-tinged indie-rock stylings of The Field from Sweden, along with The Juan McLean.

- Thursday at Usana Amphitheatre in West Valley City, it's 311 and Ziggy Marley making the scene. 311 is to Utah in the '00s what Howard Jones was to Utah in the '90s—inexplicably popular and about a decade behind the times.

BUT...

311 does have a new album, Uplifter, produced by Bob Rock (Metallica). And the band really does deserve props for pioneering the rock-meets-rap thing that bands like LImp Bizkit later turned into absolute crap. And the fact that 311 hails from Omaha, where I grew up, means I'll always have a soft spot for the quintet. Besides, Ziggy Marley is always good for bringing a positive reggae vibration to any show he plays. Check back here Friday for a little review of the scene. Expendables open.