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 postCOVID 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 ’80s-friendly opening act Charlie Farren (mohegansun. com).