Crossroads KC at Grinders, one of Kansas City's favorite outdoor concert venues, has rolled out the first incarnation of its summer concert lineup, and it runs the gamut from Vanilla Ice to Elvis Costello.
The outdoor show season kicks off this year with a local show -- the Spring Dance Party featuring Hearts of Darkness, the Good Foot, and Making Movies on Saturday, April 30, but taps into the national concert chain in May starting with country goddess Lucinda Williams. Check out more information on the upcoming summer shows after the jump.
Lucinda Williams comes to Crossroads KC on Wednesday, May 11, and tickets for the show go on sale tomorrow. No other opening acts have been announced with this show at this time. The Crossroads venue is known for its wide variety of acts, and true to form, the month of May will see Williams followed by joker Vanilla Ice (he's still around?!) on Friday, May 20. Ice, whose latest, um, accomplishments include appearing on the UK's version of Dancing on Ice and the album Vanilla Ice Is Back! -- covers of his songs by other musicians -- is set to release his sixth studio album, Wisdom, Tenacity and Focus (WTF), on StandBy Records this year.
June will play host to indie-folk-reggae-popmeister Ben Harper, who will take to the Crossroads stage with Rebelution on Sunday, June 5. But June's most promising Crossroads show is certainly Elvis Costello & the Imposters, the alt-rock juggernaut that's been reinventing his new wave/punk style since the '70s. Though my personal favorite recent appearance by Costello was definitely his participation in Stephen Colbert's A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All (in which he was eaten by a bear!), his latest album, National Ransom, was true to Costello form and evidence of Costello's staying power, rich with lyrical genius and lilting melody lines. Costello and the Imposters come to Crossroads on Thursday, June 30.
So far, the rest of the summer lineup at Crossroads is only somewhat fleshed out. Bela Fleck & the Flecktones come to town with Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers on Friday, July 22. August also has only one scheduled performance so far, Johnny Lang and JJ Grey with Mofro, but expect the Crossroads gang to continue to announce more summer shows over the next couple of months. You can find ticket information, box office hours, and door times for all shows at the Crossroads KC website.
