Live music picks
For more music news, concert reviews and interviews, visit The Music Scene blog at www.accessatlanta.com.
FRIDAY
Mary Chapin Carpenter
With Shawn Colvin. Folk-country-pop singer Carpenter has hooked up with frequent tour mate Colvin (she of “Sunny Came Home” fame, but also an arsenal of other folk-pop gems) for a spin behind her most recent album, 2012’s extra-personal “Ashes and Roses.” Carpenter’s recent gigs with earlier summer tour partner Marc Cohn were intimate affairs that found the two sharing and swapping songs. Given her deep musical history with Colvin, expect a similar approach.
8 p.m. Aug. 9. $59.50. Atlanta Botanical Garden, 1345 Piedmont Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 1-877-725-8849.
SATURDAY
Justin Bieber
He's got a (semi) sleeve tattoo. He's urinating in a restaurant mop bucket. He's caught on camera drinking beer in a club. He's maybe back with Selena Gomez. Oh, wait, no he's not. Hang on, never mind, it might be back on. He's being chased by paparazzi in his animal-print hot rod. He's apologizing to Bill Clinton. Whew. Sometimes it's hard to remember in between the TMZ headlines that the occasional-Atlantan is still a pop star on the side. He already played Philips in January, but apparently hasn't changed his angelic entry. Recent reports indicate that his energy has been flagging. Decide for yourselves.
7 p.m. Aug. 10. $45-$95. Philips Arena, 1 Philips Drive, Atlanta. 1-800-745-3000.
Under the Sun
With Smash Mouth, Sugar Ray, Gin Blossoms, Vertical Horizon and Fastball. Sugar Ray frontman Mark McGrath last year created the “Summerland” tour with buddy Art Alexakis of Everclear. But this year, the pair decided to take different strolls down No Flannel Lane. Alexakis kept the “Summerland” name for a more guitar-oriented outing (which played Atlanta earlier this summer) while McGrath and his Ray-Bans-loving bros corralled like-minded musical friends who leaned more toward the melodic side of ’90s radio hits. And that’s the key here: For better or worse, there likely won’t be a single song played that you haven’t heard 8,390 times before.
7 p.m. Aug. 10. $29-$69. Chastain Park Amphitheatre, 4469 Stella Drive N.W., Atlanta. 1-800-745-3000.
Flashback Festival
With Cameo, SWV, Brick, Zapp and Average White Band. The aptly named event sponsored by Kiss 104.1 is in its 18th year of bringing listeners a parade of old school R&B. Cameo hasn’t released an album since 2000 (word is that a new release is in the works), but most Cameo fans will be placated if they can groove to “She’s Strange,” “Word Up!” and “Knights of the Sound Table.” New York trio SWV, meanwhile, has been hitting the comeback trail hard since reuniting in 2005 and last year released the album, “I Missed Us,” the group’s first since 1997.
6 p.m. Aug. 10. $15-$70. Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood, 2002 Lakewood Way, Atlanta. 1-800-745-3000.
TUESDAY
Peter Frampton and B.B. King
With Sonny Landreth. Frampton’s “Guitar Circus” launched in May with the underrated musician (who long ago lost his famous locks) sharing the stage with other guitar heroes such as Robert Cray and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. For his August dates, he’s recruited blues slide guitarist Landreth to open the show, followed by the iconic B.B. King. Fans who want to re-live the night can head online after the concert (at www.fizzkicks.com) to buy a digital download of that night’s set.
7 p.m. Aug. 13. $19-$99. Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park, 2200 Encore Parkway, Alpharetta. 1-800-745-3000.
WEDNESDAY
Icona Pop
I don’t care – I love it! So sing the Swedish electropop duo on their international breakthrough smash, “I Love It.” The fizzy ditty originally charted in Sweden in 2012, but it took being spotlighted in a January episode of HBO’s “Girls” and later “The Vampire Diaries” to break in the U.S. And once it made it to the fourth hour of NBC’s “Today” with Hoda and Kathie Lee, Icona Pop was gold. Lest they become a one-hit wonder, the girls are inching up the Billboard charts with the infectious “All Night.”
7 p.m. Aug. 14. $22.50. Masquerade, 695 North Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 1-800-745-3000.
THURSDAY
The Killers
The band’s fourth album, “Battle Born,” arrived almost a year ago, and while it didn’t birth any instant synth-pop classics a la “Somebody Told Me” or “When You Were Young,” Brandon Flowers and Co. are making all the right moves at this point in their career. They’ve collected a cadre of glossy tunes perfect for live singalongs and now are free to rough up their sound a bit and experiment. Hopefully Flowers hasn’t abandoned the Alexis Carrington shoulder pads that made his onstage ensembles so divine.
8 p.m. Aug. 15. $32.50-$67.50. Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park, 2200 Encore Parkway, Alpharetta. 1-800-745-3000.
OneRepublic
Even if you don’t think you know a OneRepublic song, trust us … you know a OneRepublic song. Ryan Tedder is the face of the band that has owned the airwaves with such ubiquitous pop hits as “Apologize,” “Stop and Stare” and “Good Life” – all earworms that make radio programmers tingle because they know they’ll have at least one song on their playlists for the next 11 months. But Tedder is also an ace producer and songwriter for acts including Kelly Clarkson, Adele, Carrie Underwood and Train. The dude’s the real deal.
7:30 p.m. Aug. 15. $27.50-$40.Chastain Park Amphitheatre, 4469 Stella Drive N.W., Atlanta. 1-800-745-3000.
About the Author
Melissa Ruggieri has covered music and entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 2010 and created the Atlanta Music Scene blog. She's kept vampire hours for more than two decades and remembers when MTV was awesome.
