Comin’ Soon: New Concert Announcements

Tanglewood has announced that Grammy Award-winning R&B/jazz vocalist Patti Austin has joined the bill for the season-ending Boston Pops matinee concert on Sunday, September 1, led by Thomas Wilkins. Austin will perform a tribute to jazz great Ella Fitzgerald. Tickets range from $21 to $117. Also new on Tanglewood’s schedule, Broadway-television star Cheyenne Jackson and actress-singer Faith Prince have been added to the Michael Feinstein & Friends concert with the Boston Pops at 8:30pm on Friday, August 16. Tickets range from $21-$117.

The massive environmental sculpture site Opus 40 in Saugerties is hosting a concert by the fabulous banjo duo of Abigail Washburn and 15-time Grammy Award-winner Bela Fleck on Sunday, September 1. Gates open at 3pm. Tickets are $45; VIP $75; kids age 10 and under FREE. Also upcoming at Opus 40 are the Nutopians – an eight-piece John Lennon tribute band led by Rex Fowler of Aztec Two Step and Tom Dean of Devonsquare – who play a benefit for Hungry for Music at 5:30pm on Saturday, July 13. Aztec Two Step opens the show. Tickets are $20 in advance; $25 at the gate; VIP $50.

It’s all in family at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock at 8pm on Thursday, August 15, when jazz guitar great Larry Coryell is joined by his two sons alt-rocker Julian and bluesman Murali. Ticket prices TBA. Also, rollickin’ Americana string band the Howlin’ Brothers take the Bearsville stage at 9pm on Sunday, July 28. General admission tickets are $10.

EDM kingpin Rusko invades the Upstate Concert Hall in Clifton Park on Monday, October 21. The Lift Me Up tour also features Roni Size, Tonn Piper and Dynamite MC. Doors open at 7pm, and tickets go on sale at 12noon on Thursday (July 4).

If you’re looking for laughs, the folks at the Comedy Works in Albany have some big-name headliners on their upcoming calendar, including Carlos Mencia at 7:30pm on Thursday, August 29 ($30 in advance; $35 at the door) and Gilbert Gottfried at 7:30 & 9:30pm on Friday & Saturday, October 4&5 ($30 in advance; $35 at the door).

High-energy New Orleans trombonist-vocalist-bandleader Glen David Andrews fires up that funky Crescent City sound at Club Helsinki in Hudson at 9pm on Saturday, August 17. Helsinki is also hosting a Euro-tech triple bill of Vernous, Baltic Bride and John Snyder Performing at 8pm on Wednesday, July 31, and Jordan Weller & the Feathers claim the stage at 9pm on Saturday, September 14. Ticket prices for all three shows are TBA.

Comedian Doug Stanhope returns to Valentine’s Music Hall in Albany at 8pm on Friday, October 25. Tickets are $25 in advance. Also, the Chandler Travis Philharmonic is coming back to Valentine’s on Saturday, September 28. Advance tickets are $12.

A pair of NYC-based bands – punk noir duo Twin Guns and garage rockers the Living Kills – invade the Half Moon in Hudson at 9pm on Friday, July 19. Admission is $6.

SOLD OUT: To absolutely no one’s surprise, the Farm Aid benefit festival – featuring Dave Matthews, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and many more – at Saratoga Performing Arts Center on Saturday, September 21 is now officially sold out, having sold more than 25,000 tickets.

SOLD OUT: WGNA-FM’s CountryFest – featuring pop stars gone country Darius Rucker and Sheryl Crow – at the Schaghticoke Fairgrounds on Saturday, July 13 is now officially sold out, too, although you still have the opportunity to win tickets from WGNA-FM.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: In support of his brand new album A Color Map of the Sun, Pretty Lights returns to take over the Times Union Center in Albany. Tickets go on sale on Saturday, July 13.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Mandolin master and MacArhur Foundation grant honoree Chris Thile is headed into the College of St. Rose’s Massry Center in Albany this fall. Tickets are currently on sale.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Two new concerts – Harry Connick Jr. and Donal Fox – have been added to this summer’s extra-big pop concert series at Tanglewood in Lenox.