Concert Outlook Warms Up

Swedish pop singer Robyn joins the broad lineup at Boston Calling on Memorial Day weekend.

It’s feeling like winter outside, but the summer season’s already on the horizon with the word that Billy Joel, Florence + the Machine, and Boston Calling entries Sia, Janelle Monae, Courtney Barnett and Charles Bradley will be among the artists to catch in the great outdoors.

Boston Calling just announced its lineup for Memorial Day weekend and it’s pleasingly diverse and international, particularly when it comes to female artists. The mysterious Australian pop star Sia, Swedish synth-pop siren Robyn and the Grammy-nominated electronic brother duo Disclosure will headline, followed by flamboyant R&B rebel Janelle Monae, the melancholy Sufjan Stevens, Grammy-nominated Aussie rocker Courtney Barnett (who made my favorite 2015 album), electro-pop combo Miike Snow, rising rapper Vince Staples, pop-rock sister team Haim and transcendent soul veteran Charles Bradley. Three-day tickets for the May 27-29 festival at City Hall Plaza go on sale tomorrow at 10 a.m. (with a 24-hour discount). In addition to the festival’s 23 acts (also sporting local upstarts Palehound and Michael Christmas), a third stage that includes comedy will be announced later. Bostoncalling.com

Vaulted piano man Billy Joel becomes the first act to mark three consecutive summers at Fenway Park, bringing his hits to the ball yard on Aug. 18 (tickets on sale next week), following the return of favorite son James Taylor on Aug. 3.  The Xfinity Center’s bubbling up dates as well. That Mansfield shed just announced Florence + the Machine with Monsters and Men on June 7 and a Hall of Fame bill with Heart, Cheap Trick and Joan Jett on July 24, while Duran Duran teams with a Chic reunion (featuring the late David Bowie’s Let’s Dance producer Nile Rodgers) on July 17 and Black Sabbath (with the core of Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler) bids farewell on Aug. 25.

As far as Newport goes, that Rhode Island destination’s a hard-to-snag ticket for “folk” fans as the 2016 Newport Folk Festival quickly sold out except for its Friday July 22 first day, even though no artists have been announced yet. That’s what you get when the previous year included Rogers Waters (backed by My Morning Jacket), Hozier, Leon Bridges and a James Taylor cameo. But the Newport Jazz Festival has announced the first artist for its July 29-31 lineup with saxophonist Kamasi Washington, an accomplice on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly who released his own mind-blowing 2015 opus The Epic. For one more week, Newport Jazz even offers a great-deal Flex Ticket that’s valid for any day of the festival, so you can narrow down a later decision. Chick Corea and Gregory Porter also play Newport’s International Tennis Hall of Fame as part of the jazz festival on July 29. Newportfolk.org, newportjazzfest.org


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