Friday, July 10: The hook brings you back… all the way to the early 1990s when a dude with a vest full of harmonicas could become an MTV celebrity as Blues Traveler, Gin Blossoms and Spin Doctors make you shimmy your shoulders at Redmond’s Marymoor Park.
Saturday, July 11: Get your ass to the Belltown Yacht Club, throw yourself into the pit and steel yourself for an epic night of righteousness as the Portland band Berzerk kicks your ass, Middle-Aged Queers from the Bay Area make you groove and Seattle’s own outfit Dead Bars put the power back into power-punk.
Tuesday, July 14: I’ll always cherish being in LMU’s Sunken Garden, fighting in the grass and searching for both halves of the broken drumstick Save Ferris tossed into the crowd after their set of bangers during a car company-sponsored college concert tour. Celebrate the 29thanniversary of their breakout ska album “It Means Everything” at Jazzbones in Tacoma.
Saturday, July 18: So much for the afterglow. I’m devastated to be missing the Puget Sound-adjacent Rock the Boat concert at Everett’s Boxcar Park, featuring Everclear, Marcy Playground and Deep Blue Something, especially since I vividly remember calling into a live radio show in 1997 and losing a free chance to see the first two bands (along with Fastball) in concert because I couldn’t name each group’s hometown.
Saturday, July 18: Somebody I have seen, though, is Jimmy Eat World, who opened for Green Day and Blink 182 at the 2002 Pop Disaster Tour. I drove over 300 miles to catch them at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, but you, you can just get over to the WaMu Theater in SoDo to help them celebrate 25 years of their album “Bleed American.”
Saturday, July 18 and Sunday, July 19: To poorly paraphrase “The Drew Carey Show,” Bellingham rocks. Especially over this long weekend at The Landing at Evil Bikes, as the Fourth Corner Punk Fest comes around for another year. So even if you’re not interested in, say, purchasing a mountain bike from the business, you can still throw down with the likes of Good Riddance, Pennywise, Bouncing Souls, The Vandals and the truly excellent The Dollheads.
Thursday, July 23: “WAKE ME UP.” Even if goth-ish alternative rock isn’t your thing, I bet you unintentionally sing along to the chorus of Evanescence’s 2003 megahit “Bring Me to Life” each time you hear it out in the wild. Admit it. It’s fine. Catch them at the White River Amphitheater along with opening acts Spiritbox and Nova Twins.
Saturday, July 25: Sorry to make this whole piece about me, but I have the floor and you don’t. (It’s very cozy down here). It’s been 31 years since I saw Boyz II Men play an outdoor venue in Irvine adjacent to a waterpark-slash-zoo(?) while on vacation with my family. (Opening act? Fellow “The Masked Singer” revealee Montell Jordan). Even though they’re down to three members now — Michael McCary is still alive, just not part of the group — they’re just as good as ever. Catch them late in July at the Chateau St. Michelle Winery.
