The Faster Horses Festival returns to the Michigan International Speedway, in Brooklyn, Michigan, July 19-21.
The gathering has gained a reputation as one of the best country music festivals, and this year’s lineup aims to keep that reputation.
Jelly Roll, Lainey Wilson, and Hardy will headline the three-day party that also includes Old Dominion, Cody Johnson, Riley Green, Ernest, Shane Smith & The Saints, Tyler Hubbard, and more than 20 other artists.
Michigan International Speedway is about two hours northeast of Fort Wayne. Passes go on sale Friday, Feb. 9.
Catch Hardy’s Quit!! tour
In addition to his appearance at Faster Horses, Hardy has announced his 15-date Quit!! tour, which kicks off May 30.
The tour quickly makes its way to our area, hitting Ruoff Music Center outside Indianapolis on June 1 before returning to Cincinnati’s Riverbend Music Center on July 25 and Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre in Chicago on July 27.
When receiving his ACM songwriter of the year honor in 2022, Hardy used his acceptance speech as vindication, recalling a singer-songwriter show from his early days in Nashville, Tennessee, when someone slipped a napkin into his tip jar. On it was written a simple message: “Quit!”
Using that discouragement as fuel, he began to write hit songs for Florida Georgia Line and Morgan Wallen then came into his own as an artist and forging new paths with his country-rock hybrid project The Mockingbird & The Crow.
Kip Moore, Travis Denning, and Stephen Wilson Jr. will be joining the singer-songwriter in Indianapolis, while it will be just Denning and Wilson Jr. opening in Chicago and Cincinnati.
Freaks continue their parade
Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper are continuing last year’s Freaks on Parade tour with special guests Ministry and Filter.
The 21-date trek makes a stop Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, on Aug. 28 followed by Pine Knob Music Theatre outside Detroit on Aug. 30 and Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville on Aug. 31.
Zombie has sold more than 15 million albums since going solo with each of his seven studio albums having debuted in the Top 10 on the Billboard Top Albums chart.
The accomplishments of Cooper are many, and even as a septuagenarian, he continues to perform at the top of his game.
Train, Speedwagon on tour
Generations will collide when Train and REO Speedwagon hit the road this summer.
The co-headliners will be stopping at 44 venues including Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville on July 10, Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati on July 12, Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre in Chicago on July 13, Blossom Music Center outside Cleveland on July 15, and Pine Knob Music Center outside Detroit on July 21.
REO were, of course, most successful in the ’70s and ’80s, and Train’s biggest hits came in the late ’90s and early 2000s.
Come for one and stay for the other. You never know, you might get turned on to something you didn’t know you would like.
Soundsystem in Chicago
Electronic fans got some welcomed news recently as producer James Murphy announced a tour for his project LCD Soundsystem.
The Kinda Tour is not so much a tour as it is a collection of dates in a few cities, with Chicago getting four dates, May 24-27, at Aragon Ballroom.
The tour is in continued support of the 2017 album, American Dream.
Road Notes covers concerts within driving distance of Northeast Indiana. Send your news items to info@whatzup.com.
