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See you in June Cork & Belfast!

June 2 – Live at the Marquee Cork with Ye Vagabonds June 3 – Live at the Marquee Cork with First Class + Coach June 9 – Live at Botanic Gardens Belfast with A Lazarus Soul

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order in the sound

a fan site dedicated to Irish band The Frames

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Long time, no updates.

March 20, 2023

Folks! Thanks for visiting – if you’re perusing the site and find broken links, disappeared videos and the like that’s because the site is now over 12 years old! We’ve been short on time & energy in regard to cleaning the place up so watch your step. We’ll get to it when we get to it. Otherwise, enjoy.

Oh and as you probably know, The Frames have 3 gigs in June in Cork & Belfast. There are still tickets available and you can get them here !

The Frames 32 is happening

September 1, 2021

Indeed the 30th anniversary celebration is finally happening 28 May in Dublin at Royal Kilmainham Hospital. Here’s to 32 years as a band! Unfortunately the US Gigs from last Fall have been cancelled so at this time the Dublin party is the only one. Lucky you to everyone who is attending!

Dig Us Over Here

Please contact us at info at orderinthesound dot com if you have anything to share. Thank you!

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The Frames Concert Setlists & Tour Dates

• The Frames ( Irish rock band )
• The Frames ( Australian power pop )
• The Frames ( 70s UK punk band )

The Frames at Botanic Gardens, Belfast, Northern Ireland

• In the Deep Shade
• Lay Me Down
• God Bless Mom
• The Stars Are Underground
• Seven Day Mile
• Dream Awake
• What Happens When the Heart Just Stops
• Angel at My Table
• Friends and Foe
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The Frames at Live at the Marquee 2023

• Babara Cartland
• Santa Maria

The Frames at Levi's Bar, Ballydehob, Ireland

The frames at galway arts festival 2022.

• In The Deep Shade
• Perfect Opening Line

The Frames at Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin, Ireland

• Dance the Devil Back Into His Hole
• A Caution to the Birds
• Rent Day Blues

The Frames at Simon Christmas Eve Busk 2021

The frames at private venue, dublin, ireland.

• Pavement Tune
• Giving Me Wings
• In This Boat Together

The Frames at Footsbarn, Ballintubbert, Ireland

The frames at whelan's, dublin, ireland.

• All Tomorrow's Parties
• Mighty Sword
• Fitzcarraldo

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Most played songs

• Revelate ( 108 )
• God Bless Mom ( 93 )
• Lay Me Down ( 91 )
• Pavement Tune ( 88 )
• Star Star ( 82 )

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Cesare Carugi Glen Hansard Matthew O'Donnell Petr Langr Damien Rice Shiver Mavis Staples The Swell Season Thomas John YVI

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Artists covered

AC/DC Aslan The Beatles Brendan Behan Black Sabbath Rob Bochnik Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley Gavin Bryars Jeff Buckley Tim Buckley Bo Carter Paddy Casey Mic Christopher Colm Mac Con Iomaire dEUS The Dubliners Bob Dylan Halite Glen Hansard George Harrison Mildred J. Hill & Patty Hill Interference Michael Jackson Mark James Billy Joel John Hegarty Daniel Johnston Joy Division Patrick Kavanaugh Merle Kilgore Kraftwerk Lulu Bob Marley & The Wailers The Mary Janes Van Morrison Mundy Nirvana Lisa O'Neill Oasis Palace The Pale Pink Floyd Pixies The Pogues R.E.M. Radiohead Damien Rice Josh Ritter Rollerskate Skinny Snow Patrol

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447 people have seen The Frames live.

PhillyShaw emjot paulcuthbert86 thomond9112 stateless siamesedream89 ogarmaile OwenSmyth EMorningstar xxhell bmulvany docon1000 dennyc cmcb Chris-stewart87 mornirnaeth aferdia ilockyer LuciaSandia SeanFlahive fb:589866111 Glenn rjramos GabriellaC decob JayLaast Metalman83 DavidOConnell conorsetlist InRainbows Invincible1958 ramair sevl1979 owenrcwmaber MalF KateGaffey LMcScottish rootscontroller dvbsh luna_lee PhilipCummins spease75 marcolas nanyness Dubweb76 Thoive mcgacks CoreyG2 Maccer77 betweentheether

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Frames  

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Road Trip: Songs to Drive By

Weeping at the wheel: crushingly sad songs.

August 13, 2008 • Not every road trip is a symbol of celebration and freedom; sometimes you're just wallowing in grief, or perhaps fleeing the soul-shrapnelizing ruin you've created back home. Regardless of your misery's root cause, there's no better place to mourn ostentatiously than alone in a car late at night, when no one's around to witness your pitiful, spluttering sobs.

Swell Season Live Joel Didriksen for kingpinphoto.com hide caption

Memorable Moments 2007

Live music from the film 'once'.

July 26, 2007 • Playing under the name The Swell Season, hear Irish singer Glen Hansard and Czech newcomer Marketa Irglova perform songs from the hit musical Once recorded live in concert from Washington, D.C.

The Swell Season in Concert

The frames: seething ballads and upbeat anthems.

May 9, 2007 • Driven by singer Glen Hansard's charismatic persona, The Frames have become one of the best live bands working today. Blending atmospheric ballads with rousing rock songs, The Cost finds The Frames' legend continues to grow after more than 15 years in the business.

Live in Concert

The frames give epic performance.

April 26, 2007 • Enormously popular in their home country of Ireland, The Frames make intimate, reflective rock led by singer/guitarist Glen Hansard. Now on tour for their sixth and best studio album to date, The Cost , The Frames visit Washington, D.C. for a concert, originally webcast live on NPR.org Apr. 26.

The Frames live in concert

Song of the day, self-pity and bad behavior, with strings.

February 12, 2007 • The Cost finds The Frames harboring more commercial ambitions than usual, but no one involved has forgotten singer Glen Hansard's odd ability to sound sweetly romantic, big-hearted, self-deprecating and emotionally stunted at the same time.

'Bad Bone' by The Frames

All songs considered, mahogany, alice coltrane, clara rockmore.

January 19, 2007 • Gorgeous string pop from The Frames; Brooklyn's dream pop group Mahogany; The otherworldly rock band Grizzly Bear; Remembering the music of Alice Coltrane and more.

The Frames, Kronos Quartet, Patti Smith

May 13, 2002 • Barbershop like you've never heard before: The Gas House Gang; music on a leaf from The Kronos Quartet; another great unknown: Dromedary; a dreamy instrumental from The Frames and more.

Indie pop with a folky touch from singer and songwriter Glen Hansard, also in the Swell Season and the movie Once.

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Keanu Reeves' Band Dogstar Announces Summer Vacation Tour 2024 — See the Dates!

The band expressed feeling "stoked" for the North American tour in an Instagram post announcing the dates

• Dogstar, which features bassist Keanu Reeves, guitarist/vocalist Bret Domrose and drummer Rob Mailhouse, is heading out on the Summer Vacation Tour 2024
• The band reunited last year following a two-decade hiatus
• Their new album, Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees , is out now

Dogstar is getting ready to hit the road.

The rock band, which features bassist Keanu Reeves , guitarist/vocalist Bret Domrose and drummer Rob Mailhouse, announced dates for their upcoming Summer Vacation Tour 2024 on June 5.

"We are stoked to announce a new North American headline tour this August & September," read a post on the trio's social media page.

Related: Keanu Reeves Relaxes Ahead of His Band Dogstar's Show in California — See the Photo!

Kicking off Aug. 8 at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis, the tour will make stops throughout the United States and Canada before wrapping Sept. 21 at Harrah’s Ak-Chin Hotel & Casino in Maricopa, Arizona.

"We are having the best time out here on the road interacting with fans at these shows, we wanted to keep it going," said the band in a statement about the tour. "For this next U.S. run starting in August, we will be planning to try out some new songs as well — hope to see you out there!” 

Tickets first become available through a presale on June 5 at noon local time, before the general onsale begins June 7 at 10 a.m. local time.

Following a 20-year hiatus, Dogstar returned to the stage for the first time last May at BottleRock Festival in Napa Valley, California. The band's new album, Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees , is out now.

"When we reunited to try to write some songs, we never knew what an amazing journey we were beginning," said the band in a statement.

"The way this record came together was nothing short of magical for us," continued the trio. "The fun, the passion and the friendship shines through on these recordings and hopefully the variety of emotions will connect and resonate with everyone the way they do for us."

Related: Keanu Reeves' Rock Band Dogstar Reunites Onstage for the First Time in 20 Years

Dogstar was formed in the mid-'90s. The band's first EP  Quattro Formaggi  was released in 1996 and followed by two albums, 1996's  Our Little Visionary  and 2000's  Happy Ending , as well as a one-off cover of Mr. Big's "Shine" in 2004.

During Dogstar's initial run, the band appeared in films including 1999's  Me and Will  and 2005's  Ellie Parker . They also opened for David Bowie and Bon Jovi on tour and performed headlining shows with then-upcoming opening acts Rancid and Weezer.

See the full list of Dogstar's Summer Vacation Tour 2024 dates below.

Thu, Aug. 8 - Indianapolis, IN – Indiana State Fair

Fri, Aug. 9 – Charles Town, WV – Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races

Sun, Aug. 11 – Lexington, KY – Lexington Opera House

Tue, Aug. 13 – Raleigh, NC – The Ritz

Wed, Aug. 14 – Richmond, VA – The National

Fri, Aug. 16 – Mashantucket, CT – Foxwoods Resort Casino

Sat, Aug. 17 – Bethlehem, PA – Wind Creek Event Center

Sun, Aug. 18 – Waterloo, NY – del Lago Resort & Casino

Tue, Aug. 20 – Grand Rapids, MI – GLC Live at 20 Monroe

Thu, Aug. 22 – Windsor, ON – Caesar’s Windsor

Fri, Aug. 23 – Hammond, IN – Horseshoe Hammond Casino

Sat, Aug. 24 – Columbia, MO – Rose Music Hall

Tue, Aug. 27 – La Vista, NE – The Astro

Wed, Aug. 28 – Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theater

Fri, Aug. 30 – Quapaw, OK – Downstream Casino Resort

Sat, Aug. 31 – Norman, OK – Riverwind Casino

Tue, Sept. 3 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Union Event Center

Fri, Sept. 6 – Reno, NV – Silver Legacy Resort Casino

Sat, Sept. 7 – Jacksonville, OR – Britt Music and Arts Festival (Britt Festival Pavilion)

Sun, Sept. 8 – Forest Grove, OR – McMenamins Grand Lodge

Tue, Sept. 10 – Airway Heights, WA – Spokane Live

Fri, Sept. 13 – Redding, CA – Redding Civic Auditorium

Sat, Sept. 14 – Wheatland, CA – Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sacramento

Sun, Sept. 15 – Santa Cruz, CA – The Catalyst

Tue, Sept. 17 – Ventura, CA – The Majestic Ventura Theater

Thu, Sept. 19 – Valley Center, CA – Harrah’s Resort SoCal

Fri, Sept. 20 – Las Vegas, NV – The Chelsea – The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

Sat, Sept. 21 – Maricopa, AZ – Harrah’s Ak-Chin Hotel & Casino

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Read the original article on People .

Black Keys Split With Management After Canceled Tour Debacle

By Jem Aswad

Executive Editor, Music

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The Black Keys and managers Irving Azoff and Steve Moir have parted ways after the sudden and thoroughly publicized cancellation of the band’s North American arena tour previously scheduled for the fall.

A rep for Azoff confirmed the split to Variety late Thursday, calling it an “amicable parting”; a rep for the group did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The news was first reported by the New York Times.

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However, they are hardly the only act dealing with the harsh realities of touring in 2024. While live-entertainment companies have reported record revenues in the two years since pandemic restrictions fully lifted and top tours continue to do extremely well, that rush has clearly cooled off for artists below the very top tiers. 2023 may come to be regarded as a watershed year, with Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Drake, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and others thundering across North America. But ticket prices have also reached a new peak, and combined with the bad press the industry has received amid the Justice Department’s recently filed but long-expected antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster owner Live Nation, many fans have apparently decided to be more selective with their spending.

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Taylor Swift v The Beatles: As the Eras tour hits the UK, how does the star compare against the biggest band of all time?

Album sales, awards, Guinness World Records... How do you crown the biggest music artist of all time - and is it definitely Taylor Swift? With the Eras tour hitting the UK, it certainly feels that way at the moment - but Beatles fans might just have something to say about it.

By Gemma Peplow, culture and entertainment reporter, and Saywah Mahmood, data journalist

Wednesday 5 June 2024 17:08, UK

Are you ready for it? Because this week, Taylor Swift rolls into town for the first UK dates of her record-shattering Eras tour, to dominate front pages, social media, and a large proportion of the national conversation for the foreseeable.

Something has shifted in the Swiftverse in the past few years. She now transcends even the highest echelons of pop fame, massively boosting everything from music sales to, well, the entire global economy.

The Eras tour is a cultural and economic juggernaut; the first to cross the $1bn mark, according to Pollstar's 2023 year-end charts, and already beating the record set by Sir Elton John and his Farewell Yellow Brick Road goodbye, which ran from 2018 to 2023 and grossed $939 million . Several experts predict it could generate more than $4bn by the time it finishes.

Swift is the first arts and entertainment star to be named Time's Person of the Year . The first ever music billionaire to reach the milestone solely through her songwriting and recording. A slick pop star who understands the power of This. Sick. Beat, but also a songwriter and lyricist whose words are studied as poetry around the world. She has long been the biggest modern music star on the planet - but could she now be the biggest of all time?

To answer that question, you have to look to The Beatles . The band that changed the nature of the industry, long regarded as the most influential music act in music history.

In October last year, Swift re-released her fifth album, 1989, the record that really marked her crossover from incredibly successful country star to pop phenomenon. Featuring re-records of tracks that remain among her biggest hits to date, including Shake It Off, Blank Space and Bad Blood, 1989 (Taylor's Version) inevitably followed all her others in skipping to the top of charts around the world.

Three weeks later came reissues of The Beatles' classic Red and Blue album collections following the surprise release of Now And Then, the first original single in years , finally finished by Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Ringo Starr after more than four decades.

Now And Then topped the singles chart, naturally. But when it came to taking on Swift on the album chart, the star held her spot - denying the biggest and most influential band in history an extension to their record-breaking UK number one tally of 16.

The unstoppable force of Taylor Swift

Of course, The Beatles albums were reissues, but it's worth noting Swift's re-recordings are also not entirely new - she is re-recording much of her early work to reclaim her rights, with the addition of "from the vault" tracks - plus, fans had already been buying 1989 (Taylor's Version) for three weeks by this point.

To Swifties, she is undoubtedly the biggest music artist of all time. To fans of the Fab Four, there will never be another act that comes close. Can their achievements be compared?

It's tricky. Swift and The Beatles reached the height of their fame (and Swift might not even be there yet) in different - ahem - eras. There are multiple caveats - inflation, population growth, streaming and the affordability of music, live music becoming more lucrative, social media, do we include the individual Beatles' solo output (we haven't), and so on - that mean there is no exact science here.

But, we've given it a go...

Topping the charts

In the battle of the number ones, The Beatles get the points.

When it comes to singles, surprisingly, Swift hasn't had as many as you might think topping the charts in the UK. Her first was Look What You Made Me Do in 2017 - Shake It Off, her biggest-selling hit, reached number one in the US, but number two here. Anti-Hero, from Midnights, became her second UK number one in 2022, with Is It Over Now? (Taylor's Version) and Fortnight, her recent collaboration with Post Malone, adding to the pile in the last year.

The Beatles, on the other hand, started scoring number ones early on. The first, From Me To You, was their third single, released in 1963, and was followed by hits including She Loves You, I Want To Hold Your Hand, Can't Buy Me Love, Help!, All You Need Is Love, Hey Jude... the list goes on.

Album chart-toppers are more evenly matched. The Beatles actually have more in the US than they have in the UK, as different versions and more records were released across the pond. All apart from one of their 12 studio albums topped the charts in the UK - Yellow Submarine peaked at number three in 1969 - and they have also reached the top spot with live and compilation albums.

Apart from her debut, Taylor Swift, released in 2006, all of Swift's albums have reached number one in the US. In the UK it was her fourth album, Red, that became her first chart-topper, and all others since have followed.

Record sales

This one is a tricky one as not all sales are certified. According to Guinness (and we'll come to world records later), The Beatles have amassed the greatest sales for any group, with all-time sales estimated by record label EMI at more than one billion discs and tapes to date. Note this is worldwide, and estimated.

So we've looked at certified sales of the music stars' studio albums - no compilations or live album sales - in the UK and US. In the UK, The Beatles take the win, with more platinum and gold sales than Swift. But in the US, she's way ahead.

Interestingly, they both add up to just under 295 million certified sales in the UK and US.

In the UK, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) rates platinum sales for albums as those that reach 300,000 units, with gold sales at 100,000. In the US, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) rates diamond sales for albums at 10m units, while platinum is 1m and gold is 500,000.

The trophy cabinet

Swift wins this one - but there are a lot more awards up for grabs nowadays. She has 26 Teen Choice Awards, for example, and 40 American Music Awards, and neither were around in the 1960s.

The Grammy Awards were, though, and Swift is definitely the winner here - with 14 wins out of 52 nominations. Earlier this year, she became the first and only artist to win the Grammy for album of the year four times , for Midnights (2024), Folklore (2021), 1989 (2016), and Fearless (2010). She also has the most nominations for song of the year, with seven, but interestingly has never won in this category.

The Beatles have seven Grammy wins from 23 nominations, including best new artist and best performance by a vocal group, for A Hard Day's Night, in 1964.

Despite her Grammys success, Swift is by no means the ceremony's biggest winner - that accolade goes to Beyonce, who has 32 gongs from 88 nominations.

Deep space and earthquakes: Who's the biggest record breaker?

In 2021, Swift's re-recorded version of Fearless became the star's third to top the UK charts in less than 12 months, breaking a long-held record by The Beatles.

In February, she surpassed their record for holding the most weeks in the Billboard 200's Top 10 in the last 60 years. In April, she topped the UK album chart with The Tortured Poets Department, outselling the rest of the top 10 combined and beating The Beatles for the record of fastest artist to rack up 12 UK number ones.

And remember her billionaire status? Well, Sir Paul is also in the club - but having reached that point only earlier this year, a month after Swift, it's taken him a lot longer to gain membership.

According to Guinness, Swift currently holds at least 77 records, while The Beatles hold at least 29. However, there is a chance there could be even more than this as records are constantly being set and broken - and it should be noted that with streaming, inflation and more awards shows now, it is easier to keep breaking records now than it was back in The Beatles' day.

Some of Swift's records include several for Spotify, such as being the most streamed act in 24 hours following the release of Midnights in 2022; most US singles chart entries (263); most million-selling weeks on the US albums chart; plus the greatest seismic activity caused by a music concert (equivalent to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake).

The Beatles' records include the best-selling group ever worldwide; most consecutive weeks at number one on the UK albums chart - 30 weeks in 1963 for debut Please Please Me; most viewed Wikipedia page for a music group; and first song to be beamed into deep space with Across The Universe in 2008, courtesy of NASA.

Can't Buy Me Love - but musicians can boost an economy

Now this one is pretty difficult to compare. So we won't. But there are some impressive stats.

According to Barclays' Swiftonomics report, released in May, the UK leg of the Eras tour is set to boost the UK economy by almost $1bn.

Eras Tour tickets sparked a 15.8% year-on-year increase in UK spending on entertainment when they were released last July, the bank says, and now the dates are here, nearly 1.2m fans attending 15 gigs taking place in Edinburgh, Cardiff, Liverpool and London are predicted to spend an average of £848 in total on tickets, travel, accommodation, outfits and other expenses.

The Beatles' economic impact is harder to quantify. But there is information available on the band's continuing boost to Liverpool alone - £81.9m to their home city's economy each year, according to a report commissioned by Liverpool City Council in 2016.

This was set to grow by up to 15% each year, the report found at the time, with the band's legacy also supporting more than 2,300 jobs.

Help! Is Swift bigger than The Beatles?

We asked some experts for their thoughts.

Dave Fawbert, founder of the Swiftogeddon club nights playing Swift, and nothing but Swift, says she is unmatched at the moment.

"She really does have it all," he says. "She's incredibly gifted melodically... you listen to Shake It Off, there's literally about eight incredible hooks in that song.

"Most of the tracks, you hear the choruses once or twice, they're so well written, you'll be able to sing along by the third chorus. The other thing about her songs is they're arranged so brilliantly, there's never any wasted space in them."

And then there's her lyrics, he says, her ability to pick out universal emotions, specific details, and express them in song. "And she's done it across virtually every genre. She's a genius and she's got the genius to work with good people as well."

He says he would compare her dominance now to that of Michael Jackson in the 1980s and 1990s. But what about The Beatles? "I mean, they're the best, I'm not sure they'll ever be surpassed," he admits. "But Taylor's close."

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

UK tribute band The Bootleg Beatles say it's too early to make a call.

"The music of The Beatles has already stood the test of time. The reaction we get as we continually tour around the UK - we're back this month - and indeed the world, is testament to that," they say. "So, while Taylor Swift is undoubtedly a wonderful talent, it's probably around 50 years too early to judge her against the Fab Four."

Hits Radio presenter Tom Green says they are two artists that "owned the zeitgeist" of their times. So is the comparison fair? "Yes and no."

He elaborates: "I think it was probably a bit easier to be the whole zeitgeist in the '60s, because there was only so many media outlets. Everyone was watching the same thing."

Now, it's a lot harder to create something that everyone is looking at, but Swift is constantly keeping our attention, he says. "I think the comparisons are really hard to do and music is so subjective. But I think the interesting thing about The Beatles is they brought in a genre of music, they ushered in the genre of rock and roll into pop music."

Read more: The hidden meanings in Swift's new album How a country girl took over the world

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Dr Clio Doyle, a lecturer in early modern literature at Queen Mary University of London, teaches a module on Swift's lyrics as literature. In her field, she says she would draw comparisons with artists such as Bob Dylan rather than The Beatles.

"It's this kind of body of work that is really self-examining and self-revising and revisiting in a way that feels very dynamic and alive and intellectually interesting," she says of Swift's music. "I also think that one thing Swift has always done throughout her career is, she's often talking about literature - from a very early song like Love Story, which is rewriting Romeo And Juliet, to a later song like The Lakes, which is thinking about romantic poetry."

Dylan became the first musician to win the Nobel Prize for literature in 2016, she points out, a decision deemed controversial due to arguments over whether lyrics count as literature. "I think we have to say they do because they're written texts," says Dr Doyle. "I think those are very interesting conversations. And I think we see some of those conversations also now around Taylor Swift."

And Dr Amy Skjerseth, a lecturer in audiovisual media and a member of the Institute of Popular Music at the University of Liverpool, says that like Swift, The Beatles also had different eras, but Swift's experience in the industry will have been different to theirs, as four male stars.

"For women-identifying pop stars, eras often are about survival in a music industry that does not make space for them, especially for artists of colour and queer artists," she says. "There are also significant differences in class between Swift and The Beatles - Swift's family had the means to support her career.

"And while Beatlemania was heavily stereotyped back in the day, Swift's fans have an increased ability to push for social justice and social change, connect with each other, and create a larger sense of community.

"Beyond Taylor Swift, the Eras concept might help attract wider attention to artists who have worked tirelessly under the radar to transform their musical messages across changing times."

So are we any closer to saying whether Swift is the biggest artist of all time?

Some of the stats suggest she might be. Beatles fans will disagree.

Will there be an answer? Maybe in 50 years, as The Bootleg Beatles say. For now, we'll let it be.

Related Topics

• Paul McCartney
• Taylor Swift
• The Beatles

Set List: Dave Matthews Band’s Summer Tour 2024

Listen to the hits performed on the blockbuster tour.

18 Songs, 1 hour, 36 minutes

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Keanu Reeves' band Dogstar announces summer 2024 tour for their first album in 20 years

Keanu Reeves and his band Dogstar are going back on the road.

Following the group's first performance in 20 years last summer, Dogstar announced Tuesday that its members are embarking on the Summer Vacation Tour 2024 across North America.

"We can’t wait to see everyone! Thank you all for all the love and support," drummer Rob Mailhouse commented under the band's Instagram post. "We can feel it every time we take the stage. ❤️"

Dogstar, currently on tour in Europe, will be visiting 29 cities starting with the Indiana State Fair on Aug. 8. Their last show is Dana Point, California's Ohana Fest on Sept. 27.

The pre-sale begins Wednesday at noon local time; tickets can be found at dogstarofficial.com .

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Last October, Dogstar — which comprises Reeves, Mailhouse and guitarist/vocalist Bret Domrose — came out with its first album in two decades, a 12-track record titled "Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees." It was released by their own label, Dillon Street Records and featured their single "Everything Turns Around."

The "John Wick" star, the alt-rock band's bassist, formed the band with Mailhouse and the group's original guitarist and lead singer Gregg Miller in 1991.

Before ending their 20-year hiatus with a performance at BottleRock Napa Valley music festival in northern California last May, Reeves told  Billboard  that being with Dogstar was "something I’ve always missed."

"I missed playing together, I missed writing together, I missed doing shows together," he said. "We came to a spot where we weren’t playing anymore, and I missed it … Once we started to play, and it felt good, and really positive and creative, that’s when it was like, 'OK, let’s make this happen.'"

"I think all three of us just said, ‘Well, if we’re going to do this, let’s make a record,'" Reeves said. Domrose added, "We just knew that there was ‘X’ amount of time, and we needed to make the most of it. We just locked on as wanting to make this record, and it happened pretty quickly."

At the Napa Valley festival, the band played tracks from the previous albums, 1996’s "Our Little Visionary" and 2000’s "Happy Ending," as well as several songs from their yet-unreleased "Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees."

Three months later, Dogstar went on to tour two dozen cities in North America and Japan in its Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees Tour.

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Sarah McLachlan Is Resurfacing

The Canadian songwriter became a superstar through a series of defiant decisions. After slowing down to be a single mother, she has returned to the stage and studio.

Sarah McLachlan is on tour celebrating “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy,” the 1993 album that turned her into an avatar for the sensitive, mysterious singer-songwriters of ’90s radio. Credit... Alana Paterson for The New York Times

Supported by

By Grayson Haver Currin

Reporting from Vancouver, British Columbia

• Published May 30, 2024 Updated May 31, 2024

Sarah McLachlan was just 30 hours from beginning her first full-band tour in a decade, and she could not sing.

She was in the final heave of preparation for eight weeks of shows stretching through late November that commemorate “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy,” the sophisticated 1993 album that turned her into an avatar for the sensitive, mysterious singer-songwriters of ’90s radio. But three days into a string of seven-hour rehearsals, her voice collapsed, the high notes so long her hallmark dissolving into a pitchy wheeze.

So onstage in a decommissioned Vancouver hockey arena, a day before a sold-out benefit for her three nonprofit music schools, McLachlan only mouthed along to her songs, shaking her head but smiling whenever she reached for a note and missed.

“It only goes away when I project, push out,” she said backstage in a near-whisper following the first of the day’s mostly mute run-throughs. She slipped a badge that read “Vocal Rest” around her neck and winked. “Luckily, that’s only a third of what I do.”

For the last two decades, McLachlan, 56, has contentedly receded from the spotlight and the music industry she helped reimagine with the women-led festival Lilith Fair . Since 2008, she has been a single mother to India and Taja, two daughters from her former marriage. With rippling muscles that suggest a lean triathlete, she is now a devoted surfer, hiker and skier who talks about pushing her body until it breaks. Though she writes every morning, waking up with a double espresso at the piano in her home outside Vancouver, she has focused on motherhood and the Sarah McLachlan School of Music , offering free instruction to thousands of Canadian children since 2002.

A few years ago, she finished a set of songs about a pernicious breakup but reckoned the world didn’t need them; she hasn’t released an album of original material since 2014. “What do I want to talk about?” she said months earlier during a video interview from her home, swaying in a hammock chair. “I’m just another wealthy, middle-aged white woman.”

McLachlan, though, now may be on the verge of a renaissance. She is amassing a $20 million endowment for her schools, and exhaustive interviews for a Lilith Fair documentary just wrapped. In a year, her youngest, Taja, will head to college. For the second time, McLachlan’s life is opening toward music.

While revisiting her catalog to build this two-hour concert, which begins with a clutch of personal favorites before pivoting into a muscular interpretation of “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy,” she flew to Los Angeles for multiple sessions with the producer Tony Berg, who has worked with Phoebe Bridgers and Aimee Mann. She has cut at least a dozen songs there, including a gently psychedelic cover of Judee Sill’ s “The Kiss.” She has more to write. “I’m so energized by music, now that I’m living and breathing it every moment,” she said. “It’s a very different feeling.”

During the day’s second rehearsal, however, she tempered her enthusiasm with tacit worry about her voice. She told her tour manager that Taja would soon be backstage, probably with a prednisone prescription. “Mom, I’m already here,” the 16-year-old screamed, 20 rows back in an otherwise empty arena. “I have your medicine! Do you want it?”

McLachlan couldn’t hear her. She nodded to her band and started a song called “Fallen,” humming to herself.

DURING SUMMER BREAK between sixth and seventh grades, McLachlan’s friends in Nova Scotia labeled her a lesbian. She had indeed kissed another girl, practicing for a boy. She instantly became a pariah, a middle-class kid from a conservative family surrounded by wealthy bullies.

“I became poison. Then they started calling me ‘Medusa,’ because I had long, curly hair,” she said. “There was physical abuse, too. I thought, ‘I am on my own.’”

There was little quarter at home. McLachlan was the youngest of three adopted children that she said her father never wanted. Since he tormented her older brothers, her mother — unhappy with marriage, depressed by circumstance — responded to her daughter with equal disdain, ensuring everyone was miserable. “I didn’t have a relationship with my father, because my mother wouldn’t allow it. If I showed him any attention, she wouldn’t speak to me for a week,” McLachlan said, lips pursed.

Music, however, became her refuge. She graduated from ukulele at 4 to classical guitar at 7 after the family moved to the provincial capital. She struggled in school, skipping class to hide in the empty gymnasium and play piano there. Though she despised the hard stares and high expectations of recitals, she begged to join a band. Her parents relented to a few hours of Sunday practice. The group’s first show, for several hundred dancing kids in a student union, was transformational.

“I was being seen, and I was being accepted,” she said. “It was the first time I felt that way.”

That night’s headlining act included Mark Jowett, who was then running a small label, Nettwerk, in Vancouver. Stunned by McLachlan’s voice and verve, Jowett urged her to move west and start writing songs. Her parents insisted she finish high school and college. Soon after meeting the label’s co-founder Terry McBride, she defied them, anyway. They barely spoke for two years. “She was green but really disarming,” said McBride, McLachlan’s manager until 2011, in an interview. “Her ambition was to get out.”

McLachlan soon cut a ponderous debut informed by the folk of her youth — Cat Stevens, Simon and Garfunkel, Joan Baez. Jowett and McBride wanted a producer to push her. When they asked Pierre Marchand, who had worked with the Canadian folk royalty of Kate and Anna McGarrigle, what he’d do with McLachlan’s music, he seemed flippant, saying he’d find out in the studio. “My manager was like, ‘I don’t like this guy.’ But I’m like, ‘I love this guy,’” she recalled. “It was all about exploration.”

The pair decamped to the New Orleans studio of the iconoclastic producer Daniel Lanois, where their professional relationship turned physical. (“We wrote a lot of songs naked,” Marchand admitted, laughing.) That intimate bond proved critical when an ascot-sporting representative from McLachlan’s American label, Arista, stopped by to listen. When he didn’t hear a marketable single, they didn’t capitulate. They told him to leave.

“It was a defining moment for me in deciding how I wanted to control my future,” McLachlan said. “I thought, if this is what being famous and successful means, to compromise this thing that feels so important, I don’t want it.”

They gambled correctly. The success of “Solace,” McLachlan’s second album, drifted from Canada into the United States, where it was released in 1992, buying her and Marchand good will. They spent a year and a half in a studio in the Quebec countryside, McLachlan often walking home by moonlight while Marchand built late-night loops and atmospheres. The result, “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy,” remains an uncanny singer-songwriter record, her frank observations on betrayal, friendship and lust warped by his outré sensibilities. “I like it when it’s complex, when there’s not one feeling,” Marchand said. “It’s like a person.”

Marchand and McLachlan added the layered grandeur of U2 and the supple strength of Depeche Mode to these testimonials of yearning and loss. Critics lauded it as smart and sensual. Sales were stronger still: It went quintuple-platinum in Canada and sold more than three million copies stateside.

“I was in a punk band listening to a lot of hardcore — and, strangely, Sarah McLachlan,” said Leslie Feist , the Canadian songwriter who will open the U.S. leg of McLachlan’s tour. “I could hear her power, but it was being expressed more fluidly. It wasn’t about aggression. It was about conviction.”

As McLachlan’s profile grew, letters from stalkers mounted at Nettwerk’s offices, especially from an Ottawa programmer named Uwe Vandrei. They met once, and he slipped her a scarf. But after she read one of his pleas, she asked not to see more. Still, in the album’s opener, “Possession,” where bass pulses and guitars radiate above droning gothic organs, she worked to mirror his mind, to articulate his misplaced passions. When it became a hit, he sued, alleging McLachlan had lifted his words. Vandrei died before trial.

“I felt a strange sense of relief,” McLachlan said haltingly. “But then I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is somebody’s son. Should I have tried to reach out? Tried to talk some sense into him?’”

The success of “Fumbling” — and the draining circus that followed, including conspiracy theories about label involvement in Vandrei’s death — helped spur McLachlan’s most historic defiance. She demanded to not headline every show, to be partnered with acts who could share celebrity’s weight. Promoters balked at the idea that women could carry such a docket, rankling McLachlan. She named a genre-jumping touring festival for Lilith, a woman repeatedly lambasted in sacred texts. Lilith Fair not only dominated the summer concert scene of the late ’90s but showed onlookers and executives that women were not music’s second-class citizens.

“I busked outside of Lilith and applied when I was 16,” said the singer-songwriter Allison Russell , who made her onstage debut by performing McLachlan’s “Mary” alongside high school friends in Montreal. “She changed the landscape for women. She resisted what everyone told her she had to do.”

When McLachlan was the kid being bullied at school or alienated at home, music made her feel valuable. After her hit-laden 1997 album “Surfacing” (“Building a Mystery,” “Adia”) and Lilith Fair, it had also made her wealthy and famous, affording her a family and an activist legacy. She no longer needed the spotlight’s validation, getting it instead from her daughters and dogs, her music school and morning music practice. Her career steadily slowed, with more years passing between albums and her experimental ardor fading. She didn’t mind.

“I’m a middle-aged woman. You kind of became invisible,” she said, leaning in with a wide grin. She whispered: “And I really like that.”

THE ENCORE BREAK on McLachlan’s new tour is brief, maybe 40 seconds. At her benefit show in Vancouver, soon after the band faded from the title finale of “Fumbling,” McLachlan slipped through a black curtain and rushed to her polished Yamaha grand. She’s making a new record, she told the crowd, and she wanted to try a song alone: “Gravity,” her balletic ode to perseverance, to letting others lift you. If McLachlan discarded an album of breakup songs, this is a hymn for what comes after.

It is also a fitting prelude for “Angel,” the poignant 1997 ballad that became a maudlin punchline after scoring a commercial for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

“I see it at the end of the day, and it’s like, ‘Hi, I’m Sarah McLachlan, and I’m about to ruin your day,’” she said of filming the commercial as a favor. “But that’s just not me.”

Before “Adia,” McLachlan told the audience she never explained that song, because it immortalized her taboo transgression — ruining a relationship by dating her best friend’s ex. “We needed to part ways for a while,” she said. “And I swear it was the hardest breakup I’ve ever been through.”

But they fixed the friendship, which has since endured divorces, children and new love. For years, that friend, Crystal Heald, urged McLachlan to take “Fumbling” on tour. “Thank goodness she forgave me,” McLachlan continued.

McLachlan is candid about her prospects. Relevance, she admitted, is a young person’s game that she has long resisted. She’ll be at least 57 by the time she releases new music, and she knows most people only like the old stuff. Still, when she told her forgiveness tale, the arena erupted with a wave of recognition for bygone mistakes and second chances, for comebacks. Her audience has aged with her; stepping back into the spotlight, she is ready to have that conversation.

“I didn’t talk for the first 10 years of my shows. When the music was happening, I knew what I was doing. Take the music and my voice, and I’m 12 again,” she said two months before stepping onstage. “But in the last 10 years, I say whatever comes to mind. I feel more freedom daily to be who I am.”

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Michigan Central concert among most memorable evenings of homegrown music in years

What does Detroit renewal sound like? Thursday night, it was loud, soulful, righteous and swelling with pride. 

On one of the most memorable evenings of homegrown music shared by the city in many years, Diana Ross switched on the party, Jack White turned up the dial, and Eminem brought it all to a crescendo at the resurrected Michigan Central Station.  

About 20,000 eager concertgoers piled into Roosevelt Park for the much-anticipated free event, held to celebrate the reopening of the 111-year-old, long-abandoned train station following its dramatic makeover by Ford Motor Co. More than a dozen genre-spanning musical acts — along with athletes, actors, civic officials and community figures — took the stage to create a special moment with the on-site crowd and others tuning in from across the region and world. 

The tapestry of Detroit music was set against the striking backdrop of the handsomely lit Michigan Central, a longtime relic of decay transformed into an 18-story landmark of hope. 

The show, produced by a team of top-end music and broadcast veterans, was crisp and polished, managing to serve up a fresh highlight every few minutes.  

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Ross launched the evening with time-tested elegance, taking the stage in a billowy, sequined orange gown and a buoyant “I’m Coming Out,” part of an 11-minute set capped by her Motown classic “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” Like most of Thursday’s performers, she was backed by a versatile house band led by musical director Adam Blackstone. 

The setting sun that greeted Ross eventually gave way to the nightfall that would accompany Eminem’s potent finale — where the Detroit Symphony Orchestra added its grandeur to a set punctuated by fireworks and special guests. 

More: After 3 decades of darkness, Michigan Central Station reopens with epic celebration

More: 'Detroit, we love you': Eminem caps memorable night at Michigan Central Station

For Thursday’s audience, Eminem was a not-so-shocking surprise: Going into the show, he’d been billed as an executive producer though not listed on the performer lineup. So buzz was palpable as DSO musicians quietly got situated on the stage and Bill Ford, executive chair of Ford, stepped out to introduce the next performance. 

The Detroit rapper, stalking the stage in a hoodie and playing his first hometown show in a decade, was in strong voice and tight flow while unleashing a four-song set that kicked off with his new retro-vibed hit, “Houdini.” 

He moved on to “Sing for the Moment” with guest Jelly Roll, who sang the hook made famous by Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, before welcoming hometown hip-hop guru Trick Trick for a high-performance take on their 2005 collaboration “Welcome 2 Detroit.”  

Eminem at last made his way to “Not Afraid” as the DSO’s strings brought a cinematic feel to his rousing 2010 song of triumph over tribulation. 

That was a fitting closer for Thursday’s communal celebration of Detroit resurgence: “Come take my hand,” Eminem rapped in the chorus. “We’ll walk this road together through the storm.”  

White had preceded Eminem with a reliably explosive performance backed by his longtime touring band. A rendition of the White Stripes’ “Hotel Yorba” — his festive homage to another area landmark — gave way to a scorching cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Hear My Train a Comin’” topped with White’s slide-guitar frenzy. 

“I thought it might be all right if I played a couple of songs that were written a few blocks from right here,” the southwest Detroit native announced. 

Having strapped on his well-weathered Kay Hollowbody guitar, White dove into the Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” and went on to whip up a neighborhood singalong of the seven-note riff that has become a global anthem. 

Earlier, Big Sean spoke passionately about the revival of Michigan Central, centerpiece of a 30-acre campus positioned by Ford as a leading-edge technology and innovation hub. The train station saw a whole lot of Detroit history, the rapper pointed out: the rise of the auto industry, Motown, the 1967 riot, the city’s 2013 bankruptcy. 

“It’s been here longer than all of us,” he said. (With the possible exception of “some of y’all OGs,” anyone 111 years old and up, he cracked.) 

Michigan Central, like Detroit, went through hell and back. 

“The fact that it’s gone through all this pressure, it’s a diamond that came from the rough,” Big Sean said. 

The rapper’s performance included his bright and funky new song dedicated to his 1-year-old son with Jhené Aiko.  

On a night that included in-person appearances by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan — along with onscreen commendations from former President Barack Obama and General Motors CEO Mary Barra — music played the central role. 

A tribute to Bob Seger featured Melissa Etheridge (“Mainstreet”), Jelly Roll (“Turn the Page”) and a very invested Fantasia in a Tina Turner-esque rendition of “Shakedown.” The three then linked up for “Old Time Rock and Roll.”  

A vividly outfitted Clark Sisters, backed by the Greater Emmanuel choir and joined by Kierra Sheard, delivered a medley of their gospel hits capped by an effervescent "You Brought the Sunshine.” 

Old-school Detroit hip-hop reigned during a dedication to the late hip-hop producer J. Dilla, with Slum Village offering a lush “Fall in Love” and Common performing his uplifting Dilla-produced hit “The Light.” 

In a show designed to run 90 minutes (it ultimately clocked in at 108), there’s only so much music to be squeezed in. 

Still, it's not nitpicking to point out there was no spotlight on Aretha Franklin. No Stevie Wonder, no Temptations, no Marvin Gaye. No nod to jazz, no Grande Ballroom-era rock. That might speak to the vastness of Detroit’s musical heritage, sure. But those were glaring omissions in a show touted as a comprehensive survey of the city’s legacy. 

Nevertheless, Thursday’s Michigan Central concert was a symbolic mile marker for Detroit: a gush of creative vibrance and a coming-together amid a burgeoning revival. 

If the event sometimes came off like a supersize promo for Ford’s ambitious development, you could forgive the rah-rah approach. It’s hard to knock a nearly $1 billion investment and a well-intentioned recognition of Detroit community, complete with “what up doe” greetings from the stage throughout the night. 

The Michigan Central concert reveled in a unique American place: a city that has intermingled cultures while innovating industry and building important things, battling its demons while fighting for triumphs. That mix — raw, yearning, hardworking, combustible — long ago ignited a distinct approach to art. It has been influential across the world, and it was the common thread onstage Thursday night. 

Resurgence is a real sense in Detroit, a city where resilience is inborn and tougher tests have been endured.   

And at Michigan Central, with music at the forefront, that cultural confidence reigned. Amid the nostalgic sounds and historical images, the mood was optimistic, forward-looking, defiant. Detroit knows what it has given the world, what it might be poised to give the world, and it was proud to show it off. 

Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or [email protected] . 

Blues-rock guitarist Robert Cray heading to Lincoln Theatre in August

The Robert Cray Band, featuring the five-time Grammy-winning guitarist for whom the group is named, is slated to bring the blues to the Lincoln Theatre stage Aug. 23.

Tickets, which go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, cost $37-$67 and can be purchased at the CBUSArts Ticket Center at the Ohio Theatre, 39 E. State St., by phone at 614-469-0939 and online at capa.com .

Robert Cray on his career highs: From Keith Richards' hotel room to 'That's What I Heard'

Cray experienced moderate success in the early '80s, but it was his fifth album, 1986's "Strong Persuader," that brought him rave reviews and name recognition. The album received a Grammy and yielded the crossover hit, "Smoking Gun."

During his 50-year career, Cray has shared the stage and/or studio with artists such as John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Albert Collins, Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner and Buddy Guy.

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