Concerts
VH1 Rock Honors
Mandalay Bay Events Center, May 25
The music network's latest exercise in nostalgia will feature tributes to Kiss, Queen, Def Leppard and Judas Priest, with performances by the Foo Fighters and the All-American Rejects, plus other suitably rockin' acts to be announced later. Hosted by actress Jaime Pressly, the show will air on VH1 on May 31, so if you TiVo it, maybe you can catch a tiny glimpse of yourself in the crowd.
Ice Cube
House of Blues, May 27
Call this one the "Screw Bill Young" show. So the sheriff says he doesn't want gangsta rap in the casinos? How about a visit from the genre's godfather? OK, so he's the cuddly star of Barbershop and Are We There Yet? now, but we're still talking about a founder of N.W.A., the same guy who once cowrote the tune "F--k the Police." Can you say extra security?
Madonna
MGM Grand Garden Arena, May 27-28
Good luck getting tickets for this one, but if you've got connections or don't mind missing one of your mortgage payments, you can check out the show that Madonna promises will turn the world into a dance floor. On her last tour, Madge barely played any of her classic hits, so here's hoping that her worldwide dance floor includes at least one flashback night.
The Howling Hex
Beauty Bar, June 8
Any visit from indie-rock vet Neil Michael Haggerty, he of Pussy Galore and Royal Trux fame, makes for an auspicious occasion. Judging from recorded output, his latest project portends a delightfuly twisted live experience.
Mstrkrft
Beauty Bar, June 14
This duo—comprised of Death From Above 1979's Jesse Keeler and Girls Are Short's Al-P—has the Internet abuzz with revved-up remixes of indie favorites Bloc Party, Annie, Metric, Buck 65 and the Kills. Check 'em out before debut LP The Looks drops and tell your friends you saw MSTRKRFT first.
"Zappa Plays Zappa"
House of Blues, June 20
Zappa offspring Dweezil and Ahmet, joined by former FZ cohorts Steve Vai, Napoleon Murphy Brock and Terry Bozzio, performing an ever-evolving, never-the-same set of Frank's tunes? That's one tribute act we can get behind, assuming we can get "Camarillo Brillo" at the Vegas gig.
Pearl Jam With Sonic Youth
MGM Grand, July 6
They probably can't touch 2000's 10-year anniversary stopover—when the set list included Mother Love Bone's "Crown of Thorns" and Elvis' "Can't Help Falling in Love"—but look for PJ to be revved up coming off the release of their first album in four years. Toss in noise-rock architects Sonic Youth, and $51 looks like quite the bargain by Vegas standard
Sounds of the Underground Tour
House of Blues, July 27
OzzFest is skipping Vegas again this year, so anyone hankering for a heavy-metal fix will want to head to this package tour, featuring As I Lay Dying, In Flames, Trivium, GWAR, Cannibal Corpse, Terror and Black Dahlia Murder. While Ozzy's festival opens up to emo-core and nu-metal, SOTU remains brutally heavy, making it the only way to go for the metal purist.
CDs
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Stadium Arcadium (May 9)
Bassist Flea calls this double album "by far the best thing we've ever done," and it's clearly the most ambitious, with 25 tracks over its two discs. The Peppers sounded a little sluggish on 2002's By the Way, but if the new songs they premiered at the Centennial concert here in town last summer (and who knows if those will make it on the album?) are any indication, they've definitely got their fire back.
Gnarls Barkley
St. Elsewhere (May 9)
Novelty name aside, what is there not to like about this collab between DJ/producer-of-the-moment Danger Mouse and ex-Goodie Mob crooner Cee-Lo? Old-school soul, new-skool beats, even a Violent Femmes cover. Oh, yeah, and a little song you'll probably hear a few million times this summer titled "Crazy."
The Raconteurs
Broken Boy Soldiers (May 16)
The supergroup concept buckled with Zwan but refuses to hit the canvass. This one teams the White Stripes' Jack White, indie popster Brendan Benson and two-thirds of Cincinnati garage-rock outfit the Greenhornes. They've got the chops and songwriting to make a go of it, assuming White doesn't start beating his mates' faces in for kicks.
Johnny Cash
Personal File (May 23)
"In a small vault behind his home studio in Hendersonville, Tennessee, Cash kept some of his most prized possessions. Inside were hundreds of tapes—demos from songwriters, album masters, multitracks from his ABC variety series and some boxes simply marked 'Personal File.' These are Cash's most intimate sessions, recorded mostly in 1973—just his voice and an acoustic guitar, singing songs and telling stories." Drool. Drool. Drool.
Dixie Chicks
Taking the Long Way (May 23)
The Chicks have been politicized and embraced by the rock community since their last album, 2002's bluegrass-influenced Home, so this time around they've enlisted superproducer Rick Rubin and guests including John Mayer and Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell. The band promises as much rock as country in their sound, and for the first time ever collaborated on writing all of the album's songs.
AFI
December Underground (June 6)
In the time since AFI's 2003 breakthrough, Sing the Sorrow, their brand of moody, goth-inflected punk-metal has been taken to new heights by the likes of My Chemical Romance and the Used. But just because they don't have a monopoly on eyeliner anymore doesn't mean they're not still one of the more inventive hard-rock bands out there, and this album should remind people why that is.
Rhymefest
Blue Collar (June 11)
Hip-hop's "next big thing' already has a battle victory over Eminem and a Grammy on his resume, so fans of the genre have been sweating out a series of pushed-back release dates for the Chicago native's debut. With childhood buddy Kanye West onboard to produce, Blue Collar has can't-miss written all over it, assuming we ever get to hear it.
Dashboard Confessional
Title TBA (June 27)
Emo heartthrob Chris Carrabba traveled to Jamaica and worked with producer Daniel Lanois to open up his band's sound on this album. In keeping with emo's evolution since his last album, Carrabba plans a bigger, more arena-ready sound, but as long as he still talks about his feelings, his fans are bound to swoon.