Gaga Update

By now any Pittsburgh Lady Gaga fan knows that regular priced tickets are sold out! Tickets went on sale to the general public this morning at 10:00am and have been on special pre-sales since Tuesday April 6th. Anyone else that has been checking both ticketmaster and Gaga's site religiously since the date was announced will feel the frustration other fans are feeling.

Pittsburgh was skipped on Lady Gaga's first round of touring in 2009, and anyone who was not able to get tickets surely feels skipped again. Although, if you're willing to spend a little extra, StubHub has tickets begining at $150 and going as high as $2033. Options to see the show are to either save a ton of money between now and September 5th or check out one of her shows in a neighboring city. Visit Lady Gaga's website to find the closest show! Good luck!!

Summer Concert Timeline

For anyone who is starting to plan what concerts to see this summer, here is a small guide. Make sure to check ticket and/or band websites for times since they may change between now and the concerts.

**Slide orange arrow that says 2010 to see any shows that are cut off

New Goo!!

The Goo Goo Dolls have finally announced their 9th album!!! The release date has not been set, but a new website and a new tour have finally been built around the album. The band has been able to stand the test of time and continues to crank out new and good material.

The Goo Goo Dolls announced the recording of their new project a few years ago, and I have been following the progress obsessively since the announcement. The new album Something For The Rest of Us will be released later this year and the band begins their tour tomorrow in North Carolina. The band will stop in PA three times in April, but Pittsburgh isn't on the list just yet. The Goo Goo Dolls are amazing live, I have seen them twice, and usually hit the 'Burgh sometime in July. Hopefully, the Pittsburgh date will be announced soon and will not be skipped on the new tour. I have to admit that if Pittsburgh gets glossed over, there will be one very unhappy fan running around!

For more info on the band and their tour, visit their website here. Check out The Goo Goo Dolls performing a new song at a concert before the final NCAA basketball game:

Gorilla Productions Present: Battle of the Bands

Another Battle rages on at Altar Bar this weekend! This Sunday, April 11, another Battle of the Bands begins at 4:00pm. This Battle is not part of a series, and I was not able to find much information on what the winner receives or anything on Gorilla Productions, the sponsor of the event. This could be due to my impatience with the internet at the moment, but info was hard to find and Altar Bar's lack of links/info on their website didn't help much.

This battle features 12 bands that all call the Pittsburgh area home. Some of the bands performing include: Fire and Sex, The Guest List, Color Me Blind, The R4 Project, and A Whisper Rising along with seven others that I couldn't find information for even after a few searches. Out of the bands listed, I would give Color Me Blind and The R4 Project a listen. I was actually able to listen to their songs the entire way through, unlike the others.

Fire and Sex had a fairly monotone sound to them and they didn't have much of a stage presence in the clips they had on their site. The Guest List's music was good, but the singer had a very nasal sound to his voice that was difficult to listen to. A Whisper Rising only had two songs posted so a fair review can't be given at this time.

For more info on the event, visit Altar Bar's website. Hopefully, any searches on the other bands will be more productive than mine were!! Good luck and make sure to support your local bands!

**Photo Credit: Shane Henderson on Flickr

Weekend Shows at The Smiling Moose

Via Audio will be at The Smiling Moose tomorrow, Friday April 2, along with: The Spring Standards, Tecumseh EQs, and Small Cities. Tecumseh EQs is a local band and is classified as Experimental/Post Punk/Psychedelic and was formed by Pete Williams and Jeremy Justice. Small Cities is also a band that hails from Pittsburgh and is classified as Southern Rock/Soul/Americana. The show officially belongs to Via Audio and The Spring Standards who both have new albums out and are currently on tour promoting them (Animalore for Via Audio and Would Things Be Different for The Spring Standards). The doors open at 6:00pm and the show starts at 7:00pm. Come out early and support the local bands!!

Other events at the Moose this weekend:

Sat 4/3 6:30pm Cali AC, The I Drive, New American Classic, Yours Truly *All Pittsburgh bands! $10

9:00pm Super Secret Dance Party

Sun 4/4 9:00pm Upstage Nation 80s Nite

**Photo Credit: Ellenm1 on Flickr