Summer's Hot Tickets
Bump, grind, retro or rock -- from fresh new albums to big name concerts by superstars like Prince and Madonna, this summer's set to be a hot one for music fans, and that's as it should be, because, as the material girl herself puts it, "Don't people need a good show to go to?"
Well, Lenny Kravitz has one; he's set to hit the road this summer after releasing his latest album "Baptism," which album signifies a musical rebirth.
And for another rocking *rebirth," Billboard magazine's Michael Paoletta says get ready for a reborn Van Halen cranking it up with coast to coast concerts. Van Halen is bringing back Sammy Hagar, so you know this one will be wild.
And if you can still hear after the show, hit the two-for-one Kiss/Poison "Rock the Nation" tour.
Or Avril Lavigne who, during her AOL broadband concert, told "Extra" she's out with a new record, "Under My Skin," and a new world tour later this year, saying "I'll pretty much be everywhere."
Prince fans can get their fill of his latest release, "Musicology," and all his funky classics when he struts his stuff all summer long but don't wait too long to get your seats, because according to Prince, "We never had trouble with concert tickets. Wherever we put them on sale they just pretty much go."
But the hottest ticket in town? Madonna hands down will be the moneymaker this summer. We were there last week as Madonna rolled out her electrifying new "Re-Invention tour," in Los Angeles before a sold-out, star-studded audience. She told us she's trained hard for the big show: "I had to work with a drill sergeant to learn the whole gun thing, I had to learn the tango."
But with all the buzz, you may need a summer job to afford the show. The red-hot tickets are going for more that $350 a pop -- but even so, she's still selling out venues.
And what's this about Lenny taking a cue from Madonna? Before his sessions at AOL, he told us he hopes to land some of those Madonna fans with his own antics: "I'm gonna change my clothes 3 times per song, so I'm gonna beat her."
And while there's no tour scheduled yet, George Michael is definitely back, after a bout of writers block, with his very personal new album, "Patience." "I worked through it and it's definitely been the most difficult album of my career," he admitted to us. "But I think it turned out to be the best."
And you can get the best of Seal on his world tour. It launches along with the release of his special 2 disc "Seal IV" set which includes a DVD with videos of some of his hit songs, so that, as Seal tells us, "There will be a little bit extra for people to listen to."
So there's your ticket to a sizzling 2004 summer music scene.
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