Well, darn it if the summer music schedule didn't just go and get even more awesome with the addition of Michael Franti and Spearhead to the Les Schwab Amphitheater lineup.
The show is slated for August 5 and tickets go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, April 24 through Ticketmaster.
Does anyone remember the last time Franti and company came through Bend? If you do, you'll recall it was Memorial Day 2008 and the weather realllllly sucked. It rained right up until the show and then got a little better -- right after Built to Spill's super awesome set and minutes before Franti took the stage. Here's a review of that show.
One thing has changed, however, since Franti last came to Bend, and that's the fact that the politically minded reggae-rocker-hip-hopper has gotten all Spice Girls huge with his song "Say Hey," which I just saw was used in a trailer for some presumably awful Jennifer Lopez movie.
And this is actually a good thing, in my opinion, because however corny Franti's lyrics might be, his live show is one of the best in the business. Watching this band makes you proud to be a human and it's high time we start being proud of our humanity rather than feel guilty about ourselves -- take that James Cameron.
Here's some footage of Franti and Spearhead covering "Dancing in the Moonlight" in 2008 in Bend.
