No U2 Tour this year, but I have plenty of shows to feed my hunger for concerts. Eight of my twelve shows are bands from the 1980s, which is totally tubular! I’d live in the 80s if I could!

Beale Street Music Festival   April 28-May 2  Memphis
The actual Music Festival is only Friday night April 29 through Sunday May 1, but I am making my annual trip to Memphis the Thursday before and staying until the Monday after. I missed going to Memphis last year because of the U2 tour, so I am especially excited for this year’s trip. Like I did two years ago, I have a comp room for three of the four nights at GoldStrike Casino in Tunica, Mississippi only a half hour from Memphis. The performers I’m most excited to see this year at the Beale Street Music Festival are the Violent Femmes, Neil Young, Weezer, Gin Blossoms, Yo Gotti, Cypress Hill, Better Than Ezra, Blind Mississippi Morris, Beck, Paul Simon, Indigo Girls, Brandon Santini and Barbara Blue. Besides MusicFest, I will also being visiting Graceland, Sun Studio, the new Blues museum, the new Memphis Music museum, the updated National Civil Rights Museum, eat at all my favorite restaurants, take in the sights around midtown I love and hopefully go to a Grizzlies playoff game if they’re home when I’m there.

Cyndi Lauper / Boy George  June 1  Filene Center Wolf Trap, WV
Seeing these two great artists from my childhood is going to be amazing! I’m SO excited!

Chris Cornell  June 23  Hippodrome Theater  Baltimore
SO excited to be seeing Chris Cornell again. I’ve seen him solo twice (in 2007 and 2013), and I’ve seen Soundgarden three times (in 1994, 2010, 2011). Unlike most of the world, I like him better than Eddie Vedder and think he has a much better voice – at least a voice I prefer.

Howard Jones / OMD / Barenaked Ladies  June 26  Pier Six  Baltimore
I am a huge Howard Jones fan. I have always wanted to see him in concert, but it never worked out. And I’m very excited to see OMD, well at least to hear “If You Leave” from Pretty in Pink. Both Howard Jones and OMD are opening for Barenaked Ladies, who I don’t actually care to see again (saw them a few years ago at MusicFest), so I will probably leave when they come on. Ironically I did the same thing the last time I saw a concert at Pier 6 – Lisa Marie Presley was opening for Chris Isaak. I left before Chris came out so I could meet Lisa in the parking lot, and I did and she autographed my set list. It was the first time I saw Lisa in concert and the first time I met her.

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN  July 24  American Music Theater  Lancaster, PA
I am a little late to the party just finding out Olivia Newton-John is playing a concert in Lancaster, PA in four days. I thought she was only playing her residency in Vegas. It is a two hour drive to Lancaster on a Sunday night, but I have to go. Olivia was my first passion (uh obsession), my first scrapbook – before Elvis, before U2. As soon as I saw Olivia in Grease when I was five, I was hooked. I collected every magazine article about her and immediately got all her records. For five years, Olivia Newton-John was probably the only music I listened to. Somehow I have never met Olivia and have only seen her two times in concert. In her heyday, I was too young to go to concerts. When I was old enough, I was supposed to see her in the early 1990s but she cancelled her tour because she got breast cancer. I didn’t see Olivia in concert until I was 30. I sat in the front row and cried through her first five songs because I was just so overwhelmed. I saw her again about 10 years later, but did not cry that time. This Sunday in Lancaster will be my third time seeing Olivia Newton-John in concert.

NKOTB  Aug 4  Coney Island, NY
This NKOTB show at the Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk was announced in June after the announcement of NKOTB show at the MixTape Festival in Hershey. It’s all the same weekend! I’ve always wanted to go to Coney Island! NKOTB’s first video “Please Don’t Go Girl” was shot there. And I’ll finally get to go to Wahlberger’s. I didn’t go while in Boston and it wasn’t opened in Vegas yet the last time I was there, but now there is one at Coney Island. But most importantly I finally get to go to Coney Island! I’m not sure why, but I’ve always wanted to go there – the Cyclone, Nathan’s Hot Dogs. And now I get to see two NKOTB shows this year. Coney Island on Thursday then drive to Hershey on Friday for all the MixTape Festivities.

NKOTB  MixTape Festival Aug 6  HersheyPark Stadium  Hershey, PA
New Kids on the Block are once again headlining the MixTape Festival at HersheyPark Stadium in Hershey, Pennsylvania. I have gone every year they played except last year when I was in Chicago for U2 – for some reason the festival was earlier last year. There is a free pre-concert party on Friday August 5th and a VIP After Party Saturday night after the festival. Boyz II Men, Paula Abdul and 98 Degrees are also playing the festival.

Toad the Wet Sprocket  Aug 15  Rams Head Live  Baltimore
SO excited for this Toad the Wet Sprocket show! I have seen Toad several times over the years, starting back in the early 1990s. The last two times I saw them the past couple of years, they didn’t play anything (or hardly anything) off their first three albums, which of course are the ones I like. Well this year is the 25th anniversary of Fear, their 3rd album, so they are playing Fear in its entirety along with other hits. Ic can’t wait. I am going VIP, which will give me and meet and greet and photo with the band and a special song just for us.

Bryan Adams  Sept 9  Filene Center Wolf Trap, VA
I’m finally seeing Bryan Adams after a bunch near misses over the years. I used to have his poster from Reckless hanging on my wall in my room when I was in middle school. SO excited! Only reason I’d be going down to Virgina on a Friday and Sunday on the same weekend.

Heart / Joan Jett / Cheap Trick  Sept 11  Jiffy Lube Live  Bristow, VA
I finally get to see Heart! Like Howard Jones, I have always wanted to see Heart but it has never worked out. I have seen Joan Jett twice before, and she’s great. I have seen Cheap Trick once before at a festival and enjoyed them – I love “The Flame.” I do not like driving out route 66 in Virginia to get to the Jiffy Lube, but this is on a Sunday so traffic should be minimal. And unlike my Cure show at Merriweather, I actually have a seat for this show – and it’s a good one.

Maroon 5  Sept 16  Royal Farms Arena  Baltimore
I am not a fan of Maroon 5. I don’t hate them, I just don’t know anything about them except that Adam guy is on that singing show and everyone thinks he hot. But along with Depeche Mode, Maroon 5 is my best friend Cindy’s favorite band, so I got her tickets for Christmas. It’s a Friday night in Baltimore, so it will be fun.

TEMPLE OF THE DOG  Nov 4  Tower Theater Philadelphia
I have always said I wish Temple of the Dog would have stayed together because I loved their album more than Soundgarden or Pearl Jam, even though I love Soundgarden. Finally 25 years later, Temple of the Dog is touring! To the celebrate the 25th anniversary of their self-titled album, Temple of the Dog are playing just five shows. Luckily one of those shows is in Philly, and I am going!!! CANNOT wait!

Follow me on Twitter @DeenasDays as I go through life one concert at a time live tweeting pics and vids during the shows as I am able.