Thursday, October 02, 2003  
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See you at the fair!
The weekend, check out the Big E, or overdose on metal instead
BY CARLY CARIOLI

The king of all Massachusetts state fairs is this thing called the Big E (413-205-5115) in West Springfield, which includes everything from prizewinning-livestock exhibits to Chinese acrobats, from "authentic re-creations" of 19th-century village life to Hollywood stunt shows. We love it mostly because it’s the only place around you can see Nashville star Martina McBride and Murder Inc. pin-up Ashanti in the same weekend. Martina, riding high on her crossover hit "This One’s for the Girls," performs Saturday, and Ashanti ooh-baby’s her way in on Sunday.

The Palladium (800-477-6849) in Worcester digs out the half-pipes on Friday and Saturday for its post-Warped SkateFest, a 50-band emo/punk/metal showcase that’s becoming an annual tradition in its own right. Friday’s line-up includes the Starting Line, Armsbendback, Damone, the Promise, and Favorite Atomic Hero; Saturday’s bill includes platinum pop-punks Simple Plan (see "Performance," Editor's Picks, September 26, 2003) with Coheed and Cambria, H20, My Chemical Romance, Piebald, Lost City Angels, Nora, and A Life Once Lost.

If you’re looking to extend your metal binge through the weekend, the annual Locobazooka (617-423-NEXT) festival brings its most diverse bill yet to a new location at the Fitchburg Airport on Sunday. The headliners include Staind, the female-fronted Italian goth outfit Lacuna Coil, newly rewired electrometal technicians Powerman 5000, and alterna-metal spacemen Cave In, who become the first band to play Lollapalooza and Locobazooka in the same year. Across the state line, emo heavyweights Thursday hit Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence on Friday behind their major-label debut, War All the Time (Island); former Failure frontman Ken Andrews’s band Year of the Rabbit open. Relapse gorelords Exhumed are back with another grindcore odyssey, Anatomy Is Destiny, and a tour that hits the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence on Saturday.

Former MC5 manager and current beat-poet bluesman John Sinclair is making his last tour before expatriating himself to the herb-friendly republic of Amsterdam. You can find him tonight at Real Art Ways (860-232-1006) in Hartford; on Friday at the Metropolitan Coffeehouse (603-356-2332) in North Conway, New Hampshire; on Saturday at the Lizard Lounge (617-547-0659) in Cambridge; on Wednesday at the Press Room (603-431-0224) in Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and next Thursday, October 2, at Harvard Epworth Methodist Church (617-868-3661) in Cambridge.

Also this week, indie-rock guitar gods Built To Spill hit Pearl Street (413-584-7810) in Northampton on Sunday, the Paradise (617-423-NEXT) in Boston on Monday and Tuesday, and Lupo’s on Wednesday. The noisiest outfit in the DFA’s disco-punk coterie, Black Dice, hit T.T. the Bear’s Place (617-492-BEAR) in Cambridge on Monday and the Iron Horse (413-584-0610) in Northampton on Tuesday. And Maine singer-songwriting sensation Howie Day plays Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom (603-929-4100) on Saturday, Lupo’s on Sunday, and Avalon (617-423-NEXT) in Boston on Monday.


Issue Date: September 26 - October 2, 2003
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