I am pleased to announce that Mike Gordon (of Phish) will be appearing at the Lowell Summer Music Series on Friday, June 26! This is great news for fans of jam bands especially! Here’s a link to a nice article in Rolling Stone about this tour which mentions Lowell.

“Phish bassist Mike Gordon returns to the road on the heels of 2014’s Overstep, his fourth studio album. The band’s new repertoire will be augmented by secret synesthetic mad scientist gadgetry on and around the stage.

Mike Gordon (Official Photo)

“Most artists have a fixed ritual or routine that they rely on to inspire their efforts from concept to fruition. Gordon tends to establish general goals, and then eschew routines for creative experiments. One of his goals for his latest album was to trust himself to relinquish control, which he accomplished by sharing songwriting duties and by handing over the producing reins for the first time in his solo career to Paul Q. Kolderie (Radiohead, Uncle Tupelo, Pixies).

“The result is a diverse but tightly knit family of sturdy rock numbers that manages to sound grounded but sophisticated at the same time, and raw but carefully considered. Gordon draws inspiration from an astonishing variety of sources, from the natural world to the emotional world to his often persistent visions. Like Gordon himself, his music is full of contradictions, juxtapositions, and surprises – which is exactly what his fans expect.”

Tickets for the Mike Gordon show are priced at $34 in advance (fee-free!), $40 on the day of the show (if available) and children 12 and under are always free courtesy of Eastern Bank. There are also premium seats – beach chairs are provided by the Series – set in two rows directly in front of the stage for $134.  Tickets go on sale Friday, April 10 at 9 a.m., through Lowell Summer Music Series.

For those of you who are unaware of the  Series, or if you are aware of it but have never attended a show there, it is an outdoor (weather permitting) concert series held on National Park Service grounds in Lowell, Massachusetts. The Series is not-for-profit, which helps keep the ticket prices reasonable.

Surrounding Boarding House Park are old mill buildings, part of the Lowell National Historical Park, which you can tour if you arrive early enough. They provide an unusual setting for an evening of great music and ambiance.

The Series generally runs from late June to early September.

This Series is dear to my heart. I have been a season pass holder since 2007 and it is one of the highlights of the year (and of summer in particular) for me. Many lasting friendships have been made there. I expect this will be another excellent year!

I will post additional announcements for the Series as they are made.

Shows announced to date are:

June 19 (Friday) – Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Jonny Lang

June 20 (Saturday) – Ani DiFranco

June 26 (Friday) – Mike Gordon

July 9 (Thursday) – The Wood Brothers with Tall Heights

July 17 (Friday) – Chris Robinson Brotherhood

July 18 (Saturday) – Dave Mason’s Traffic Jam

July 31 (Friday) – The Official Blues Brothers Revue

August 7 (Friday) – Lyle Lovett and His Large Band

August 28 (Friday) – Lake Street Dive

August 29 (Saturday) – Melissa Etheridge