Events

[ROCK] There’s no need to say anything about Blondie, who will headline the “Rage and Rapture” tour at Artpark on Tuesday, July 25 other than that they’re still in fine fettle after 43 years (including a 15 year break) and still recording new material that stands up to their generous history of hits. But don’t show up late for the show, because this is a co-headlining tour with Garbage, another endlessly inventive hard-rocking band fronted by a strong female singer. Scottish singer Shirley Manson was recruited to join the band in 1994 by founders Duke Erikson, Steve Marker, and Butch Vig, all of who had substantial studio and production experience (Vig was the producer of Nirvana’s Nevermind.) The three had been doing a lot of remixes for other artists, and wanted to expand that “anything goes” attitude into a performing band. You can argue that Garbage was to grunge what Debbie Harry et all were to punk, an attempt to take a stripped-down style and see what could be added, all in the name of pop. The hit you’re most likely to remember is “Only Happy When it Rains,” but like the band they’ll be sharing the stage with they’re still going strong: they’ve just release a new single, “No Horses,” which Manson calls “A dark imagining of the future in which a presiding regime values only profit and success.”