Pink Martini, Counting Crows, Loggins play festival’s second week
Now, the Counting Crows concert on Friday has become the third festival sellout (the other two being last week’s Alison Krauss and Barenaked Ladies).
However, you can still grab tickets to three remaining shows in what has clearly turned into an exceptionally popular lineup.
Let’s begin with a show that should be the perfect, mellow match for the Festival at Sandpoint’s unique laid-back ambiance:
An Evening with Pink Martini, Tonight, 7:30 p.m. – You might call it world music, jazz, retro, lounge, pop or classical. You might call it Continental – if you include every continent.
Maybe the best way to describe this Portland-based phenomenon is to say their music is like a soundtrack to an international film festival, assuming the festival includes homages to the ’50s and ’60s. Leader Thomas Lauderdale and singer China Forbes have built a fanatic following around the world, and they have always been particularly popular in the Inland Northwest, after their first rapturous concert in Spokane in 1998.
For years, festival director Dyno Wahl has coveted Pink Martini, but they were never touring at just the right time. Finally, the time is right. $34.95.
Counting Crows, Friday, 7 p.m. – Adam Duritz and his Berkeley compatriots arrive with their Outlaw Roadshow tour, which will also feature opening acts Tender Mercies, Kasey Anderson and the Honkies and Field Report.
This is the festival’s designated “dance concert.” The area in front of the stage will be cleared for dancing. Sold out.
Kenny Loggins, Saturday, 6 p.m. – He’s the man who wrote what seems like the entire 1980s movie soundtrack, most memorably the “Footloose” title song, “Danger Zone” from “Top Gun,” and “I’m Alright” from “Caddyshack.”
Yet anybody who was glued to the radio in the 1970s remembers him as half of Loggins & Messina, who had a monster hit with “Your Mama Don’t Dance” in 1972. Lately, he’s been making forays into country music and has also made two acclaimed children’s albums.
This is a Super Saturday show, and will also feature opening acts Stephen Ashbrook and Doug Bond. $44.95.
Grand Finale with the Spokane Symphony, Sunday, 7:30 p.m. – This concert is always the elegant closer to the Festival at Sandpoint, combining wine-tasting, classical music and fireworks.
The Spokane Symphony, under conductor Gary Sheldon, will provide some French-themed fireworks of its own, which will include Georges Bizet’s Suite No. 1 from “L’Arlesienne,” Camille Saint-Saens “Bacchanale” from “Samson and Delilah” and Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero.” Cellist Jonah Kim, violinist Camille Miller and Sandpoint flutist Rhonda Bradetich will be guest artists.
Meanwhile, this concert doubles as the annual Taste of the Stars wine tasting. Wahl says it has become “the biggest wine event in the entire state” with 30 wineries on hand. The wine tasting is free with the concert ticket for everyone over 21. $34.95 for adults, $9.95 for youth.