So other than that, how was the rest of the show?

Damn good, thank you very much.

Green Day made news on Wednesday night, Sept. 4, when the punk trio abruptly halted its concert at Detroit’s Comerica Park, rushing off the stage during just the fifth song, “Longview.” The crowd of just under 41,000 initially continued singing the lyrics but fell quiet — with some chants for Lions’ quarterback Jared Goff. A “Show Pause. Please standby for details” message eventually appeared on the video screen.”

Detroit police confirmed that an unauthorized drone had entered the baseball stadium’s airspace, with security calling the band offstage. The man flying it was apprehended and Green Day returned after a 10-minute break, with frontman Billie Joe Armstrong asked fans, “How you doing? We’re gonna pick up where we left off.” He also urged them to put their cell phones away, saying, “Pull ’em out later. Let’s be here right now.”

After finishing “Longview” and tearing through “Welcome to Paradise,” Armstrong added, “Ain’t no mother… that’s gonna stop us, I’ll tell you that.” And later in the show Green Day posted a social media message apologizing for the delay, explaining that, “Stadium security had us clear the stage while they dealt with a potential safety issue. DPD quickly resolved the situation, and we were able to continue. Thanks for understanding.

Green Day did not stop for the rest of the night, delivering a characteristically epic — and excellent — two-and-a-half-hour performance that commemorated anniversaries of the group’s two biggest albums, 1994’s “Dookie” and 2004’s “American Idiot”, by playing both in their entirety. Green Day filled out the rest of the concert with a selection of other favorites, including five from its latest album, “Saviors,” and a rendition of “Brain Stew” that Armstrong teased into with guitar licks from Black Sabbaths’ “Iron Man” and Metallica’s “Master of Puppets.”

“Tonight is not about a political party,” Armstrong declared during a ferocious “Letterbomb” from “American Idiot,” a topical takedown of the George W. Bush era that remains wholly relevant 20 years later. “It’s not even a party. This is a celebration!”

But there was certainly a party spirit throughout a night that, via opening performances from Smashing Pumpkins and Rancid that affirmed the continuing potency of alternative rock from the 90s. (The Linda Lindas, which came on first, are more contemporary but cut from the same cloth.) Whether it was “Ruby Soho” or “Today” and “Tonight, Tonight” (or the Pumpkins’ cover of U2’s “Zoo Station”), there was nothing at all dated about the performances by musicians well past their mosh days but still fierce of spirit.

That’s been Green Day’s stock in trade forever, from early 90s club appearances to a 2021 show also at Comerica. Wednesday’s concert was filled with the irreverent attitude and boisterous spirit that’s still dear to Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, drummer Tre Cool — all in their early 50s now — and their three adjunct players. The 37-song set was marked by a Boy Scout jamboree’s worth of fire and pyrotechnics, occasional confetti showers and colorful visuals, and it was preceded by the usual hijinks — crowd singalongs to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop,” the latter led by a crew member dressed in a bunny outfit.

The show did have an interesting kind of restraint, however. There was plenty of energy — the group had the stadium grandstands shaking at several points — but less of the pure schtick Green Day also trades on. The focus was more squarely on the music, the band seemingly more interested in delivering the dynamically sophisticated songs with tight and explosive power — even quieter tracks such as “Are We the Waiting” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” “American Idiot” was particularly strong, with songs strung together in seamless fashion.

Green Day opened with the new, and on-point, “The American Dream is Killing Me” and was quickly into “Dookie,” pulling out deep cuts such as “Having a Blast,” “Pulling Teeth,” “Sassfras Roots,” “In the End” and “All By Myself,” which Cool sang in a bathrobe. The “American Idiot” recitation similarly brought out less-heard material, including “She’s a Rebel,” “Extraordinary Girl,” “Homecoming” and “Whatsername,” with Armstrong substituting “Michigan” in the title line of “Give Me Novocaine.”

Armstrong also brought a young woman on stage to sing part of “Know Your Enemy” with the band, and he used “American Idiot’s” “Holiday,” which he introduced as “an anti-war song,” as a rally call for fans to vote in November. (The Linda Lindas, however, were the only one of the four bands to reference Donald Trump specifically — and, of course, pejoratively).

Green Day finished per usual, with Armstrong alone on stage, singing its 1997 hit “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” as a lullaby-style send-off. He could rest assured that fans did indeed have the time of their lives, and it’s to Green Day’s credit that the rest of the show eclipsed the drama that happened early on.

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Avril Lavigne was just 17 when she released her first album, “Let Go,” and 18 when she had her first hit, “Complicated.” But she was already invested in a music career long game.

“I have looked forward to having a greatest hits tour since I was first starting out,” says the Ontario-born Lavigne, now 39, who’s in the midst of exactly that kind of trek this year following the release of a new “Greatest Hits” album in June. “I love and am so proud of all the music I have put out over the past 22 years, but there is something super special about having a setlist that is all hits and knowing that these songs really resonated with people not only when the songs were first released, but consistently over the years.”

Lavigne has a lot to show for those years — six more albums and Top 10 hits such as “I’m With You,” “My Happy Ending” and “Girlfriend,” record sales of more than 40 million worldwide, 10 Canadian Juno Awards and an Order of Canada Honor. Divorces and a debilitating 2015 case of Lyme disease have left her unbowed, and Lavigne promises there’s more to come soon.

“I can’t spill too much right now,” she says, “but once I finish this tour I am going to get back in the studio and really map out what I want the next year of music to look like. I know people are waiting for new songs and I am excited to share them, but I really want to make sure it is all perfect first.”

In the meantime, she’s happy to celebrate what she’s done to this point.

“I still feel like a teenager,” Lavigne notes, “and every night when I get up onstage, I am reminded of what an amazing life I have been able to live. I’m just so glad I started as young as I was — ’cause I still feel young.”

Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan and Girlfriends perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7 at Pine Knob Music Theatre, 33 Bob Seger Drive, Independence Township. Tickets are sold out.

Other music events of note this weekend (all subject to change) include …

FRIDAY, SEPT. 6

• Pontiac’s Flagstar Strand Theatre kicks off its fall season at 8 p.m. with the Del McCoury Band and its decades of bluegrass. 12 N. Saginaw St., Pontiac. 248-309-6445 or flagstarstrand.com.

• The Beatles live via 1964 The Tribute, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the group’s first appearance in Detroit, at 8 p.m. at Orchestra Hall, 3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit. 313-576-5111 or dso.org.

• Columbus, Ohio’s Starset journeys into Wolverine country to bring its Immersion: The Final Chapter tour to the Fillmore Detroit, 2115 Woodward Ave. Doors at 7 p.m. 313-961-5451 or thefillmoredetroit.com.

• Jake Hoot, winner of Season 17 of “The Voice,” performs at 8 p.m. at 20 Front Street in Lake Orion. 248-783-7105 or 20frontstreet.com.

• The KPOP Breakout Tour features Trendz, Craxy, Ichillin’ and U-Chae at 7 p.m. in the Pike Room in the Crofoot complex, 1 S. Saginaw St. 248-858-9333 or thecrofoot.com.

• Nashville’s VEAUX stops at the Lager House for an 8:30 p.m. show with the Foxies and Daydream and Bega. 1254 Michigan Ave., Detroit. 313-500-1475 or thelagerhouse.com.

• British goth rock troupe the Mark Violets, Rosegarden Funeral Party and Siamese gather at Small’s, 10339 Conant, Hamtramck. Doors at 7 p.m. 313-873-1117 or smallsbardetroit.com.

• Kind Beast tops a bill that also includes the High Strung, Touch the Clouds and Cherry Drop at the Loving Touch, 22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale. Doors at 7 p.m. 248-820-5596 or thelovingtouchferndale.com.

• The Latin-flavored sextet Tumbao Bravo plays through Saturday, Sept. 7 at the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe, 97 Kercheval, Grosse Pointe. 313-882-5399 or dirtydogjazz.com.

• Kimmie Horne sings jazz at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. at Cliff Bell’s, 2030 Park Ave., Detroit. 313-961-2543 or cliffbells.com.

• Chicago singer Tony Romiti performs at the Diesel Concert Lounge, 33151 23 Mile Road, Chesterfield Township. Doors at 7 p.m. 586-933-3503 or dieselconcerts.com.

• Hillbilly Knife Fight and Tiffadelic offer a promising start to the weekend at 7 p.m. at the Cadieux Cafe, 4300 Cadieux Road, Detroit. 313-882-8560 or cadieuxcafe.com.

• Sirsy tops a four-act bill at 7:30 p.m. at the New Dodge Lounge, 8850 Jos Campau, Hamtramck. 313-638-1508 or thenewdodgelounge.com.

• The soulful Shemekia Copeland sings at 8 p.m. at The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. 734-761-1818 or theark.org.

• Virtual: Blue Canvas Orchestra streams live at 8 p.m. Tickets via veeps.com.

• Virtual: The jam band Goose plays at 8 p.m. from Saratoga Springs. New York, and again on Saturday, Sept. 7, for subscribers to nugs.net.

• Virtual: The Disco Biscuits perform at 8 p.m. from Dillon, Colorado, for subscribers to nugs.net.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 7

• Detroit punk rock favorites the Suicide Machines will rock at Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit. Doors at 6:30 p.m. Hey-Smith, Kill Lincoln and Bad Operation also perform. 313-961-8961 or saintandrewsdetroit.com.

• Kaleo comes from Iceland to play blues-rock at the Fillmore Detroit, 2115 Woodward Ave. Doors at 7 p.m. 313-961-5451 or thefillmoredetroit.com.

• Detroit techno legend Kevin Saunderson celebrates his 60th birthday with an All-White Party at Spot Lite Detroit, 2905 Beaufait St. Doors at 9 p.m. spotlitedetroit.com or paxahau.com.

• The Motown Museum gets deep with the annual Detroit Bass Day from noon to 4 p.m. on its Rocket Plaza 2648 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit. Bassists of all ages are invited to jam on 10 Motown classics by the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Rick James, the Four Tops, the Commodores, Teena Marie and Jr. Walker & the Allstars. The event also includes food trucks and vendors. motownmuseum.org for more information.

• Singer-songwriter Chris Tapper appears at 8 p.m. at 20 Front Street in Lake Orion. 248-783-7105 or 20frontstreet.com.

• Arizona DJ Markus Schulz heats things up at the Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit. Doors at 9 p.m. 313-833-9700 or themajesticdetroit.com.

• Syrian singer Omar Souleyman plays a matinee at 1 p.m. at El Club, 4114 W. Vernor Highway, Detroit. 313-757-7942 or elclubdetroit.com.

• Trumpeter Allen Dennard and his Organ Trio blows at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. at Cliff Bell’s, 2030 Park Ave., Detroit. 313-961-2543 or cliffbells.com.

• MC Jahshua Smith performs a “Homecoming” date at 8 p.m. at the Lager House, 1254 Michigan Ave., Detroit. FROSTisRAD, Krissy Booth and Kwaj are also on the bill. 313-500-1475 or thelagerhouse.com.

• The Toby Keith tribute band Ride celebrates the late country icon at 8 p.m. at The Roxy, 401 Walnut Blvd., Rochester. 248-453-5285 or theroxyrochester.com.

• The Ark hosts the Ann Arbor Django Reinhardt Festival, featuring Djangophonique, Christo’s Novelty combo and Erik McIntyre at 8 p.m. 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. 734-761-1818 or theark.org.

• Virtual: The Weeknd streams his show from Sao Paulo, Brazil, at 8 p.m. via his official YouTube channel, with a live chat to follow.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 8

• Warm up for the Detroit Lions’ home opener with an early evening set by the a capella vocal group Naturally 7 at the Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale. Doors at 5 p.m. 248-544-1991 or themagicbag.com.

• Grosse Pointe-raised guitarist John 5, now a member of Motley Crue, comes home to play with the Kiss tribute band Strutter and Turning Jane at the Token Lounge, 28949 Joy Road, Westland. Doors at 6:30 p.m. 734-513-5030 or tokenlounge.com.

• Americana up-and-comer Sierra Ferrell brings her vocals, fiddle and more to the Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W. Fourth St. Doors at 7 p.m. 248-399-2980 or royaloakmusictheatre.com.

• KK’s Priest, led by former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing, will be live — but before midnight — at District 142, 142 Maple St., Wyandotte. Doors at 6:45 p.m. district142live.com. For an interview with Downing, visit theoaklandpress.com.

• Mike Tramp leads the latest version of his band White Lion into the Diesel Concert Lounge, 33151 23 Mile Road, Chesterfield Township. Doors at 7 p.m. 586-933-3503 or dieselconcerts.com.

• Sweden’s Dead By April is joined by Of Virtue at the Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff, Hamtramck. Doors at 7 p.m. 313-462-4117 or sanctuarydetroit.com.

• The Duane Parham Society plays at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. at Cliff Bell’s, 2030 Park Ave., Detroit. 313-961-2543 or cliffbells.com.

• Bccording, Zion Polanski, GVN and Swan stack up at 7 p.m. at the New Dodge Lounge, 8850 Jos Campau, Hamtramck. 313-638-1508 or thenewdodgelounge.com.

• The Henhouse Prowlers close the weekend with some bluegrass at The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. 734-761-1818 or theark.org.

Alice Cooper comes home to Detroit frequently, sometimes more than once in a given year.

Suzi Quatro, not so much.

That made the two Detroit rock icons’ pair of collaborations this week, in their home town, notable occasions — particular on stage Friday night, Aug. 30, at the Pine Knob Music Theatre.

The bass-playing Quatro, who now resides in England, made a surprise appearance with Cooper and his band for “School’s Out,” the finale of its theatrical Freaks On Parade tour show with Rob Zombie, Ministry and Filter. “You cannot say Detroit…You cannot say Detroit rock without Suzi Quatro,” Cooper told the near-sellout crowd as bubbles and confetti swirled around the stage. Nita Strauss, one of his guitarists, marked the occasion by offering Quatro a “we are not worthy bow” in her honor.

It was the Grosse Pointe-raised Quatro’s first on-stage performance in the metro area since a Dick Wagner Remember the Child benefit during 2017 at Sound Board in the MotorCity Casino Hotel. “I feel like I’m home — the air I breathe, everything,” Quatro said before Friday’s show, after her old stomping grounds earlier in the day. “You never lose your roots. I’m happy to be here, and I’m happy to do this for Alice. He told me I was doing this song tonight; I said, ‘OK.'”

Cooper and Quatro became friendly during the early 70s, when the Detroit-born shock rocker and his band moved back to the area from Los Angeles. Quatro said she and her bands at the time, the Pleasure Seekers and Cradle, even rehearsed in the barn on the farm Cooper and company were leasing in Pontiac. “Mostly talking to Suzi was about the old days,” Cooper — who was also joined on stage by his wife Sheryl and daughter Calico, regulars in his show — said after the performance, “because those really were the golden days of Detroit.” Quatro opened for Cooper during his mid-70s “Welcome to My Nightmare” tour and they’ve shared stages other times since, including at a festival in Europe during the summer.

The cameo came the day after Quatro and Cooper were at Rust Belt Studios in Royal Oak to record a cover of the MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams,” which is slated for the former’s next album. “That was great,” Quatro said of the Thursday, Aug. 29 session. She credited her son and producer Richard Tuckey with suggesting both the song and the Cooper duet. “We were able to capture our personalities. We were able to capture the spirit of Detroit. We were able to capture our youth and the energy, and we played off each other and it was really quite magical.”

Being at Rust Belt again was something of an odd experience for Cooper, meanwhile. He recorded much of his 2020 EP “Breadcrumbs” and his 2021 album “Detroit Stories” there; both included a version of the MC5’s “Sister Anne” featuring the group’s guitarist Wayne Kramer, who appeared on 11 of the project’s songs. Cooper said those sessions were the last time he saw Kramer in person before his death on Feb. 2 this year.

“It’s a very nice tribute,” Quatro said. “They’re all gone now, so now is the time to do that song again.”

“Kick Out the Jams” is the first song Quatro has recorded for the album, which she’ll continue working on in the coming months with a hoped-for 2025 release. Cooper, meanwhile, is eyeballing a “surprise album” he’d like to release later this year and is planning to be working in 2025 with the Hollywood Vampires, his band with Johnny Deep, Aerosmith’s Joe Perry and Cooper’s guitarist Tommy Henriksen.

The Gretchen C. Valade Jazz Center — which Wayne State University President Kimberly Andrews Espy called “not just a building (but) a symbol of the musical soul of our city” — formally opened its tours on Thursday night, Aug. 29, with, appropriately, a night filled with music.

Endowed by the late Carharrt heiress and longtime patron of the Detroit Jazz Festival, the building that once housed the Hilberry Theatre on the Wayne State University campus has been retooled into a state-of-the art music center with two performance spaces — the 325-seat Detroit Jazz Hall and the 110-capacity Dee Dee Bridgewater’s club in the basement. An upstairs donor’s lounge was named in honor of Chris Collins, Wayne State’s Gretchen C. Valade Endowed Chair in Jazz Studies and the President and Artistic Director of the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation.

“Make no mistake — we’re inside Gretchen’s imagination come true,” Collins told Thursday’s invitation-only gathering that included Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and several City Council members.

Valade’s granddaughter Gretchen R. Valade, added that, “Jazz was beyond a passion for Gretchen. Jazz was her life and it was what motivated her.” Noting that her grandmother was a musician herself, she added that, “she knew the importance of celebrating that talent and skill, giving it all the respect that it deserves…She was always searching for opportunities to promote jazz, any way she could find.

“She put her heart and her soul into making sure that the music was accessible to all.”

Thursday’s program was tailored to that passion. Dr. Valade’s Brass Band, which traditionally opens the Detroit Jazz Festival, played outside the building and took the party inside with a New Orleans-style Second Line procession onto the Detroit Jazz Center stage. Collins, on saxophone, and pianist Cliff Monear paid tribute with a rendition of “Pure Imagination” from “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” which Collins said was one of Valade’s favorites.

Pianist Alvin Waddles led a trio and also performed another Valade favorite, the Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields standard “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby,” while the Wayne State Jazz Vocal Quartet delivered an a capella rendition of another standard, “A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square. Bridgewater was on hand to front the Wayne State University Jazz Legacy Orchestra — comprised of faculty, students and alumni — through one of Valade’s own compositions, “The Lights of Detroit,” in an arrangement by jazz musician John Clayton.

Brandee Younger — who will perform as part of the “Translinear Light: The Music of Alice Coltrane” on Friday night, Aug. 30, at the jazz festival closed the main program with her trio, playing Coltrane’s restored harp and paying tribute to both her and to Dorothy Ashby, another harpist and fellow Detroit native. The Dee Dee Bridgewater’s club hosted a jam session afterwards.

Conceived more than a decade ago, the Valade Center broke ground in 2018 and is part of Wayne State’s $70 million Hilberry Gateway project. The building itself was built in 1917 as the First Church of Christ Scientist and was purchased by Wayne State in 1961. The Detroit Jazz Hall is acoustically tuned specifically for jazz but will host other genres of music, and it’s equipped with up-to-date technology for streaming and recording. Its grand piano, a Steinway Model D nine-foot Concert Grand, was selected by a panel of players that considered four options.

The center had previously hosted performances in April, during an announcement of this year’s jazz festival lineup, as well as a panel discussion about Alice Coltrane on Wednesday, Aug. 28, that included her son Ravi Coltrane, who curated the “Translinear” concert, daughter Michelle Coltrane and John Coltrane Quartet bassist Reggie Workman.

Jeffrey Sposato, the new chair of Wayne State’s music department, said that the center “stands as a new symbol of both this musical legacy and the bright future that lays ahead.”

The center will host after-hours programs during this year’s jazz festival, starting with four ensembles in Bridgewater’s at 10 p.m. Friday, Aug. 30, and continuing with the Kurt Rosenwinkel Trio at 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 31 and pianist Jon Cowherd on Sunday, Sept. 1, both at 10:30 p.m. in the Detroit Jazz Hall. For additional information visit detroitjazzfest.org.

Jessica Care Moore and Steffanie Christi’an have been performing music together for more than 15 years.

This month, the Detroit duo got around to recording and releasing some of it.

The duo, as We Are Scorpio, put out its self-titled debut album on Aug. 16, nine tracks of bold, ferocious anthems of truth-speaking, empowerment anthems that fuse rap, heavy metal, punk, funk grooves and advanced poetics into an assault that transcends genre — which is kind of the point.

“This is a movement, not just an album,” explains Christi’an (nee Mosley), who grew up in Southfield and Detroit, “singing before I could talk” according to her mother. Though she holds a degree in sociology from Wayne State University, music has been her main focus. In addition to her own work and We Are Scorpio, she’s also part of Kevin Saunderson’s Inner City and the Don Was Pan-Detroit Ensemble.

Working with Moore is an entirely different endeavor than the rest, however.

“I think it’s amazing for people to be able to see Black women playing electric guitar, jumping into crowd, singing metal,” Christi’an explains. “It’s not something the (music) industry puts at the forefront. Black radio stations don’t play the type of music we play. It’s not easy for us to get on ‘white’ rock radio stations, either.

“So we have to create our own platforms and our own stages, which is what we’re doing here.”

We Are Scorpio (yes, that’s both of their Zodiac sign) is an outgrowth of Black Women Rock, which Moore — a Detroit-born poet, author and activist who came to prominence by winning the “It’s Showtime at the Apollo” competition five times in a row — founded in 2004 when she was living in Brooklyn. It’s one of the most enduring creations in a career full of achievements, including a wealth of books, her own Moore Black Press, a multi-media choreopoem “Salt City” and other works that have been performed nationwide.

Moore also has contributed to albums by rappers Nas, Jeezy and Talib Kweli, who guested on her 2014 debut album “Black Tea: The Legend of Jessi James” and appears on “Supa Dupa Star” from “We Are Scorpio.” She’s been a Kresge Arts fellow and received Knight Arts awards and an Alain Locke Award from the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Christi’an and Moore met in the mid-2000s, after Moore returned to Detroit from Brooklyn, through Black Women Rock. That opened new musical vistas, particularly for Christi’an who was brought up listening to rock music but, she acknowledges, “wanted to be Rihanna and Beyonce before there was a Rihanna and Beyonce” when she started out.

“I do write music that is personal and authentic to me,” she says, “but I write pop music. I would not consider Jessica’s poetry pop; the underlying meanings sometimes can be very straightforward and very raw, real-life situations, and I wouldn’t necessarily write music that way.” Christi’an laughs as she recalls that “we were doing a show once and the band was trying to tell (Moore), in regard to her verses, that it needs to fit into these 16 bars. Jessica said: ‘I’m a poet. Sixteen bars feels like slavery to me!'”

“So it was very different collaborating with Jessica,” she adds, “because I felt like I had to reach inside myself in a different way to bring my lyrics differently.”

The “We Are Scorpio” collaboration took hold during the pandemic, when the two artists “had some time on our hands,” according to Christi’an. “I was at her house one day and was walking out the door, and she said, ‘We need to record some music.’ ‘OK. …’

“Within a week, we started writing stuff. Jessica was sending me voice memos. I’d add something and send it back and it just went from there.”

The duo had plenty of help from within and out of town. Guitarist Wayne Gerard, who works with Christi’an in the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, produced or co-produced six of the tracks and co-wrote four; he plays on every song, along with keyboardist Paul Wilson Bae, drummer Cinque Kemp and bassist Divinity Roxx, Beyonce’s former musical director.

Detroit rapper Sada Baby, meanwhile, features on the hometown-pumping “I’m From Detroit,” while Florida MC Niko Is rhymes on “Fire This Time” and New York’s Militia Vox, who fronts the all-female tribute band Judas Priestess, lends some additional slam to “Scorpio.” Trumpeter Maurice “Mobetta” Brown adds jazzy flavors to “Butterfly Stings;” the album was recorded at his studio in Brooklyn.

“It’s been a blessing,” Christi’an says of the collaboration. “It’s such a cool way to step out of the box and challenge myself because Jessica is a beast when it comes to her penmanship, an amazing poet and an amazing songwriter as well. I really had to pull my big guns out to match her.”

With the album out, We Are Scorpio is now planning to shoot big — or at least as big as it can — in getting the group and the music out into the world. Both remain “super busy,” Christi’an says; Moore recently penned the film “He Looks Like a Postcard” and is busy with her publishing concerns. “I can’t make her sit down for anything,” Christi’an says, with another laugh. Meanwhile, she’ll be touring this fall with both Inner City and Pan-Detroit Ensemble.

Nevertheless, finally getting some music out has only fortified their commitment to do more.

“This is special,” Christi’an says. “We’re definitely trying to put together a tour. We’re definitely going for the Spoken Word Grammy. Then once we get to where we want to be with this record, we’ll get going with another one. We’re just trying to gain some momentum — and change the world.”

We Are Scorpio performs as part of the Black Women Rock! 20th anniversary concert on Saturday, Aug. 31 at the Fillmore Detroit, 2115 Woodward Ave. Doors at 7 p.m. 313-961-5451 or thefillmoredetroit.com.

The Zig Zag Power trio is, as the name connotes, a powerful combination featuring Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid and drummer Will Calhoun along with Melvin Gibbs, the New York bassist who’s worked with Rollins Band, Sonny Sharrock, Arto Lindsay and others.

The three began working together some time ago — during the 90s by Reid’s estimation — and has made a number of recordings fusing jazz, rock, funk and R&B. It’s approach is aggressive and free-spirited, not for the faint of heart but definitely for those who enjoy adventurous and ambitious — not to mention tasteful — instrumental music.

The troupe will be performing at this year’s Detroit Jazz Festival, and Reid, 66, caught us up on what he’s been up to, with and outside of the trio…

* Reid says there’s a great deal of common musical ground that unites him with Calhoun and Gibbs. “Melvin and I and Shannon (the late drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson) had a trio thing that we called Incription, where we interpreted (Jackson’s) music for the most part — and we take on some of those Tunes with Zig Zag. And Will was also a fan of Shannon’s, and we’re all inspired by various degrees of electric jazz and so-called fusion — Miles (Davis) and Mahavishnu (Orchestra) and all those types of things, as well as Shannon and Ornette (Coleman). Those are the things that kind of informed what Zig Zag is.”

* Reid acknowledges that the Zig Zag Trio tends to be on the outer fringe at most of the mainstream jazz festivals it plays. But he says the group finds that to be an exciting challenge. “Y’know, everyone has different definitions of what jazz is. You now people; sometimes they’re not gonna laugh at the comedian, or they’re gonna be made at the magician. People have different reactions to things; they come with the narrative they have and they project that onto what they’re seeing, they want it to be this or be that. So sometimes people see me with the electric guitar and the pedals and they roll their eyes. There’s a gap to be breached. But maybe there’s a moment where they hear something and go, “Oh, OK, I like that,” and they open up. The Grateful Dead said “you’re the music, we’re just the band.” So if people come in and are prepared to not engage, for whatever reason, alright. But if people are willing to be moved and be open, we’ll give them a lot to embrace.”

* Reid describes the Zig Zag Trio’s approach as “a bit of a harmelodic thing…avant garde and free jazz and playing with structures and movement from one moment to the next and having a kind of confidence with your partners and knowing what you’re gonna do with them and that they’re gonna do with you. It really is about the relationship between the participants, which is the thing that is so difficult. It’s hard to explain that kind of interplay, that kind of listening, the kind of moving together. There’s a funny fine line of what you’re hearing, what your intentions are, what you’re prepared to do and what you’re willing to risk.”

* Reid is among the guests on the upcoming MC5 album “Heavy Lifting,” playing on the track “Can’t Be Found” — one of two that also features the late original MC5 drummer Dennis Thompson. Reid had met the late Wayne Kramer prior to the pandemic, when both were instructors at a guitar workshop hosted by Tom Morello, and remained friendly afterwards. “(Kramer) wore his legendary status really lightly, but the idea of an MC5 record…you can’t take something like that lightly. I didn’t. But Wayne was such an encouraging person. He’s a positive, feisty dude. He was kind of like, ‘Do YOU. Do what you feel. Don’t think.’ So I listened to it and tried to absorb the tune and get a vibe for it, and it worked out.”

* Reid says Living Colour has “started recording” music for a new album and also has more touring coming up with Extreme. “There’s a lot going on. We’ve been really busy, busier than we’ve been in awhile, and it’s been great. The band’s been in sync and doing great shows, and I’m excited to see what we come up with.”

Zig Zag Power Trio performs as part of the Detroit Jazz Festival at 3:45 p.m. Monday, Sept. 2 on the JP Morgan Chase Mainstage in Campus Martius Park. For full festival schedule and information visit detroitjazzfest.org.

 

Bret Michaels’ Parti-Gras touring package was, as the song says, nothin’ but a good time during its inaugural run last summer.

So there was no question he’d be back this year with Parti-Gras 2.0.

“When people come to Parti-Gras, we keep telling them ‘all hits, no filler,” the Poison frontman, who launched the Parti-Gras concept last summer at the Pine Knob Music Theatre, says via phone. “What I think makes it come together, besides the friendship and the chemistry of the (performers), is just the music, the timeless classic hits and a lot of energy. It’s hit songs.”

There are certainly an abundance of those during Parti-Gras 2.0. This year Michaels, 61, is joined by former Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm and Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider as guests during his part of the show. Ex-Eagles guitarist Don Felder and country singer Chris Janson also perform.

“People feel like they’re having a great time,” Michaels notes. “They’re singing. There’s no bathroom breaks. It’s just a great night from start to finish. We’re just trying to fire out hit after hit so the fans can have a great night.

“As I said last year, a celebration of all the fans, the bands, the music — everybody in the building.”

Those paying attention may notice that Parti-Gras also smells a little different than the normal concert, too.

“I make sure our hazers (fog machines) had coconut rum so you felt like you were on the island,” reveals Michaels, who is planning to tour and possibly record with Poison during 2025. “People were like, ‘It smells good up here!’ Yeah, dumping a little coconut rum into the hazers, it just smells good.

“It smells like you’re hanging out in Florida or one of the Caribbean islands, having a party.”

Bret Michaels’ Parti-Gras 2.0 with Chris Janson, Don Felder, Lou Gramm and Dee Snider plays at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 23 at Pine Knob Music Theatre, 33 Bob Seger Drive, Independence Township. 313-471-7000 or 313Presents.com.

Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale notes that looking back “is not a position or viewpoint I usually take. I usually like to guard a better way of going forward.”

But right now, 30 years after his band’s first album, he’s stopping to smell the proverbial roses.

Bush’s latest release is “Loaded: The Greatest Hits 1994-2023,” a two-disc set that recaps the British-formed quartet’s 10 albums, along with a pair of new songs. It celebrates a wealth of mainstream and alternative rock chart hits that started with “Everything Zen” and includes No. 1 singles such as “Comedown,” “Glycerine,” “Swallowed,” “The Chemicals Between Us” and “The Sound of Winter.” And those aren’t achievements Rossdale, 58 — the sole remaining member of Bush’s original lineup — takes lightly.

“But it taught me a lot about the impact the music has had on a lot of people and made me appreciate that,” he acknowledges. “It’s a beautiful thing when people kind of hold you as the soundtrack to their lives at certain points and pivotal moments, pivotal memories. It’s been pretty sort of humbling to see that connection with people.”

“Loaded” is hardly Bush’s final word, however. Rossdale says the group has been working on a new album with 10 songs in the can and “probably more” to come after its current tour. He predicts a 2025 release and describes the songs as “super heavy,” with lyrics that reflect this stage of his life rather than the angst of his youth.

“I’ve been sort of thinking a lot about … the passage of time, sort of looking over an aerial view of your life, like if you could see it from a drone,” he explains. “Not to get too maudlin about it, but there is a bit of melancholy to it, an inevitable melancholy about not being 21 anymore.

“That’s a common source of suffering, as the Buddhists say, and it’s best to not fall for it. Just go and get the most of out your life, and that’s what I’m trying to do all the time now.”

Bush, Jerry Cantrell, Candlebox and Bones UK perform at 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 16 at the Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre, 14900 Metro Parkway, Sterling Heights. 313-471-7000 or 313Presents.com.

Fans were happy to see Blink-182 One More Time…, per the name of the California punk trio’s latest tour.

And they were even happier that the group’s concert on Monday night, Aug. 12, at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena was markedly different than its last time through.

That was just 15 months ago, in fact, when the Blink brought World Tour 2023/2024 to the arena. Monday was a different affair, however; while last year’s appearance was celebrating the return of guitarist Tom DeLonge to the fold after a sometimes acrimonious nearly eight-year absence, this time out Blink is celebrating the new album that gives the tour its name and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and many other charts, last October.

Besides a clutch of new songs — the group only previewed the “One More Time…” track “Edging” last year — the biggest difference was the staging. Blink played on an in-the-round set that provided for 360-degree viewing, including a standing section that surrounded it. Moving platforms rotated DeLonge’s and bassist Mark Hoppus’ gear around the perimeter, changing the stage front several times during the 95-minute show. Travis Barker’s drum kit also rotated and was hoisted into the air for three songs mid-show.

The production offered plenty of special effects as well: liberal displays of pyrotechnics, fire, smoke and lasers; a moving light rig, including three flying saucer-shaped pods that made their entrance during “Aliens Exist;” and four large video screens that mixed live footage with its own array of effects and animations.

At the heart of things, however, was the trio’s unrepentant, irreverent attitude. It’s perhaps not as gleefully juvenile now as it was when Blink broke through 25 years ago — DeLonge and Barker are 48 now, and Hoppus, 52, is a cancer survivor — but the band is still a long way from staid. DeLonge and Hoppus in particularly carried a good cop/bad cop routine, where the latter apologized for the former’s often inappropriate commentary throughout the night. When one joke fell flat, Hoppus pointed out to his bandmate that, “Detroit has a high bar for what they think is…funny. It’s not St. Louis.”

And DeLonge had plenty of fresh, self-deferential material to draw from on Monday. It was Blink’s first show back after canceling two dates (including, ironically, in St. Louis) due to a virus the guitarist had contracted. Sporting a San Diego Padres cap, he was still clearly suffering and referenced his ailment throughout the concert. “I got the gnarliest STD. I had to cancel shows a couple days ago,” DeLonge quipped at one point, telling the crowd of more than 18,000 that “you guys are helping me. When I say ‘Sing!’ that means I can’t…sing it.”

“I have so much snot!,” he declared later on. “I have tissues. I have gum. I have three drinks. I have this spray…” At one point Hoppus produced a box of Kleenex for DeLonge, telling him, “You’re thinking about blowing your nose, I’m thinking about (fellating) your dad.”

There were other gags as well. Hoppus rewarded one front-row fan who brought a small hobby horse to the show with one of his bass guitars. And there were moments of characteristic Blink braggadocio; “It’s a lot of responsibility being this (expletive) good,” Hoppus declared at one point. later referring to the troupe as “the greatest band that has ever walked the face of the planet!”

The music was hardly an after-thought, mind you. The five tracks from the more mature and reflective “One More Time…” and the unreleased “Can’t Go Back” provided a complementary evolution from the likes of “Feeling This,” “The Rock Show,” “What’s My Age Again?” and “All the Small Things,” without making the older tracks sound dated. The troupe also touched on DeLonge’s solo project Box Car Racer (“There Is”) and “When Your Heart Stops Beating” by +44, a band Hoppus and Barker launched during one of Blink’s hiatuses. The trio tossed a bit of Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop” into “First Date” and TLC’s “No Scrubs” into “Dammit,” and brought “M+M’s” back into the set for the first time in eight years.

Whether or not Hoppus’ assessment of Blink’s supremacy is accurate is in the eyes, and ears, of the beholder. But on Monday, as the confetti flew and Fourth of July finale fireworks ignited during “Dammit,” it at least felt worthy of that consideration.

A little over a year ago, Five For Fighting’s John Ondrasik was on stage at the Pine Knob Music Theatre, sporting a red bra as part of a closing night shenanigans for Barenaked Ladies’ Last Summer on Earth Tour.

Things were a bit more sedate, but still lively, on Saturday night, Aug. 10, when Five For Fighting played its first headlining show in the metro area in more than a decade at Detroit’s Saint Andrew’s Hall.

The Los Angeles native has had the benefit of two songs, “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” and “100 Years,” that have struck deeply resonant emotional chords that have endured well beyond their time on the charts. That, however, sometimes eclipses the rest of his Five For Fighting catalog, a six-album body of work that’s rich in melodic craft and earnest lyrical wisdom. Saturday’s 15-song, 100-minute show, then, gave Ondrasik a chance to expose and explore the proverbial “rest of the story,” reminding the Saint Andrew’s crowd of the virtues of the Americana-styled opener “America Town,” “World,” “Easy Tonight,” “The Riddle,” “NYC Weather Report” and more.

And no moment was sweeter than the quartet’s rendition of “I Just Love You,” Ondrasik’s first-ever duet on the song with his daughter Olivia, who was also working the merch stand in the lobby. His explanation about how she inspired the song as a four-year-old, during a call home from an early tour, only made the performance more special.

The night’s centerpieces, meanwhile, were two of Ondrasik’s latest songs, part of a boldly topical turn he’s taken with his songwriting in recent years, stepping up to take positions that are not universally popular and even polarizing.

Referencing them as “songs I wish I never had to write,” he spoke first about “Blood on My Hands,” a protest song critical of U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, before introducing “Can One Man Change the World?,” inspired by Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s stand against the Russian invasion of his country. After a lengthy introduction, speaking about performing the song in Kyiv 13 months ago, Ondrasik played a mostly solo rendition of the song with recorded accompaniment from the Ukrainian orchestra that accompanied him on that occasion.

Later in the set he played a solo rendition of his latest release, “OK,” a reflection on the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. In an emotional preamble Ondrasik told the crowd about performing at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv on the night of Iran’s drone attack in April, paying tribute to the resilient spirit of that citizenry in the face of danger — and noting that his handlers there still insisted they keep a dinner reservation even with the attack imminent. Ondrasik also referenced the five American hostages still being held by name and took his music industry colleagues to task for their silence on the issue.

“There’s a hell of a lot of complicity going on in the arts,” noted Ondrasik, who also dedicated “Freedom Never Cries” to American military personnel. “You don’t have to be Jewish to condemn the evil that is Hamas. You just have to be sane.”

Ondrasik and company balanced the solemn with good humor and spirited performances, however. The frantic “Bella’s Birthday Party,” from Five For Fighting’s obscured 1997 debut album “Message For Albert,” offered a deep dig into the group’s early days of “piano rock.” He teased into “100 Years” with piano licks from Journey’s “Open Arms” and Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets,” while guitarist Pete Thorn quoted Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” during his solo.

Ondrasik also peppered the set with sports references, inserting a Detroit Lions reference into “America Town,” quipping that Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell, his “college roommate,” was in the house, and that Red Wings star Steve Yzerman gave him the Hockeywood shirt Ondrasik was wearing on Saturday. And the group encored with a full-on rendition of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” as Ondrasik leading the crowd through a singalong during the operatic portion of the song.

He left the stage telling his Detroit fans “we’ll see you in the Super Bowl” — and certainly hoping it won’t take so long to see Five For Fighting back headlining in these parts again.

Five For Fighting performs again in Michigan at

Sunday, Aug. 11 at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids. 616- 957-1580 or meijergardens.org.

The Doobie Brothers career has been a long train runnin’, as the song says.

And it isn’t out of track yet.

The group, which formed in 1970 in San Jose, California, is in the third year of a pandemic-delayed 50th anniversary tour that’s seen co-founders Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons, plus longtime member John McFee, reunited with singer-keyboardist Michael McDonald, who was part of the Doobies’ Grammy Award-winning success with 1978’s “Minute By Minute.” Johnston and Simmons also co-authored a memoir, “Long Train Runnin’: Our Story of the Doobie Brothers,” and the group released a new album — “Liberte,” its first in seven years — in 2021.

And the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, albeit virtually, in 2020.

“It’s been a lot of fun, actually. I enjoy it,” Johnston, 75, says of the past few years, the Doobies’ busiest period since the band’s heyday during the ’70s. That’s when it released seven consecutive Top 10 albums and hits such as “Listen to the Music,” “China Grove,” “Long Train Runnin’,” “Black Water,” “Takin’ It to the Streets” and more. “We get to cover a lot of ground,” Johnston says. “Having Michael with us, we get to cover different music and it just kind of encapsulates everything the band was about — is about.”

Simmons, also 75 and the only member who’s been part of every Doobie Brothers incarnation, adds: “It’s kind of continuing what we’ve been doing for the last 50 years, and we still do things the same way for the most part. I think it’s just having great artists, great creative people and talented guys that write the material … and then we have a great band.

“We’ve always had really great musicians, great singers. I think that really helps with how people perceive the band at any given time. It’s as strong now as it ever was.”

The Doobies are also more productive than they’ve been since that initial blast of the ’70s. Simmons and Johnston say they’ve recorded a follow-up to “Liberte,” again produced by John Shanks. Simmons says all four main members “have composed a bunch of great songs that we’re really proud of.” No release date or other details have been announced yet — other than one track Simmons has revealed, the gospel-flavored “Walk This Road” with guest vocals by Mavis Staples.

“At one point I said, ‘Hey, we’re doing all these (concert) dates. … As long as we’re doing this it would make sense to do a record. I think people would really get a kick out of that,'” Simmons says, adding with a chuckle, “We have yet to find out whether they’ll get a kick out of it or whether we’ll get kicked for it.”

But seriously, folks … “There’s some killer — for me, anyway — really great songs on the record,” Simmons says. “There’s some, probably, predictable kind of things in terms of what people would want to hear from us. But there’s just these, some ferocious tracks that are just great, live kind of songs.”

Johnston, meanwhile, adds: “This one’s probably a little more diverse because Michael is involved in all the tunes, but that’s fine, man. It’s an extension of what we’re doing on the road.”

The Doobies are celebrating another big anniversary this year — the 50th for its double-platinum fourth album “What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits” and especially its third single, “Black Water,” which gave the group its first No. 1 hit. Simmons wrote the laid-back, finger-picked song during a tour stop in New Orleans while on the way to a local laundromat and incorporating images of and flavors of the city in both its lyrics and the Dixieland-style vocal breakdown that’s become a karaoke favorite.

“Nobody thought it was a hit; I didn’t, for sure,” Simmons says of “Black Water,” which was initially a B-side to another single from the album, which he notes struggled when it was first released. “Then ‘Black Water’ suddenly hit and the album took on a new life. I wouldn’t have guessed it, but I really love that it did.”

The Doobie Brothers and Steve Winwood perform at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 15 at Pine Knob Music Theatre, 33 Bob Seger Drive, Independence Township. 313-471-7000 or 313Presents.com.

A 12-year break between albums came as news to Uncle Kracker, who broke that drought last month with the release of his sixth title, “Coffee & Beer.”

“Yeah, just look back I don’t know what took so long. There was just no real urgency to do a record,” says the Mount Clemens-born artist (real name Matt Shafer), who was part of Kid Rock’s Twisted Brown Trucker Band before starting his own career in 2000. He was an instant hit with the Top 5 single “Follow Me,” then followed with a Top 10 remake of Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away” and a country chart-topping duet with Kenny Chesney on “When the Sun Goes Down” in 2004.

Kracker, 50, says he had grown weary of record company interference, and also, he says, “life happened,” including a divorce and starting a new family, with two young sons added to his three now-adult daughters (and a grandson). He continued to tour and write during the interim, and he notes that “the fans have been there forever, looking for something new.”

He nevertheless feels that the break worked to his benefit.

“It made it easier to go in and write a song without any pressure or time frames,” explains Kracker, who worked with longtime Detroit and Nashville collaborators such as JT Harding and Blair Daly (co-writers of his triple-platinum 2009 single “Smile”), Marlon Young, Frederick “Paradime” Beauregard, the Warren Brothers and others. “It made it free and easy.” And also more personal lyrics, he adds, particularly songs such as “Beach Chair,” “Get Back Home,” “Sweet 16,” “Mark on Me” and “Coffee & Beer’s” title track.

“There was a lot of thinking, a lot of reflecting going on,” Kracker says. “It wasn’t intentional, but … it’s natural when you get older. You know you’re a lot closer to the end than you are to the beginning, and that brings something different out of you.”

Uncle Kracker performs with Kenny Chesney, the Zac Brown Band and Megan Moroney at 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10 at Ford Field, 2000 Brush St., Detroit. 313-262-2008 or fordfield.com.

The most rhetorical question on Friday night, Aug. 2, at the Pine Knob Music Theatre was “Are we having a good time yet?”

Sammy Hagar asked that several times during his two-hour and 15-minute show. And we’re betting he knew the answer every time.

Fun at any Hagar show is about as guaranteed as a long lines getting into and out of the Pine Knob parking lot. But his latest outing, dubbed The Best of All Worlds Tour, brought even more to enjoy in the mix. With rock guitar virtuoso (and Chickenfoot bandmate) Joe Satriani added to an already potent corps that includes Van Halen/Chickenfoot/The Circle bassist Michael Anthony and Circle drummer Jason Bonham, the Hagar crew is using the tour to ostensibly celebrate the whole of his career but particularly his tenures with Van Halen, which included five multi-platinum albums and eight No. 1 Mainstream Rock chart hits. Keyboardist/guitarist Rai Thistlethwayte’s textures gave those songs even more oomph, and it was certainly nice having live keyboards to recreate favorites such as “Right Now” and “When It’s Love.”

As Loverboy’s Mike Reno promised during his band’s opening set, “There’s gonna be a lot of good songs tonight.”

Make that great, in many cases, as Hagar and company absolutely blitzed through their 23 songs, 15 drawn from both the Hagar and David Lee Roth eras of Van Halen. That included some deep digs for tunes that haven’t been played in years, such as the show-opening “Good Enough,” “Judgement Day,” “5150,” “Summer Nights” and “The Seventh Seal,” the latter accompanied by clips from the Ingmar Bergman film of the same name. The Halen hits were there in abundance, too, from the early “Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love,” sung by Anthony, “Panama” and “Jump” to Van Hagar fare such as “Poundcake,” “Runaround,” “Top of the World,” “Best of Both Worlds” and “Why Can’t This Be Love,” with Hagar and Anthony trading vocals.

“This is a celebration!” Hagar told the sold-out crowd as Bonham sang a bit of Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration” during “Best of Both Worlds. “This tour’s a celebration. We’re gonna celebrate the music!”

Sporting two different T-shirts for his Detroit-brewed Red Rocker Lager beer, Hagar, 76, was his usual ebullient self — part rock god, part carnival barker, part bartender as he sipped from a stash of drinks behind him and then handed them to fans in the front row. Taking just two breaks — one while Satriani to play his solo hit “Satch Boogie” — Hagar prowled the stage relentlessly with a smile as bright as any of the spotlights, often buddying up to Satriani and Anthony, wrapping the latter with an arm around the shoulder and an occasional kiss on the forehead. At one point he caught a red bra thrown from the crowd, remarking “just like the old days…smells like it, too!”

He also got some schtick with Bonham and Thistlethwayte, comparing their English and Australian accents before the drummer began singing a bit of John Denver’s “Country Roads.”

But the night was really elevated by Satriani. Few guitarists have the chops, or the courage, to step into the shoes of the late Eddie Van Halen, but there are none better than the Satriani, a contemporary with his own reputation for shredding, tasteful six-string heroics. On Friday he hit just the right mark between recreating the familiar licks and infusing his own style, turning nearly every song — including an extended rendition of Hagar’s “There’s Only One Way to Rock” — into showcases, and clinics. That took the performances well beyond rote tributes and established this band’s ownership of the material.

And while the Van Halen catalog dominated, Hagar dipped into his own career as well, including a blazing main set-closing grand slam of his “Eagles Fly,” “Mas Tequila,” “Heavy Metal” and “I Can’t Drive 55” as well as an encore stop at Chickenfoot’s “Big Foot.”

Before the latter, however, Hagar shifted the program a bit to pay tribute to fellow rockers Aerosmith, who had announced their retirement from live performing earlier in the day (canceling a planned Jan. 4 date at Little Caesars Arena). Calling it an “honorable” decision and praising the group’s Steven Tyler “for saying, ‘I can’t sing anymore. I quit’…that’s what a lot of other (artists) should have done a long time ago,” Hagar recalled being in the band Montrose and opening for Aerosmith at Detroit’s Cobo Arena (Nov. 27, 1974); Montrose ended its show with the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” and Aerosmith began its set with the same song, so Hagar swapped out Montrose’s “Space Station #5” to play “Helter Skelter” as a tribute.

Hagar also promised that, “The day I can’t sing anymore I will…do the same thing” as Tyler. On Friday, however, it thankfully didn’t sound like that day is looming any time soon.

Abdul “Duke” Fakir was extolled for his loyalty, dedication, musical passion and sartorial style during funeral services on Friday, Aug. 2 at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church in Detroit.

For more than three and a half hours family, friends and dignitaries celebrated an oft-referenced “life well-lived by” Fakir, the sole remaining founding member of the Four Tops, who died at home on July 22, of heart failure at the age of 88.

Fakir was remembered as a man who it seemed nobody did not like, whose dedication to the Four Tops legacy kept the legendary Motown outfit going through the deaths of his three group mates — and still continuing with a lineup headed by Lawrence Roquel Peyton Jr., son of another Tops founder.

“The spirit of this man…captured my heart as someone growing up with Motown,” Fakir’s fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Stevie Wonder told the congregation. “I love Duke. I love the Four Tops, and that love doesn’t go away. It stays consistent…for this thing that was created, called love, is an endless thing that we can never, ever forget.”

Wonder’s appearance was a high point of a ceremony that was moving but more celebratory than solemn. He sang a part of an unfinished song he’s been writing for the Four Tops for decades as well as a bit of the group’s “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” and of “Loving You is Sweeter Than Ever,” which he co-wrote for the group in 1966. He closed with a full, emotional rendition of his own “If It’s Magic,” accompanied only by a harpist that he segued into The Lord’s Prayer.

Wonder wasn’t the only one who sang; former Michigan Gov. James Blanchard, a close friend of Fakir’s, opened his remarks with an a capella — and admittedly off-key — bit of the Tops’ “Baby I Need Your Loving” that was greeted with appreciative laughter and applause. Bishop Marvin Winans performed “Ain’t No Need to Worry,” his family group’s 1987 hit with Anita Baker, while Sherri Nun Berry delivered several roof-raising hymns throughout the service.

Tributes and reflections came from all corners. Three presidents — Joe Biden, Bill Clinton (who played saxophone with the Four Tops on a couple of occasions) and Barack Obama and his wife Michelle all sent written remembrances that were read. Otis Williams and Richard Street of the Temptations, both unable to attend due to ailments, sent video messages along with Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. and Paul Shaffer.

Other Motown alumni, including Martha Reeves and the Miracles’ Claudette Robinson, were in attendance.

Wayne Country Prosecutor Kym Worthy introduced her daughter, Anastasia, who was one of Fakir’s many godchildren, and told a story about him going to her pre-school when she was three years old to defend her against other students making fun of her for not having a father. Cantor Kevin Wartell offered a Judaic blessing, and ministers past and present from Fakir’s Oak Grove A.M.E. Church spoke — including Bishop Gregory G.M. Ingram, who delivered the eulogy.

Detroit Deputy Mayor Todd A. Bettison promised to put Fakir’s name atop the street signs on Four Tops Lane in the city’s Jeffries Project, while congressman Hank Johnson of Georgia presented a U.S. Citizen of Distinction proclamation he introduced in the House of Representatives.

Motown Museum CEO Robin Terry told the gathering that Fakir “always showed up” for her, “it didn’t matter how small the ask was, or how big.” She also noted that his passing “truly does represent the end of an era,” although she noted that the Four Tops will continue — which Peyton, who likened Fakir to a warrior during his speech, vowed would be the case.

Johnson and longtime attorney Judy Tint, meanwhile, lauded Fakir’s frequent visits to Washington D.C. to lobby for artist rights.

Fakir’s son Nazim, a reverend in Chicago, said that, “Dad, I love you. You were my hero. I wanted to be just like you, a man who knew no stranger” before reading scripture.” Farah Fakir Cook, Fakir’s only daughter and youngest of his six children, spoke surrounded by her family, while her longtime best friend Dr. Christina L. Clark — who treated Fakir during his recent illnesses and referred to him as “Daddy Duke” — added remarks about his “always GQ ready” fashion sensibility, even when at home lounging in robes, jewelry and glasses that matched any attire.

Attorney Tint expressed another common emotion of the day; that while “Duke was the last man standing,” any sadness over his passing was mitigated by the “solace that he and Levi (Stubbs) and Obie (Benson) and Lawrence (Peyton) are together again.”

Thirty-five years ago, on her second album, Melissa Etheridge pronounced herself “Brave and Crazy.”

And, she could add, enormously successful, as recording artist, performer, activist, author and more.

The Kansas native has sold more than 13 million albums in her homeland, with five platinum or better releases, and scored hits such as “Come to My Window,” “I’m the Only One,” “I Want to Come Over” and “Bring Me Some Water.” She’s won a pair of Grammy Awards and five GLAAD Media Awards, and she also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Etheridge, 63, recently released a live album, “I’m Not Broken (Live From Topeka Correctional Facility),” and she’s currently on the road co-headlining with Jewel, which will bring her to the Colosseum at Caesar’s Windsor on Sunday, Aug. 4…

• Touring with Jewel, Etheridge says, has “been great. It’s so smart. It’s hard to find an artist who’s willing to share a band, to use your band, and it just makes so much sense economically, and the show runs quicker if you share a band and crew. And, boy, it’s worked so well with her. It’s a great night of music; her music and mine are very complimentary. People really seem to be liking it, so it’s just perfect.”

•  Etheridge says the new live album was inspired by Johnny Cash playing at Leavenworth Penitentiary during the 1960s and also by her own performances for inmates during the early years of her career. “I always thought prison (audiences) were so appreciative. It lifted them up so much. I always thought that was good medicine for people and always wanted to do it. I wanted to film it, and Sun Records said, ‘We’ll record it,’ so, ‘Damn, let’s do it.’ And it was such a great experience, and a really cool honor to be on a kind of vintage, historic label like that.”

* During June Etheridge was one of the performers at the opening concert for Michigan Central, joining a Bob Seger tribute that also included Jelly Roll and Fantasia. “That was amazing. It was really cool, just meeting everybody, hanging out with Jelly Roll — that’s always fun. And feeling the enthusiasm for the beautiful train station was really heartwarming. I love seeing that for Detroit. I’ve come here for many years, and 30 years ago I was like, ‘God, someone needs to do something about this…'”

• Etheridge adds that it also meant a lot to pay tribute to Seger. “Come on — I grew up in Leavenworth, Kansas. Bob Seger was a big part of my rock ‘n’ roll education. And he was also one of the first guys that ever saw me on tour. I remember I was opening for Bruce Hornsby at Pine Knob, and when you’re opening it fills up by the last song, maybe. And the first song I look out and there’s empty seats and stuff, and then I say, ‘Wait a minute — is that Bob Seger sitting there alone in one of those seats. And it was; he came to listen to me. He was very sweet. He’s always been so supportive. He’s just one of my favorite rock stars, and ‘Mainstreet’ was one of my favorite songs, and I was like, ‘Oh, oh, oh, please let me do it!'”

• Etheridge’s last studio album, “One Way Out,” was released in 2021, and she’s eyeballing her next project now. “I’m writing all year, just writing and writing and writing, and next year I’m gonna put out an album of brand new music. It’s time. I get my inspiration from just life all around. I have a huge notepad that just has ideas and stuff all sketched out. Those are the paints I’ll take when I have time to sit down and focus.” She predicts the next album’s sound will be “just the sort of American Midwest rock ‘n’ roll that I make, that’s kind of popular right now. That’s the best place for me to be.”

Melissa Etheridge and Jewel perform at 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 4, in the Colosseum at Caesars Windsor, 377 Riverside Drive East, Windsor. (800)991-7777 or caesarswindsor.com.

Steven McDonald was still an adolescent when he and his older brother Jeff formed Redd Kross in Hawthorne, Calif. — famously also the home of the Beach Boys. It’s safe to say they didn’t expect the band to still be going — strong, no less — 45 years later.

And the quartet is certainly celebrating on this anniversary.

It has a documentary, “Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story,” that’s been on the festival circuit and a band biography, “Now You’re One of Us: The Incredible Story of Redd Kross,” due out in October. The group also released a self-titled new album, it’s first in five years, at the end of June.

The McDonalds and their current bandmates — guitarist Jason Shapiro and drummer Dale Crover (also of the Melvins) — are on the road now, too, and the younger McDonald is confident Redd Kross will be around to celebrate more anniversaries in the future…

• McDonald, 57, says things in Redd Kross 45 years on “are not as (different) as you might think. I suppose there’s some sort of, like, wisdom of experience, not sweating the little things, stuff like that. But at the same time it’s still, like, a thrill, like it was when I was a little kid. It still feels very fresh…I guess because I still care a lot, so I’m not so jaded and you can go do a show and it’s still really exhilarating…which makes me happy.”

• For the “Red Kross” album, McDonald says the group wrote a robust 18 songs for “Red Kross,” including a title song for the documentary. But they were surprised that all the tracks passed their quality control litmus. “We figured, ‘We’ll go in and do 14 with the idea two of them will be bonus tracks for foreign territories or something. But when we chose which songs to drop, it was hard to let go. So it just kind of turned into this thing, ‘Let’s record those other songs,’ and eventually it was like, ‘…these are all good. Let’s just do ’em all and put ’em out there.'”

• McDonald says he and his brother were further inspired after watching Peter Jackson’s acclaimed “Get Back” documentary series about the Beatles’ January 1970 recording sessions in London. “It was…relatable, that’s the best word I can think of. You saw they were just people, and…it was very demystifying and it was great to hear them working up a song from scratch and sounding scratchy and ramshackle and realizing that as much as they’re perhaps the greatest rock band of all time they were also human and had to work hard to get to that place. That was a great reminder for us once we started rehearsing for our new record. There’s always an uphill climb.”

• The Redd Kross album was produced by former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who Steven McDonald had worked with in Sparks. “That was really special. We’re siblings and we can get into power struggles. But with Josh there we were really on our best behavior, and it was great to give that strong of a voice to a third party. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be with someone I really respected, musically, and to let some of that (responsibility) go. So maybe it was challenging, but ultimately I’m lucky enough to realize how lucky we were to have that situation.”

• McDonald considers this the “third act” of Redd Kross’ career, and he has high aspirations for what he hopes the band will achieve from here. “I want it to be filled with the best things we’ve ever done — to make the best music we’ve ever made and do the best shows we’ve ever done and become as consistent as I’ve always dreamed of. What we may be lacking in the free pass of youth we now have wisdom to lean on, and things that may have seemed mystifying to me I just don’t ask about anymore. It won’t always go the way we want, but I think that now I’m more equipped to roll with the punches than I’ve ever been, which allows me to be better at enjoying the good things that do happen. That’s the antidote to aging, I think.”

Redd Kross performs Tuesday, July 30 at El Club, 4114 Vernor Highway, Detroit. Doors at 7 p.m. (313)757-7942 or elclubdetroit.com.