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Hot Summer Music

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Headlined by Texas roadhouse rockers ZZ Top, the bill also features the New Cars (with vocalist Todd Rundgren), and feisty femme Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders. Reunited rockabillies Stray Cats will also be there, along with pure-pop janglers Gin Blossoms (Admit it: You still know all the words to "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You.")

"When you look at this lineup, it's a great lineup you just don't get to see typically on a summer tour," says Sammy Simpson, director of marketing for Bonneville St. Louis. "That's what makes it so exciting, the variety-show aspect."

So, what exactly is the appeal of tours featuring reunited bands?

It's the "the superstar element," explains Simpson. "You see that with a lot of the bands — Billy Joel was just here, Rod Stewart was just here. A lot of those bands are on the road because they're great artists. You've just got these superstar bands that people really want to see."

KSHE's Favazz offers another explanation for the public's enduring fascination with reunited bands.

"I hate to say nostalgia," he says. "[But these tours are] taking people back and making them feel youthful, or bringing back some nice memories for them or something like that. That's the only way to look at it, really. If it makes people happy for a couple of hours and takes them back to when they wore mullets and big bells, then who am I to say that's a bad thing?" a "It's been a long hot summer/Let's go undercover/Don't try too hard to think...don't think at all" — U2, "Staring at the Sun"

Anyone who's gotten a wicked sunburn while sitting on the lawn at Riverpo....er, the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, or while seeing a show on the concrete parking lot at Pop's, appreciates what a relief it is to find a sliver of shade.

Thankfully, a good number of musicians pre-emptively book their shows indoors. Interpol plays the Pageant on Wednesday, August 1. Our Love to Admire, the band's major-label debut, arrives July 10 — and judging from first single, "The Heinrich Maneuver" (which bizarrely resembles late-'80s R.E.M.), things are as grayscale as ever for the mope-punks.

Alt-country chanteuse Lucinda Williams performs at the Pageant on Sunday, July 15, an anticipated show even if critical reception for the new West was largely lukewarm.

The Sheldon Concert Hall, too, presents two fine shows suitable for beating the heat: jazz legend Dave Brubeck on Sunday, June 3, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young/Buffalo Springfield member Stephen Stills on Tuesday, June 26.

Then there's the regal Beyoncé (with soulful eye-candy Robin Thicke) and badass American Idol rock-chick Kelly Clarkson, who perform at the Scottrade Center on Sunday, July 8, and Friday, July 27, respectively.

Not to be outdone, love-her-or-hate-her pop tart Fergie plays a special show at the Pageant on Monday, June 11, in conjunction with Verizon. And ravey DJ fave Tiësto drops by Dante's for a set on Tuesday, July 24.

However, save for atmospheric hard-rockers the Deftones — who headline the Pageant on Tuesday, June 19 — heavier acts (maybe because of their often-younger fan base) prefer playing outside.

Ozzfest, headlined by aging Ozzy Osbourne, returns to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater on Monday, August 6. Diverse support acts range from Eurovision hard-rock goofballs Lordi and electroplated rockers Static-X to the Nick Oliveri (ex-Queens of the Stone Age) project Mondo Generator and brutal metalheads Lamb of God.

The punk-rock festival Warped Tour, long a summertime staple for Hot Topic shoppers from Chesterfield to Clayton, has just as impressive a lineup — even if it is light on the heritage punk bands this year. (Bad Religion is the marquee act.) Still, the Tuesday, August 14, date at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater has a particularly strong lineup of national groups. Big names include neo-prog scientists Coheed and Cambria, femme-fronted punk-poppers Paramore, party-starting Irish-punks Flogging Molly and pop-punk survivors New Found Glory.

There's also punkabilly hellcats Tiger Army, underrated pop-metal troupe Sum 41, sugar-pop sister act Meg & Dia, and consciousness-raising rappers P.O.S. and K-OS. Local heroes Ludo and So They Say also perform. a "Carnival came by my town today/Bright lights from giant wheels/Fall on the alleyways/And I'm here by my door, waiting for you" — The Cardigans, "Carnival"

In 1904 the St. Louis World's Fair reportedly introduced ice cream cones and Dr Pepper to a mass audience. Starting in 1981 the V.P. Fair (later called Fair St. Louis) treated July 4 revelers to artists such as the Beach Boys, the Neville Brothers and Kenny Rogers, while incorporating many of the trappings found at a county fair.

But times change, and the entity known as Fair St. Louis no longer features carnival rides and arts and crafts. Now, due largely to the success of 2004's River Splash — a widely lauded event that booked such performers as Lyle Lovett, the B-52's and Liz Phair — the multi-day Independence Day extravaganza has evolved into Live on the Levee, a showcase of national and local music.

"People get a little teary-eyed when you talk about doing away with Fair St. Louis, because it is a big part of St. Louis history," says Missy Slay, who was the executive director of the inaugural Live on the Levee in 2005. "But all good things evolve — and evolve into something even better."

Indeed, the success of the first edition — Slay says they averaged 20,000 people a night during the three-night trial run of shows — spurred a merger of ideas and resources between Fair St. Louis and the civic organization Celebrate St. Louis (which Slay headed) in 2006 and beyond.

"We got together with Fair St. Louis and said, 'Look, we both have the same mission — and that is to bring people downtown to showcase the renaissance taking place in downtown St. Louis,'" Slay says.

The lineup of the 2007 edition of Live on the Levee definitely shows improvement over its first two years.

Need proof? Appearing are pop princess Cyndi Lauper (Wednesday, July 4), country music matriarch Emmylou Harris (Saturday, July 7), Earth-mother hippie Ani DiFranco (Friday, July 20), singer-songwriter Pete Yorn (Saturday, July 21), reggae faves Steel Pulse (Friday, July 27) and funky soul-man Musiq Soulchild (Saturday, July 28).

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