Some great rock music choices out there tonight ... but some flexibility is required.

Rilo Kiley is at Avalon. Jenny Lewis and company recently released their major label debut, "Under The Backlight" and it brazenly breaks the rules of most major label debuts. It's got horns, it's got disco, it's got songs about underage sex ... and for the most part it's pretty darn terrific. Now for all intents and purposes this show is sold out ... does that mean you can't get a ticket? Not necessarily. If you show up on Lansdowne Street well before the 7:30 show time you should be able to score a ticket. It's a brief window of opportunity, but well worth the effort to see this band.

Live and Collective Soul team up for one of the final summer shows at the Bank of America Pavilion. Live sold 12-Million copies of it's alt-rock masterpiece "Throwing Copper" back in the 90's. It's a CD that still stands the test of time ... unfortunately everything that's followed has ranged from borderline to god awful. We're getting much more of the former rather than latter these days. That said, these guys are rock solid musicians ... heck, they've been playing together since they were 13 years old back in York, PA. Ed Kowalczyk is the band's principal writer, singer and driving force. He's all about the mystic charisma ... but his lyrics can be howlingly bad at times, and his earnestness can become more irritating than endearing. Still ... given all that ... I saw Live in concert back in 1994 (it was at Brandeis University the week "Throwing Copper" hit number 1 on the charts), that show was nothing short of thrilling. So, I still think they're worth seeing, and tickets for tonight's show still can be had.

As for Collective Soul ... they have "Shine" an absolutely killer rock track. Unfortunately that's about it.

Finally, Mission of Burma is playing at Pearl Street in Northampton. Small room ... BIG sound, and totally worth the trip. Call ahead to make sure you can still score a ticket ... if you can, go man go! http://www.iheg.com/pearl_street_main.asp

Have a great weekend.