Grow up Madge.

​Madonna is taking time out of her taxing virgin-blood drinking schedule long enough to fit in a lil' world tour, she'll bring all the hits and her terrifying biceps to the Scottrade Center on November 1. Teflon Don, The Boss Rick Ross is at the Ambassador on February 19. Rob Ruzicka is throwing himself another epic birthday party, this time at Atomic Cowboy with grit punk headliners the Spits (!), who've never made it to St. Louis in its ten years as a band. This is basically its only Midwest date (sit down, Indiana, no one cares) so bring $12 and a big wet birthday kiss for Rob.

More >>

Tom Munro/Harper's Bazaar

MDNA controls her image.

​Madonna, fresh off a Super Bowl appearance and more aware of how to capitalize than possibly anyone in pop music, has just announced a massive 2012 tour. And just days before Madonna 2012 World Tour goes out in (presumably) a blaze of infinite production value in Miami, she'll make a stop here in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center (1401 Clark Avenue, 314-241-1888) on November 1. Tickets go on sale Monday, March 5th at 10 a.m through Live Nation or the Scottrade box office.

Update: Ticket prices have been announced. They start at $45 and go to $355 (before fees), and VIP packages will set you back anywhere from $250 to $1,250. Apparently she wasn't exaggerating about that $300 range; original post follows.

Madonna will release her twelfth studio album, MDNA, on March 26th. Its first single, "Give Me All Your Luvin'," features Nicki Minaj and the officially obscene M.I.A. If you would like to assure yourself a pair of tickets to this thing, you might be interested in the pre-sale options available.

More >>

Courtesy of the Shins

​The Shins, dormant for the last few years, will return in 2012 with Port of Morrow and a U.S. tour that includes a stop at the Pageant (6161 Delmar Boulevard, 314-726-616) on June 4. Tickets are $32 for general admission or $37 for reserved balcony spots and go on sale Friday at 5 p.m.

The Shins, which began in Albuquerque and has since relocated to Portland (shocking!), has always been James Mercer and his cast of players. This time around it's Mercer with Richard Swift, Joe Plummer of Modest Mouse, Yuuki Matthews of Crystal Skulls and Jessica Dobson. In conjunction with this tour announcement, the band released a b-side, entitled "September," to its new single; listen below.

More >>

Shabazz Palaces.

​Shabazz Palaces is genius. 2011's Black Up made instant waves as the left-field "hip-hop" release of the year; the spare, esoteric beats percolate under Ishmael Butler's outré flows, and the fine folks at the Luminary have booked them on April 24. Idle Warship, made up of Talib Kweli and soul songstress Res will be at 2720 Cherokee on February 15 and singer songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs is back at her St. Louis home, Off Broadway, on March 11.

More >>

Van Dyke Parks

​Van Dyke Parks is coming to the Luminary Center for the Arts (4900 Reber Place, 314-807-5984)! It's part of the venue's Elevator Music Series, where the audience is seated in the gallery space, and there are only 250 tickets. They're $22 each and on sale now.

We can find a record of when the legendary composer last played St. Louis -- has he? It certainly wouldn't be the first time the Luminary has brought an artist to this city for the first time. This is wonderful news regardless -- Van Dyke Parks' track record stands pretty much unparalleled, with credits on albums ranging from Smile to Ys. And that is to say nothing of his solo career, which to date has included six proper full-lengths.

More >>

Jason Stoff

​Update, 1/30 Tickets for this thing sold out in fewer than 30 minutes, which is fast. Wilco fast, even.

Original post follows...

Florence + the Machine has announced a string of US tour dates for this spring, and one of them is on April 29 at the Peabody Opera House. (14th Street and Market Street, 314-241-1888). Tickets go on sale January 27th at 10 a.m. Some mezzanine tickets are $32, and the rest are $42. No opening act has been announced. The full tour schedule for 2012, below.

Related: Florence + the Machine at the Pageant: Review, Photos and Setlist

More >>

White Denim

​Probably time to start looking into a permanent camping spot in the parking lot of the Firebird (2706 Olive Street, 314-535-0353). Today the venue announced, among other things, an April 7 show featuring White Denim. Tickets are $10 and on sale now.

The Austin band is incredibly difficult to define -- it shares some of the psychedelic inclinations of many of its hometown's most well-known bands, but White Denim is weirder, louder and, by the estimation of many, better than nearly any band in Austin or anywhere else, for that matter.

More >>

Shabazz Palaces

​The 2012 calendar is rapidly filling at the Luminary Center for the Arts (4900 Reber Place, 314-807-5984). Today the venue announced the addition of Shabazz Palaces -- the Seattle based group comprising Ishmael Butler (formerly of Digable Plantes) and multi-instrumentalist Tendai Maraire. The duo's 2011 release Black Up found its way into the heavyweight class in the year-end list-off.

Shabazz Palaces' St. Louis show -- its first ever -- is on April 24. Tickets are $15, and no opener has yet been announced.

More >>

Mac Miller brings The Cool Kids and The Come Up to Chaifetz Arena on April 11.

​Nothing raises the hackles of the music-hating snark machines over at Pitchfork like a lil rap album that defies the odds by sticking to formula. Mac Miller's Blue Slide Park was slapped with a 1.0 rating, despite the the fact that it managed to move nearly 200,000 copies it's first week. Miller's at Chaifetz Arena April 11. Brooklyn noise duo Talk Normal were added to the Zola Jesus show at the Luminary. And no else one is allowed to book shows on April 29--Florence and the Machine, Van Halen, and Portugal. the Man are already vying for our attention that night.

More >>

​Today in ripping headlines directly off of press releases: "William Shatner's One Man Show Shatner's World: We Just Live In It To Beam Across the U.S." Glorious. The beam will reach St. Louis on April 12 at the Peabody Opera House. (14th Street and Market Street, 314-241-1888). Shatner's show started on Broadway, and in it he takes audiences on a retrospective of his career. Tickets for the St. Louis show go on sale the weekend of February 3 -- prices have yet to be announced. Below, you can enjoy a promo clip in which the venerable actor/space-song cover artist hip thrusts the planet at you. Surreal is the word.

More >>