Roadtrips

The summer concert season climaxes this week with some of the most eagerly awaited performances of the year. The Newport Folk Festival (401-847-3700) in Newport, Rhode Island, kicks off on Friday at the Hotel Viking with three duos -- Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, and Victoria Williams and Mark Olson. On Saturday the main event starts up at Fort Adams State Park with Emmylou Harris, Michelle Shocked, the bluegrass supergroup the Flatlanders, Butch Hancock, Patty Larkin, Afropop star Baaba Maal, Welch and Rawlings again, former New York Doll David Johansen and the Harry Smiths, and more. On Sunday the Indigo Girls headline with Nanci Griffith, Paul Brady, Joan Osborne, the North Mississippi All Stars (with John Medeski and gospel pedal-steel prodigy Robert Randolph), more sacred-steel virtuosity from the Campbell Brothers, Mary Lou Lord and more.

This Tuesday and Wednesday, Black Sabbath and Madonna go head-to-head with respective two-night stands, as the former headline OzzFest at the Tweeter Center (617-931-2000) in Mansfield and the latter unveils her much-touted world tour at the FleetCenter (sold out; 617-931-2000). Sabbath have again risen from the dead, with plans for both a new group studio album and an Ozzy Osbourne solo album in the works. The mainstage features an A-list of modern metal including Marilyn Manson (see "State of the Art," on page 3), Slipknot, Papa Roach, and Linkin Park. That's preceded on Monday by "The Day Offest," featuring Slipknot, Papa Roach, Linkin Park, Disturbed, and Mudvayne at the Cumberland County Civic Center (207-775-3458) in Portland.

Re-formed '80s psychedelic metal wonders Living Coloür -- of "Cult of Personality" fame -- make their only area appearance at Toad's Place (203-624-8623) in New Haven tonight (August 2). Weirdist cult-pop phenoms Ween kick off a typically odd tour with a two-night stand Friday and Saturday at the Wellfleet Beachcomber (508-349-6055). And the invasion of VH1's Bands on the Run continues. Hot on the heels of winners Flickerstick's sold-out show here -- and the news that Soulcracker are headed to T.T. the Bear's Place on September 5 -- finalists the Josh Dodes Band hit Harpers Ferry (617254-9743) in Allston tonight, and Pearl Street (413-584-7771) in Northampton next Saturday, August 11.
-- Carly Carioli