Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, hello Lake Tahoe Blue. Elton John will return this summer to Harveys Outdoor Area, the 11th concert to be scheduled in the 2015 Lake Tahoe Summer Concert Series.
The Aug. 8 show is called “An Evening with Elton John” and it is a part of the “All the Hits” tour.
There is only one band lineup change since the show five years ago. Matt Bissonette has replaced Bob Birch on bass. The other members are Nigel Olsson on drums, part of Elton’s original three-piece band, as well as musical director Davey Johnstone (who first recorded with Elton in 1971 and joined the band in a year later) on guitar, John Mahon on percussion, and Kim Bullard on keyboards.
John also appeared in this area in 2001 when he played at Reno’s Lawlor Events Center.
The 68-year-old piano player entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and was knighted in 1998.
The 1997 album “Candle in the Wind” sold more then 33 million copies, an all-time record. John has 58 Billboard top 40 singles.
Jackson Browne will meet Tahoe blue during a year he spends traveling around the world.
The singer-songwriter will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7 at the Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena at Harveys. Before making it to the Sierra Nevada, Browne will make a worldwide tour which starts March 9 in Nagoya, Japan and continues through July 6 in Madrid, Spain before returning to the United States. He has a new album, “Standing in the Breach.” Tickets are $39.50 to $89.5o.
Country artist Dierks Bentley also has been added to the Lake Tahoe Summer Concert Series at Harveys. His Sounds of Summer tour stops in Tahoe on Aug. 23. Tickets are $59.50-$99.50. Kip Moore, Maddie & Tae and Canaan Smith are also on the tour.
Bands are getting on board early for this year’s summer series.
Train became the third headlining band in a week to announce its summer plans. The Picasso at the Wheel Summer Tour 2015 will stop July 21 at the Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena at Harveys. Tickets cost $49.50 to $99.50. Riding along with Train will be the Fray and Matt Nathanson.
The San Francisco-based Train also appeared in 2014 at Harveys, along with scores of orange and black-clad Giants fans. Train has appeared multiple times at AT&T Park and with the Giants winning a third World Series title, expect another festive gathering of like-minded Northern California music and sports fans at Lake Tahoe.
Both Kenny Chesney and the Dave Matthews Band (Sept. 9) will appear at Tahoe on Wednesday nights.
Chesney’s Big Revival Tour started March 26 in Nashville, and will continue until Aug. 29 in Foxboro, Mass. Tickets for the Lake Tahoe show will cost from $149 to $79.50.
Chesney, a country singer, last appeared at Harveys on Aug. 1, 2009. The openers for that show were Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum.
The Dave Matthews Band will appear at 7 p.m. Sept. 9 at the Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena at Harveys.
About 9,000 general admission and ticketed grandstand seats will all be sold for $85.
“We’d been trying to get the Dave Matthews Band since the beginning of the series in 2002,” said Director of Entertainment John Packer. “Now we get him twice in three years. He has a huge collection of hit songs and his band is also terrific. It’s a great first show to announce. We’re excited.”
When the Seattle-based band performed at Harveys in 2013 it had a surprise guest appearance by Roger Smith, a former South Lake Tahoe resident. Smith, who plays keyboards for Tower of Power, appeared on Matthews’ CD “Away From The Word.” The 2013 concert at Tahoe sold out quickly.
The Dave Matthews Band will begin a five-month tour in Austin, Texas on May 13. Matthews’ violin player Boyd Tinsley told Jambands.com the format for the shows, as they were in 2014, will be two sets, the first acoustic, the second electric.
Packer said four or five other concerts have been confirmed but he can’t announce them until the artists break the news.
“Dave Matthews will likely be the last show of the summer but it’s tour was announced today,” Packer said. “As soon as the artists announce their national tours, we’ll be right there with them.”
Organizers want to have its most successful season but it unlikely to break the record for most shows.
John Cocores / Tahoe Onstage
It received permits in December from Douglas County for 18 shows, which would exceed the record 13 in 2014.
“We went ahead and got 18 permits from the county, but not because we were planning 18 shows,” Packer said. “Some years we get 10 permits and then when we want to add more shows we have to get on the agenda again and it takes a couple of months.”
The first concert announced is usually on the weekend of the celebrity golf tournament, the American Century Championship, which will be July 14-19, and the rest of the lineup is built out from there.$199 and more.
The county reviews the permits to see how many deputies to assign the concerts. A record amount were in force for the first Phish shows in 2012. Packer said it was the best behaved group of concertgoers since the modern day series began in 2002 when Harveys and Harrah’s merged.
