Conflict of [Musical] Interests

 

Has anyone else noticed that two amazing shows at two of the best music venues in the Berkshires--Tanglewood and MASS MoCA--are happening on the same weekend this summer?

 

Earth, Wind, & Fire, the 1970s R&B greats who have maintained their reign as kings of funk over the past four decades, play the Shed at Tanglewood as part of their 40th Anniversary Tour on June 25th.

 

On the opposite end of the county, the Solid Sound Festival will be commencing its second year at the MASS MoCA campus the weekend of June 24th-26th. There’s no doubt that Wilco, the popular alt-rock band that took North Adams by storm last August, will perform on the night of Saturday the 25th (the band has announced that it will actually perform two headlining shows this year).

 

What is a music-lover to do?

 

Well, to be quite honest, I’m not really all that conflicted. If you know me at all, you know that I will be spending every second of that weekend at the Solid Sound Festival (just take a look at what a great time I had last year for proof). Nonetheless, I would still love to see Earth, Wind, & Fire if I could be in two places at once--I can just see myself boogying down to “Shining Star” on the lawn of the Shed with fireworks going off overhead.

 

I’m wondering if there is anyone else out there that finds this a bit troublesome--or if it is even really a conflict at all? It goes without saying that Wilco fans and EWF fans are not exactly of the same breed, so perhaps I am the only one that has found herself wishing that Tanglewood might reconsider the date of their show. Then again, Wilco fans are known to be appreciative of all types of music (take, for example, the well-received appearance of matron of soul Mavis Staples at last year’s Solid Sound), so perhaps I am not alone, either.