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On the way (sometime this summer): Bruno Mars

His North American summer tour will come to Kansas City. Dates haven't been announced yet, only cities. We are among the 39.

Review: Randy Rogers Band

Randy Rogers and his band have been making music since the turn of the millennium. They’re a contemporary country band, though not necessarily modern country. Of their 12 singles, only one has broken into the Top 40 and generated radio airplay, last year’s “One More Sad Song,” evidence that they’re not regular radio material.

Review: Valentine's fest

Carah Faye Charnow of Shiny Toy Guns. Photos by Susan Pfannmuller/Special to The Star

Participating in a round of spin-the-bottle requires a willingness to take a risk in exchange for a chance at a desirable reward. Many members of the audience of 1,800 played the flirtatious parlor game during at the Midland on Friday.

Flatlands country festival coming to soccer park

Sporting Park, home to the professional soccer team Sporting Kansas City, will host a three-day country music and camping festival Sept. 12-14.

Headliners of the Flatlands Country Music Festival will be Toby Keith and Luke Bryan.

Vive the Rock: A benefit de musique

Gregg Todt of Federation of Horsepower. Photo via Facebook.

Sometimes the solution to a mission is looking right at you. Or sitting right next to you. That’s what a group of parents of students at Académie Lafayette figured out.

“Several of us were sitting around at a scouting event last year and realized that there were a lot of parents at the school who played in bands, and figured this would be a really cool way to raise money for the school,” said Gregg Todt, whose son attends the public charter/French immersion school. Todt is a member of the rock band Federation of Horsepower.

Snapshots: Middle of the Map headliners

Grizzly Bear

Many indie rock bands find success by lashing out at past conventions as they forge revolutionary sounds. Grizzly Bear, one of the most critically celebrated acts of the past five years, is different. The audacious ambition of the band’s lauded albums resembles the most complex recordings of the Beatles, the Beach Boys and Fleetwood Mac. As with those groundbreaking acts, the deceptively smooth veneer of the Brooklyn-based quartet’s music belies emotional epiphanies and insidious sonic inventiveness.

Ink's Middle of the Map unfolds its 2013 lineup

Grizzly Bear will perform at Ink's Middle of the Map Fest in April.

Organizers of Ink’s Middle of the Map Fest have announced more than half of the 100-plus bands that will perform April 4-6 at venues in and near Westport. 

This year’s lineup of established national acts includes Grizzly Bear, Deerhoof, the Joy Formidable, Tennis and Wovenhand. It will also include dozens of emerging national and regional bands, as well as dozens of bands from Kansas City, Lawrence and the surrounding region.

On the way: Garbage

They're coming to the VooDoo Lounge in Harrah's Casino on April 10, a Wednesday. Tickets on sale at 10 a.m. Friday. $32 to $65.

Review: Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga’s reputation will always precede her. These days, she is saddled with the burden of exceeding it or at least equaling it. 

Monday night, she headlined a show at the Sprint Center, two and a half years after she brought her spectacular Monster Ball Tour to the same arena — her first headlining show in Kansas City. That show was an extravagant spectacle, a garish and gargantuan two-hour dance-rock opera that followed a loose narrative about monsters and evil. She gave herself a hard act to follow.

On the way: Vampire Weekend

They're coming to the Midland on May 19, a Sunday. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday: $36.