This Spring an Oriole

     Pagan folk entity Heilung is on a full US tour that includes Detroit in September.

     It looks like the world is beginning to thaw. Have you ever seen ants frozen in a block of ice?  If you ever lived in a wood-heated home, it's a familiar sight at the woodpile on the warmer days of winter. As it melts,  they emerge, slowly, awkwardly, wet and confused, a busy, writhing, black mass breaking into lines of legged dots crawling toward the activities in which they were engaged before temperatures dropped and they could move no more. 

     That's how things feel right now. Not all the ants are their nimble selves yet, and some are still deep within the ice, but there are signs of life. 

     2020 looked like it was going to have an AWESOME year of concerts for Michigan, but a long winter of sorts came, putting many of us into hibernation. 2022, however, is beginning to show some warmth, and those exotic birds that only visit but never seem to linger are planning their migration. Let's hope we can put out enough oranges to convince them to return. There are already a few gathering at the feeder. 

Touring Acts

     Opeth is scheduled to play at the Masonic Temple Theatre in Detroit on 29th April with Mastodon. It appears that Mastodon is headlining, but we're awaiting confirmation on that. According to the Masonic, doors open at 6pm. You can find tickets here.

     UPDATE 7 April 2022: Heilung, also at the MTT in Detroit, is coming on 10th September with doors at 6:30pm. Their   hypnotic, meditative performance has the effect of opening a rift and allowing passage to pre-Christian Europe- the wild energy of a dark forest pregnant with magic and whispers. It's an old age come to life, a traveling portal. We bought our tickets today.

Ask and ye shall receive! Since our Wishlisting entry published a while back, it's been announced that Bauhaus will be playing at Detroit's Masonic Temple Theatre. Yes, BAUHAUS! Tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10am, but locals apparently can get presale tickets today, another happy discovery we made this morning. We immediately jumped at the opportunity. Join us!

Local

Hamtramck Music Fest has not announced anything solid yet, but they've been dropping hints on their FaceBork page, saying:

"Hey HMFers! You might be wondering what's the plan for HMF 2022...

Right now, we're letting the world settle down a bit. No HMF in March, but keep checking back on plans for later in the year."

No word yet on Fuzz Fest. We plan to add to this entry as new shows appear on our radar. If you have something to add, email us at morningshadowsannarbor@gmail.com.

Wishlisting 2022

We're putting our wishlist out here. The Detroit Metro area is the best place in Michigan to have a rock show, so we know this can't be a long shot. It isn't Detroit Rock City for nothing.

Hällas

               Adventure rock pioneers Hällas have released a new album, Isle of Wisdom, following 2020's Conundrum, currently only available as a digital download. It's expected to be available on vinyl and CD on 8th April. They have two singles out already, Earl's Theme, and Stygian Depths, which you can find on Bandcamp, or The Tube Made of You. According to their FB page, they have a third single, Elusion's Gate, ready to drop on 2nd March. So far, their 2022 tour is limited to cities in Europe, but with a renewed mainstream interest in rock music here in the US, we expect it won't be long before they cross the ocean. You can bother them about it on their FaceBork page, or via aaron@heavytalent.com.

               If you'd like to pre-order Isle of Wisdom, you can do so here. We have already ordered ours.

Footnote: I wrote this draft in 2019 before everything went completely to shit, and Conundrum was not yet released. I would include a photo of their new album cover, but I can't find one that's accessible for posting here.

Magna Carta Cartel

               Dreamy and ethereal, the closest thing to live we've been able to see was their Full Moon Session 2019, which can really only ever be an appetizer. It's just over 21 minutes of magic, thrumming with a sound that 80s musicians only partially explored. There are elements of Peter Murphy's Cuts You Up, The Church's Under the Milky Way, and Chris Isaak's Wicked Game that seem to have been stirred together in a rich tea steeped with moody psychedelia and potent, secret herbs. 

Church of the Cosmic Skull

               With lyrics like, "Everybody's going to die, but we're feeling alright," you can't help but feel uplifted by their cheerful, gallows humor. It's a cult, in the best possible way. They sound like an updated version of ELO, born again for another round of psychedelia, fused with the fervor of sacrilegious fundamentalism.

Mr. Bungle

               These (evil) clowns have long been rumored to play the occasional secret show, and just this year, they snuck in just three dates- two in California, and one in New York. There are some 3,000 miles or so in between that they completely neglected. Their fanbase has been quietly growing for over 20 years, begging for them to tour again. This leaves little doubt that their psychotic brand of progressive, circus jazz has a much bigger audience than can be satisfied with only three shows. They know this. Surely.

Bauhaus
               
               One of the progenitors of the industrial and goth sounds that emerged late in the punk era needs no introduction from me. Suffice it to say that Peter Murphy has been to the area solo a few times, and he is still a charismatic frontman. There is no small fanbase in the area who have been waiting all of their adult lives to see Bauhaus in the whole flesh. 

Faun

               Not at all a rock band, medieval revivalist/pagan folk songcrafters Faun really haven't done the US justice with their tours so far. They play one festival each annually on opposite coasts, but have forsaken the heartland. How shall we convince them to grace the Great Lakes State? Should we lure them with our salt- and shark-free beaches, our many craft breweries, our diverse range of forests, or our renaissance festival, which remains one of the largest in the country?