From soft pop and sexy hip-hop to Latin rock, there are a number of exciting musical acts scheduled this summer at the Palmdale Amphitheater. Also, some of the most popular movies of a generation will be screened this summer as “The Amp” celebrates its 11th season.
Air Supply
First up on Saturday, July 1 is Air Supply. The Australian soft rock group is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Members Graham Russell and Russell Hitchock met in May 1975 at rehearsals for “Jesus Christ Superstar” and became fast friends with their common love of The Beatles and, of course, singing and playing music. In 1980, “Lost In Love” became the world’s fastest selling single, leaping to the top of all of the charts and was named song of the year. Seven top-five singles later, Air Supply at that time had equaled The Beatles’ run of consecutive top-five singles. The albums “Lost In Love,” “The One That You Love,” “Now and Forever” and “The Greatest Hits” have sold in excess of 20 million copies. The trademark sound of Hitchcock’s soaring tenor voice and Russell’s simple yet majestic songs created a unique sound that would forever be known as Air Supply.
Los Lobos
Los Lobos is one of the most accomplished and popular groups to emerge from all of Southern California, and will appear on July 18. By the time they hit the charts in 1984 with “How Will the Wolf Survive?,” they had become East Los Angeles legends, Sunset Strip regulars and a Grammy Award-winning band (Best Mexican-American/Tejano Music Performance).
Their first album’s name and title track were reportedly inspired by a National Geographic article about wolves in the wild. Band members David Hidalgo, Louie Perez, Cesar Rosas, Conrad Lozano and Steve Berlin each said they saw parallels with their struggle to gain mainstream rock success while maintaining their Mexican roots.
Perez, the group’s drummer, once described their successful mix of rock, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues and traditional Spanish and Mexican music as “the soundtrack of the barrio.”
Three decades later, two more Grammy Awards and a worldwide smash single in their version of the classic Mexican folk song “La Bamba” as well as thousands of rollicking performances around the world finds the Garfield High alums still jamming with the same raw intensity and perfection that they had when they began in a little East L.A. garage in 1973.
En Vogue
En Vogue fuses style, sophistication, sass and sex appeal which have resulted in more than eight million albums sold and a string of hits. En Vogue will take the stage July 25. Their best known songs are “Hold On,” “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It),” “Giving Him Something He Can Feel,” “Free Your Mind” and “Whatta A Man” the later song featuring the ’80s hip-hop duo Salt-N-Peppa.
En Vogue was the brainchild of producers Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy and since the group’s debut 25 years ago, they have set a standard for female R&B and pop acts like Destiny’s Child, TLC and the Pussy Cat Dolls.
Montez de Durango
Montez de Durango comes to town on Aug. 1. The group was formed in 1996 and is considered among the pioneers of the “duranguense” style of traditional Mexican music. The group hails from Chicago. Led by its founder and musical director, Jose Luis Terrazas, the group has always had a strong desire to succeed and to make a difference in the Mexican regional music genre. So far, Montez de Durango has recorded 21 albums including the million-sellers “Dry Branch,” “Your Look,” “De Durango A Chicago” and “Live From Chicago.” The success of the group has inspired a style of music, dance and fashion clothing among the 20- to 35-year crowd of Latin music lovers.
“Variety and excellence—that’s what this year’s summer concert series is all about,” said Keri Smith, director of the Palmdale recreation and culture department. “We have some of the biggest names in four different styles of music to offer something for everyone. And there is nothing quite like a live music concert on an Antelope Valley summer evening at The Amp.”
Gates will open at 6 p.m. and all concerts will begin at 8 p.m. rain or shine. Tickets for all concerts are $10 for all ages and seating is general admission. A limited number of VIP tickets are available for $20 each, which includes express entry and seating at the front of the stage, ensuring that VIP ticket holders can arrive just before the music begins and still obtain one of the best seats in the house. VIP seating is theater-style (first-come, first-served). VIP and individual concert tickets may be purchased at the Palmdale Recreation and Culture office, 38260 10th Street East, from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Most major credit cards are accepted. Tickets will also be available on the day of each concert beginning at 4 p.m. on a cash-only basis.
Guests are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets. Carry-in food, beverages, coolers, alcohol and pets are prohibited. Food, beer and wine will be available for purchase.
Only the best at ‘The Amp’
The summer concerts are sponsored by American Medical Response, Antelope Valley Furniture and Mattress, Antelope Valley Mall, BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse, Double D Cupcakes, Hilton Garden Inn, Logix Smarter Banking, Time Warner Cable News, Valleywide Dental, Ventura Graphix and Waste Management. Sponsorships for the concert series and Family Movie Night are designed to offer businesses an opportunity to reach potential customers in a unique setting that allows for personal interaction for greater impact. To learn more about either series of events, contact Palmdale Recreation and Culture Sponsorship and Marketing specialist Stella Devine-Knight at (661) 267-5120 or e-mail sknight@cityofpalmdale.org.
Previous performers at The Amp have included Blake Shelton, The Beach Boys, Lonestar, The Spinners, The Four Tops, Loverboy, The Temptations, The Guess Who, America, SheDaisy, The Rascals, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Chaka Kahn, the Whispers, Mercy Me, Pablo Cruise, War, Euge Groove, The Rippingtons, Jeff Golub, The Village People, Starship featuring Mickey Thomas, Pam Tillis, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Bill Medley, Blind Boys of Alabama, Sugerland, Peter Noone and Herman’s Hermits, Tracy Lawrence, Josh Kelly, Blue Oyster Cult, Blood Sweat and Tears, Clay Walker, Morris Day and the Time, Fifth Harmony, Banda Machos and Phil Vassar.
The popular Family Movie Nights will take place on four consecutive Friday evenings beginning July 31. The selections will include “Frozen” on July 31, “Jurassic Park” on Aug. 7, “Monster’s Inc.” on Aug. 14 and “Guardians of the Galaxy” on Aug. 21. Tickets are $2 with children under 12 years admitted free. Gates open at 6:30 p.m. and movies are scheduled to begin at dusk. Moviegoers are allowed to bring a picnic dinner and non-alcoholic beverages. Family Movie Nights are sponsored by American Medical Response, Logix Smarter Banking, Time Warner Cable News and Valleywide Dental.
Family Movie Nights
The Academy Award-winning 2013 Disney animated film “Frozen” tells the story of the newly crowned Queen Elsa who accidentally uses her power to turn things into ice and curses her home to suffer an infinite winter. Her sister, Anna, teams up with a mountain man, his playful raindeer, and a snowman to change the winter condition. Idina Menzel’s rendition of “Let It Go” received the 2014 Academy Award for Best Original Song. The popular film has grossed about $500 million in domestic box office receipts. Movie attendees are invited to attend a “Let It Snow” dance party beginning at 6 p.m. before the movie.
“Jurassic Park” was Steven Spielberg’s first of four ventures into the mysterious world of dinosaurs. The 1993 science fiction blockbuster remains one of the legendary filmmaker’s most popular movies. Palentologists Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and mathmetician/“kaotician” Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) are among a select group chosen by billionaire industrialist John Hammond (the late Richard Attenborough) to tour an island near Costa Rica which has been turned into a theme park populated by dinosaurs created from prehistoric DNA. Hammond assures everyone—including his two grandchildren—that the facility is safe, but they find out otherwise, when various ferocious predators break free and go on a deadly rampage.
“Jurassic Park” is considered a landmark in the use of computer-generated imagery. During it’s release 22 years ago, the film grossed more than $914 million in worldwide box office receipts.
“Monster’s Inc.” stars the voices of Billy Crystal and John Goodman. The computer-animated comedy from 2001 centers on two monsters employed at the titular Monsters Inc. and features “top scarers” James P. “Sully” Sullivan and his one-eyed partner and best friend, Mike Wazowski. The two employees generate their city of Monstropolosis’s power by targeting and scaring children, but they are themselves afraid that the children may contaminate them. When a little girl enters their city, Mike and Sulley’s world is disrupted, and they must return her. The film has made $290 million in domestic box office receipts.
“Guardians of the Galaxy” is a 2014 Academy Award-winning film based on Stan Lee’s Marvel Comics superhero group of the same name. Brash space adventurer Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) finds himself the quarry of relentless bounty hunters, after he steals an orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain. To evade Ronan (Lee Pace), Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with four disparate misfits: gun-toting Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), treelike-humanoid Groot (Vin Diesel), enigmatic Gamora (Zoe Saldana), and vengeance-driven Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista). But when he discovers the orb’s true power and the cosmic threat it poses, Quill must rally his ragtag group to save the universe. “Guardians of the Galaxy” has collected $333 million in domestic box office receipts.
For more details about the concerts or Family Movie Nights, call (661) 267-5611 or visit www.cityofpalmdale.org/amp.
Other events taking place in the fall at the Palmdale Amphitheater include a two-night engagement of Grace Fest AV, the third-annual G-Com Benefit Concert benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 5K Walk, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial for the AV where a miniature version of the Washington, D.C. memorial wall will be on display around Veterans Day.
