Heartbreakers at SPAC, Haynes at Tanglewood

PHOTOGRAPHER: The Associated Press

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers are set to perform at SPAC on Sunday and will be joined by The Wallflowers.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers became stars here when they opened for Edgar Winter’s reunited White Trash at Albany’s Palace Theatre when their first album hit in 1976; they’ve only gotten bigger since.

They love the warm reception whenever they play Saratoga Performing Arts Center. They’re still too big to play anywhere else, though they have played almost everywhere else here.

On Sunday, they’re back at SPAC (Spa State Park, Saratoga Springs), taking a break from recording a new album. They’re well warmed up, touring since mid-May with multiple dates in New York and Los Angeles and a highly praised Bonnaroo show.

The newly reunited Wallflowers open, boasting a new album, “Glad All Over,” that follows various detours by leader Jakob Dylan and states their goal clearly with “Reboot the Mission.”

Tickets range from $147 to an affordable lawn four-pack for this 7:30 p.m. show. Phone 800-745-3000 or visit www.livenation.com/venues/14310/saratoga-performing-arts-center.

Orchestra hopping

How many bands does Warren Haynes need? He led Gov’t Mule recently at Mountain Jam, returns here with the Allman Brothers Band on Aug. 28 (with Steve Winwood opening), and he fronts the Boston Pops Orchestra in the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration at Tanglewood (297 West St., Lenox, Mass.) on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Yes, orchestral Grateful Dead songs, with hot guitar.

As Emmylou Harris did years ago, touring from orchestra to orchestra, Haynes plays with the North Carolina Symphony in Raleigh tonight — jump on the jet! — then Tanglewood on Saturday, then the Pittsburgh Symphony (in Philadelphia) on Tuesday, then the National Symphony Orchestra (no, not the band the National, though Haynes may have plans to take over that crew, too) on Wednesday at Wolf Trap near D.C. Then it’s off to Europe with Gov’t Mule. Tickets are $79 to $23.50. Phone 888-266-1200 or visit www.bso.org.

Road trips

Yeah, got plenty this week — starting with Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival at MASS MoCA from Friday through Sunday. It’s complicated: Hit www.solidsoundfestival.com for all the info you need to get excited, get tickets and get to MASSMoCA for one of the very coolest events that happens here all year. It features Wilco, of course, side bands led by the Wilco guys and too many bands and comics the Wilco guys like and handpicked to fit in this column.

Head south rather than east and you’re aimed at the Bearsville Theater (291 Tinker St., Woodstock) and Club Helsinki (405 Columbia St., Hudson).

Some highlights: Ian McLagan (the Small Faces, the Faces and occasionally the Rolling Stones, and now an Austin resident) plays Bearsville on Friday at 9 p.m. Tickets are $25. On Saturday, Ithaca jammers Donna the Buffalo takes over with the Trapps opening at 9 p.m. Tickets are $35 and $25. Then after the regular June Monday gig by the Duke McVinnie Band (9 p.m. $10), Brazilian psychedelic rockers Os Mutantes headline at Bearsville on Wednesday with Tuff Sunshine, and Blueberry, starting at 8 p.m. Tickets $20. Phone 845-679-4406 or visit www.bearsvilletheater.com.

At Club Helsinki, the Canadian neo-girl-group Chic Gamine plays a 9 p.m. show on Wednesday. They’ve played the Olympics, they’ve won Juno awards, they’re fresh and fun: Motown meets Europop, in Winnipeg. Tickets are $15. Folk-pop goddess Suzanne Vega — a very recognizable and engaging sound that just keeps evolving — plays Club Helsinki on Friday at 9 — tickets $55 in advance, $60 at the door. Then on Sunday, the Handsome Family headlines, with our own homegrown/national talent Sean Rowe opening at 8 p.m. — tickets $20. Phone 828-4800 or visit www.helsinkihudson.com.

Rowe also is playing Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival at MASSMoCA, on Saturday afternoon, between Lucius and the Dream Syndicate — the first Dream Syndicate show in 25 years.

Coming soon: Bonnaroo blast!

Reach Gazette columnist Michael Hochanadel at [email protected]