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I looked at the calendar. It says it’s March 2022, but a shocking amount of my conversations this week sound like they could have been from 2002.

An example: On Wednesday, three of my longtime friends and I started making plans to see a concert together this year. It’s a band we loved and saw a bunch when we were in school together in Boston.

Now, we’re strategizing for how to beat out all of the other elder millennials to get tickets to see them play a headlining show. In the middle of New Jersey. From a band that broke up in 2005 and only got together for a couple of shows back in 2014. Apparently my midlife crisis will be trying to recapture my youth not with a fancy sports car, but by spending money to fly across the country to see bands we used to see for like $12. I feel pretty great about it, actually.

The band is Midtown, a pop punk outfit out of New Jersey that put out a record in 2000 called “Save the World, Lose the Girl,” that still makes me jump around the living room pretending I’m a rock star. There’s a great story in Nylon about how the reunion came to be, and as an added bonus, one of the band’s only other dates is opening for My Chemical Romance on a new Forum date (which is cool, but I’m still going to Jersey). We have details on that, plus more music and festival news in Southern California below. Read on.

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Blake and Boots

Boots in the Park kicks off this year’s series in Norco with Tim McGraw this weekend, but there’s more music on the way. Blake Shelton will headline an upcoming edition of the concert in June. Find out how to get tickets.

Grammy-nominated duo Kevin Marcus and Wil Baptiste make up Black Violin mix hip-hop and classical music. The duo will perform a pair of local shows in Orange and Santa Clarita in March. (Photo by Mark Clennon)

Not your typical string ensemble

When you go to a Black Violin show you might hear Bach and Bruno Mars, or Beethoven and the Notorious B.I.G. The Grammy-nominated duo of Kevin Marcus and Wil Baptiste will perform in Orange and Santa Clarita.

Metal gurus Judas Priest come to the Shrine March 15 as part of the band’s 50-year anniversary tour. (Photo courtesy Judas Priest)

Hell bent for leather

British metal band Judas Priest is finally back on the road in honor of its delayed 50th anniversary tour, which comes to the Shrine in L.A. on March 15. Reporter Richard Guzman chatted with frontman Rob Halford about music, the Rock Hall and leather.

My Chemical Romance (pictured in a file photo from a 2012 performance) has added a fifth date to its string of reunion shows at The Forum in Inglewood in October. (Photo by Christopher Polk, Getty Images for Clear Channel)

The black parade grows longer

My Chemical Romance has added a fifth night to their pandemic-postponed run of dates at the Forum in Inglewood. As an added bonus, one of the openers for the new night is Midtown, who just reunited. Here’s how to get tickets.

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