Summer Concert Series Hits Its Stride

A week ago Bruce Hornsby and The Noisemakers treated an enthusiastic Outer Banks audience to an inspired performance as the initial headline act of the Brew Thru Live Summer Concert Series. By this time next week (Thursday, July 10) music fans will be preparing for the second concert in the series, a rockin' bill that brings Live, one of the 1990s' most successful bands, along with special guests Cracker and Formula to the Roanoke Island Festival Park amphitheater stage. Just a week later, on Thursday, July 17, The Gin Blossoms grace the Festival Park stage along with special guests The Spin Doctors and Scars on 45.

Tickets are on sale now for both shows and can be purchased at any Brew Thru location or online at the Brew Thru website. Advance general admission adult tickets are $35; advance priority seating adult tickets are $45. VIP Parking is available for $20/vehicle. Children 7 and younger will be admitted FREE. General admission tickets will be $45 at the gate on the day of each concert. Non-VIP concert parking will be located at Manteo Elementary School and Manteo High School with a FREE shuttle service providing transportation from the parking lots to the concert venue every 15 minutes beginning at 4 p.m. Parking may be available in certain downtown Manteo locations; look for signs indicating approved parking locations.

July 10 headliners Live hail from York, PA, where the founding members met in middle school and formed the band, performing throughout high school with a mix of covers and a burgeoning collection of original material. The band achieved mainstream success in 1994 with the release of their second album Throwing Copper (which sold eight million copies in the United States), featuring the hit singles "I Alone," "All Over You" and "Selling the Drama." The single "Lightening Crashes" topped the Billboard Charts for 10 consecutive weeks. In 1999 Live released the album The Distance to Here, solidifying their superstar status as they gained a reputation as one of the most powerful live acts in the industry. Live has sold more than 22 million albums worldwide.

Cracker surged into the nation's musical consciousness from Richmond, VA, in 1992 with its self-titled album Cracker and the hit singles "Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now), which reached #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, and "This Is Cracker Soul." Singer/songwriter and former Camper Van Beethoven frontman David Lowery and guitarist Johnny Hickman followed up this success with Kerosene Hat, an album that produced the hit singles "Low," "Euro-Trash Girl" and "Get Off This" on its way to attaining gold record status with sales of more than 500,000 copies in the first year of its release (the album has since gone platinum). Cracker hit the charts again in 2009 with the release of Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey and its hit single "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out With Me." The band has also contributed tracks to several movie soundtracks, including Empire Records and Clueless. Cracker's radio-friendly alt-rock style is a brash, frequently danceable blend of diverse musical influences - from 1980s post-punk to classic rock to alt country - combined with irreverent, sharp-witted lyrics.

Formula is a local band formed in 2001 by guitarist/vocalist Matt Hoggard, bassist Jason Ribeiro and drummer Jayson "Mole" Hicks. Known for hard driving rhythms and intelligent jams blending original material with carefully chosen covers, the band lists The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Johnny Cash, The Grateful Dead, Phish, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, The Allman Brothers Band, Gov't Mule and even Conway Twitty as influences.

July 17'th show features The Gin Blossoms' whose string of hits began in 1992 with the release of their first studio album New Miserable Experience, a recording that sold 4 million copies, stayed on the charts for nearly three years and produced the hit singles "Hey Jealousy," "Until I Fall Away" and "Found Out About You." In 1995 the smash hit single "Til I Hear It From You" helped make the Empire Records soundtrack a platinum selling album. In 1996 Congratulations I'm Sorry, the band's second album, also went platinum and the album cut "Follow You Down" had a 10-week run in the Billboard Top 10.

Special guests The Spin Doctors formed in New York City in 1989 and built a strong following thanks to extensive touring and the strength of their live shows. The release of their debut album Pocket Full of Kryptonite in late 1991 and a tour with the H.O.R.D.E. festival in the summer of 1992 introduced them to a mass audience. Increasing radio airplay contributed to the album's slow build as it generated one hit single after another, beginning with "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" and continuing with "Two Princes," "Jimmy Olsen's Blues," "What Time Is It" and "How Could You Want Him (When You Know You Could Have Me?). By the summer of 1993 the album had gone Triple Platinum and ultimately sold more than 10 million copies worldwide, peaking at #3 on the Billboard Albums Chart. "[Their] popularity," said Rolling Stone magazine, "is based on universal rock & roll virtues. The Doctors aren't trying to blaze new trails. They know we've been down this way with the Stones, Curtis Mayfield and a few of their other touchstones. But the proof-plenty of it-is in the party."

The indie opening band band Scars on 45 comes to the Outer Banks from Bradford, England. The single "Give Me Something" from the EP of the same name rose to the top five of the Adult Alternate Chart and was recognized as one of 2011's Top 3 Singles of the Year by Amazon.com. You may also have heard the band's music on some of your favorite TV shows - "Beauty Running Wild" was featured in an episode of CSI: New York and "Heart on Fire" was selected as the lead song for the eighth season soundtrack of Grey's Anatomy. In 2012 the band released the self-titled Scars on 45, their first full length studio album, ranked by Amazon.com's music editors as #7 in their list of the 50 Best Albums of 2012.