Access All Areas: The Summer Concert Preview

Whatever your tastes in music be, from hardcore death metal to bubblegum pop to twangy country, the concerts of summer 2000 hold something for you. Legends return while fresh faces light up their first headlining tours. Check out below to see if your favorite artist is touring this summer.

REMINDS ME OF A WEST SIDE STORY

This year's Grammy King Carlos Santana returns to headlining major venues this summer. While he won't have all of the superstars that backed him up on his latest album, his tour still promises (supernaturally?) good shows. Santana isn't the only legend returning to the road this summer. Ex-Eagle Don Henley embarks on his first solo tour in over a decade. Is he still one of the "Boys of Summer?" If you don't think so, there's always Margaritaville: Jimmy Buffet (right) and the Coral Reefer Band are always a safe bet for summer fun. Folk great Joni Mitchell kicked off her 12-date tour-replete with a full orchestra-last week. The relentless Sting will also be performing, on his "Brand New Day" tour.

UNSKINNY BOPPING

If not exactly legendary, '80s Hair Bands did once know how to make America rock-and this summer, they want to prove that they still can. That's why bands like Poison, Slaughter, Dokken and Cinderella are joining forces for a 46-concert tour, kicking off June 13 in Hershey, Penn. And while you can expect to hear some new, not-so-famous tunes, the bands promise to give fans what they want. Slaughter topper Mark Slaughter says he'll give his fans their money's worth with classic hits like "Up All Night" and "Burning Bridges."

DR. DRE SAID...

Also teaming up this summer are some of the biggest names in hip-hop-Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Eminem and Warren G headline the seven week "Up in Smoke" tour. Although several of the original N.W.A. members are also slated to perform, with Snoop Dogg filling in for Easy-E, who died of AIDS in 1995, it is not being billed as a reunion tour (although one may follow in the future). Also on the hip hop/R&B tour circuit this summer is Mary J. Blige.

CRASH INTO THEM

Jam bands hitting the road this summer include the perennially popular Dave Matthews Band (left), with multi-city U.S. tour including stadium appearances and two-day ampitheater stands. Blues Traveler plans a small tour leading up to a July 4 appearance at Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver, resuming a seven-year tradition that was interrupted in 1999 by the health problems of frontman John Popper. The band is currently working on its first album since the death of bassist Bobby Sheehan. Phish will tour the country, and the Allman Brothers Band and Steve Miller are also on tap at venues nationwide.

DIVA-LICIOUS

The Diva of all Divas, Diana Ross returns to the road this summer with the Supremes. Well, not exactly. She joins not the original Supremes, but the ones that joined after Ross left for her solo career. Nevertheless, the tour promises big glam and big style-not to mention big ticket prices, with the best seats going for $250. Meanwhile, this summer may be one of your last chances to catch Diva royal Tina Turner in full-fledged concert: she says that the upcoming "Twenty Four Seven" tour will be her last. But don't fret: Turner and her bionic legs aren't retiring from music all together. Instead, she's focusing on "smaller-less is more" projects. Diva-in-training Christina Aguilera hopes to fill the vacuum, headlining her first amphitheater tour this summer.

POP GOES THE WEASEL AND THE WEASEL GOES POP

If Christina Aguilera is a bit too mature for you, red hot teeny-bopper pop is racing to your home venue before its stars' 15 minutes expire. Good luck getting a ticket for 'NSync's stadium and amphitheater tour-tickets for all but one of the 51 venues sold out on the first day. Combine that with the record-shattering sales of their latest album, No Strings Attached, and it's clear that those boys are the ones to beat this summer. Tickets are still available for Britney Spears, who is touring in promotion of her new album Oops... I Did it Again. If one act isn't enough, Nickelodeon's "All That Music and More Festival" promises "hot-as-an-oven" (sic) performances by LFO (don't forget to wear Abercrombie), B*Witched, Blaque, Sammie and Hoku.

GAMES, CHANGES AND FEARS

If you fancy yourself above the "Dawson's Creek" set but still want to see live peformances of those hummable tunes from Kiss 108, look to Macy Gray (right), whose sultry "I Try" has been topping the singles charts. She'll be opening for Santana starting July 20 and will tour on her own before that. Vertical Horizon ("Everything You Want") will also be appearing, as will the Bloodhound Gang, whose touching and articulate single "Bad Touch" (which you might know better as the Discovery Channel song) has seen heavy play on the club scene.

I'M A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY

With live country music on the downswing of late, the Dixie Chicks are the only country crooners expected to make the jump to headliner status in 2000, with a 70-city North American arena tour running June through October. If older women are more your style, check out Wynonna Judd or Martina McBride. Or for twanging with a bit more testosterone, check out Brooks and Dunn, Clint Black, or Dwight Yoakam.

ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD

If you prefer music with a bit more of an edge, there's plenty of that to go around this summer. Ozzy Osbourne, fresh off last year's suceessful "Ozzfest," plans another of his modestly-titled hard rock tours. Among the supporting players: Pantera, Godsmack and Methods of Mayhem. Metallica is also slated to hit the road, playing with Korn, Kid Rock, Powerman 5000 and System of a Down on their "Summer Sanitarium" tour. That heavy dose of metal kicks off June 30 at Foxboro Stadium and continues to other stadiums, speedways and arenas. Meanwhile, grunge lives on with Pearl Jam (fronted by Eddie Vedder, right), whose U.S. tour begins in August and runs through November. (The band's sixth album, Binaural, hits stores May 23.) If you're short on cash, but still craving some hard core rock, Limp Bizkit set out for a free concert tour (yes, free). Perhaps they're doing it all for the nookie-or maybe it's just that lucrative endorsement contract from Napster.com. Rock on.

To find out specific dates and more information about when these bands and others are coming to your hometown, check out local listings, the performers' respective websites or tour information websites www.livedaily.com, www.sfx.com and www.pollstar.com.