Even though winter still has its nasty grip on the state of Michigan; spring & summer REALLY IS just around the corner... soon I hope. But as the cold lingers on around here, you can starting planning your summer festival travel now. As your Concert Festival Travel Agent, I wont be encouraging you to go to Hawaii or Las Vegas; unless, of course, they have some festival I don’t know about... Wait, there IS Burning Man... but I digress.

What I'm talking about here are the type of trips that you want to take if you want to spend the day in the baking sun and pay 6 dollars for a Coke, maybe $10 for a beer. If that sounds good, I am the travel agent for you. If you want to spend your nights in a tent, and go a few days without a shower, then give me a shout. But if you don’t want to use my travel services; here’s a quick guide to the upcoming spring & summer festivals across the country:

Coachella Valley Music Festival- Indio, CA (April 30th & May 1st): The festival that revived the American festival scene is in its seventh year, and boasting some big names.

• The kings of modern prog-metal, Tool, will be tearing it up in the desert that weekend, promoting their upcoming “10,000 Days” album.
• In a bit of a surprise, Madonna will be preaching Kabbalah to the masses in the desert this year at Coachella. This is Madonna’s first ever American festival appearance, and her set will be geared towards her latest, dance oriented album.
• The first day will also feature and Sigur Ros; while the second day will see sets from Bloc Party and Paul Oakenfold.
• Depeche Mode, Matishayu and Beck will be hitting Coachella this year as well. This year’s lineup should be elecitic and top notch, and will once again draw comparison to the European festivals that roll through that continent each summer.

What to prepare for: Weather that is hot as hell, stuck in the middle of the Mojave Desert.

Tickets: Still available, for $165 for both days. One Day Tickets are available for $85. Available at Coachella.com

Sasquatch Music Festival- George, WA (2 hours from Seattle) May 26-28th

The fifth edition of the Northwest based festival will be gracing the skyline of the pristine Gorge Amphitheatre for three days during Memorial Day weekend. This one is NOT TO MISS.

• Nine Inch Nails will continue their touring throughout 2006 with a opening night headlining slot. The up and coming Finnish group H.I.M. will give Trent Reznor support that first night.
• The second night is headlined by Ben Harper, with avant-garde savants The Flaming Lips and Gordon Downie's longtime Canadian rockers The Tragically Hip highlighting the second day of the fest.
• The final night will include performances from Queens of the Stone Age, and the house band of the Northwest, Death Cab For Cutie. Also, the buzz band of the week, the Arctic Monkeys will play Sasquatch, and will likely please the critics that were wowed by their debut album.

What to watch out for: A serene landscape, a majestic view of the mountains of the Pacific Northwest, and perhaps lots of still pissed off Seahawks fans. (Let it go... Shaun Alexander choked.)

Check out the festival website for a complete list of the feature bands.

Tickets: 55 dollars per day, or 150 dollars for the three days. Tickets available at Hob.com or SasquatchMusicFestival.com.

Stay Tuned for Part Two tomorrow.