TicketIQ Staff Picks - Tickets For Week of February 29

Each week, selected members from the TicketIQ staff will bring their thoughts on the tickets, events, or on-sales they're most excited for during the week. The events and descriptions will range widely each week. Here are the picks of top Tickets for the week of February 29:
 

Tim Dolan, Lead Writer
Zac Brown Band's Black Out The Sun Tour

There are few country acts that I’ve come to appreciate more than Zac Brown Band over the last few years. Maybe it’s their ability to pull off a “Killing in the Name” cover after chicken-pickin’ their way through one of their country classics. Maybe it’s my ability to shamelessly blast “Beautiful Drug” with the windows down on a quiet, residential street. Or, maybe it’s the follically-challenged kinship I share with ZB that connects me so strongly to his music.

Whatever the case may be, I have every reason to believe that the upcoming “Black Out the Sun” Tour will be his most notable stretch of shows yet. It’s not often that a band can pull off EDM-heavy pop songs and follow them up with Metallica covers, but Georgia’s favorite crossover country rockers get it done. Rest assured I’ll be rocking my orange and blue at Citi Field when they invade Queens in August. And, like Zac, maybe a top hat to cover the baldness, too. Can’t forget the essentials.

Zac Brown Band recently announced the first string of dates for Black Out The Sun. Tickets for most shows are scheduled to go on sale Friday, March 4.
 
 

Erin O’Connor, Social Media
Weird Al’s Mandatory World Tour

Quick story - When I was in first grade, there was NOTHING on this planet I wanted more than a Gangsta's Paradise LP. My dad took me to a record store and had a very uncomfortable, and possibly inebriated, clerk explain to his sobbing little girl what the "Parental Advisory" hooplah was all about (something-something Tipper Gore), while he desperately looked around the store for another album to make me forget all about Coolio. Dad returned with Weird Al's "Amish Paradise" and I begrudgingly accepted it. Three days later, I hated Coolio and began worshiping Weird Al. To this very day I'm still angry at my dad for being so accidentally right about it.

20 years later, Weird Al is taking songs I hate with a burning passion and turning them into songs I love so much that I want them played at my funeral. His stage presence will bring you more happy feels than all the cute cat .gifs that have been or ever will be. And If you're trying to figure out if you're with "The One," ask them if they'll go with you to a Weird Al concert. If they don't ask you to marry them on the spot, it's time to move on because they clearly hate joy. Go see Weird Al and live your best life.

Dad, if you're reading this, I'm still mad at you.

Weird Al announced an extension of his tour last week, new dates will kick off in June

Emma Gaedeke, Lead Music Writer

1. Wednesday, March 2: Sarah Koenig & Julie Snyder at the Balboa Theatre in San Francisco, California
If you're late to the party and haven't checked out the Serial podcast, it's time to get with it. If unsolved teen murder mysteries are your thing, Sarah Koenig & Julie Snyder at the Balboa Theatre in San Francisco will probably be the most interesting discussion of the week. Tickets are averaging $71 for the sold-out event, but the cheapest ticket can be grabbed for just $44.

2. Friday, March 4-March 6: Okeechobee Music Festival in Okeechobee, Florida.
Okeechobee is one of the newbies on the music festival scene this year, but it’s likely to stick around for eons to come. This year’s roster boasts an impressive cast of diverse names like, Mumford & Sons, Hall & Oates, Skrillex, Fetty Wap, Deer Tick, Youth Lagoon, and many more. 3-day passes aren’t cheap, but should drop as the weekend nears. The cheapest pass is going for an impressive $855.

Dan Pizzuta, Managing Editor
Coheed And Cambria

I first saw Coheed And Cambria in 2005, just a week or two after the Good Apollo album came out -- just named the No. 35 emo album of all-time by Rolling Stone (analysis of that for another time. Hint: In Keeping Secrets > Good Apollo). They were playing an acoustic set during a Hurricane Katrina benefit show at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey. They were incredible, shredding on acoustic guitars like they were still on electrics and it’s one of my favorite performances I’ve ever seen.

Now following the release of The Color Before the Sun, Coheed is back on the road and will be playing The Theater at Madison Square Garden on Friday night. Their sets so far on the tour have been a decent mix of old and new songs and their live show is really unlike any other. They won't be playing acoustic, but loud and electric is really how this band is supposed to be heard.