LAKE TAHOE SCENE

Tickets on scale for Lady Gaga, Eagles

The Harveys Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena has secured one of six new dates for Lady Gaga’s artRAVE: the ARTPOP tour.

The pop singer will perform at the South Shore venue Saturday, Aug. 2, according to a Thursday announcement from Harveys Lake Tahoe.

Presale tickets will be available between 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 26 and Thursday, March 27 at 11:59 p.m. via www.ticketmaster.com and www.apeconcerts.com. The presale password is TOTAL, according to the announcement.

Tickets to the Lady Gaga performance go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. today. Ticket prices are $89.50, $135.50 and $225.00.

“Lady Gaga’s artRAVE: the ARTPOP ball tour is supporting the multi-platinum-selling artist’s new album ARTPOP, which debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200. The new dates are part of a multi-month North American tour that kicks off with seven sold-out shows at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City, the most by any artist ever,” according to the announcement. “These historic shows will be the last at Roseland prior to the demolition of the legendary concert hall.”

Also announced for the summer concert series Thursday was a two-night stand by Grammy-Award winning band the Eagles, who will perform Friday, Aug. 29 and Saturday, Aug. 30. The band will play classics spanning their career as well as songs featured in “History of the Eagles,” the band’s acclaimed, top-selling documentary, according to the announcement.

Tickets go on sale for the Eagles performances at 10 a.m. today at www.ticketmaster.com and www.apeconcerts.com.

Advance tickets for the Eagles concerts will go on sale to American Express cardholders between 10 a.m. Friday, March 21 and 10 p.m. Thursday, March 27.

The Eagles have sold more than 120 million albums worldwide, earned five number one singles and six Grammy Awards, according to the announcement. Their “Greatest Hits 1971-1975” is the best-selling album of all time, exceeding sales of 29 million units. The Eagles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Lake Tahoe Action

Dire Straits

What started as a one-off performance of Dire Straits songs for charity has ballooned into a world tour that lands at the South Shore this week.

The Straits perform the songs of Dire Straits at the MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa Theater Friday night.

Dire Straits had a string of international success from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s with hits like “Walk of Life,” “Money for Nothing” and “Sultans of Swing.” Lead singer and guitarist Mark Knopfler disbanded the group around 1995 to pursue a solo career, but the songs have carried on.

The Straits includes Chris White, who played saxophone on a pair of Dire Straits albums and the Brothers In Arms tour, and Alan Clark, who joined Dire Straits in 1980 as their first keyboard player and played on every Dire Straits record from 1982’s “Love Over Gold” onward.

Clark said he was blown by the response from the audience to the Straits’ first performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 2011.

“It was such a huge success that night that we decided to stay together and do some more shows and we’ve kept going ever since,” Clark said during a Tuesday phone interview.

In addition to Clark and White, the Straits includes Michael Feat (bass), Adam Phillips (guitar), Jamie Squire (keyboards, guitar, percussion), Stever Ferrone (drums) and Terence Reis (vocals, guitar). Bassist Mike DuClos and drummer Andy Treacey have temporarily filled in for Feat and Ferrone for this leg of the band’s tour.

One of the keys that set the band in motion was Clark’s discovery of Reis, who is from South Africa. Knopfler has a unique style of singing and guitar playing, and Clark said he didn’t want someone to just mimic Knopfler’s talents. Hearing Reis’ finger-picking guitar playing and singing on Internet clips hooked Clark right away.

“It works extremely well because it’s a good blend of the original Mark thing and Terence doing his own thing,” Clark said. “It’s not a copy. It’s a genuine experience.”

The band has songs ready to record and Clark sees the Straits as the next stage of Dire Straits.

“I see this band as a continuation, really, of Dire Straits and then we’ll start adding our own original music to it exactly the way Dire Straits would,” Clark said. “We’ll always play the Dire Straits hits just as Dire Straits would always play the Dire Straits hits.”

Adam Jensen

Pain

Among the vestiges of ski culture preserved by the Internet for generations to come is a little something called ski ballet.

A cross between skiing and a figure-skating routine, ski ballet competitions featured athletic flips and twists, over-the-top outfits and a more-than-a-healthy dose of flair.

This weekend’s 4th annual Pain McShlonkey Classic at Squaw Valley will feature all three, with an added twist: Snowblades.

The super-short skis were often a target of mockery for late freeskier Shane McConkey, who is the inspiration for this weekend’s shenanigans.

The event begins at 9 a.m. Saturday with a Snowblade race from Squaw’s KT-22 chairlift. The Snowblade Ballet Competition follows and features competitors displaying their Snowblade grace at the base of the resort’s Exhibition chairlift. A public costume contest begins at 2 p.m. at Squaw’s KT Base Bar.

Queen tribute band Queen Nation rounds out Saturday’s events with a 8 p.m. performance at the Squaw Valley Conference Center.

Saturday’s competitions are modeled after Snowblade races McConkey put on in the past and are really just about having a good time, said Shane McConkey Foundation founder Sherry McConkey.

“He always just liked to make fun of things and make everything so lighthearted and not so serious and this event is exactly that,” McConkey said. “It’s just such a huge celebration for Shane. People love him so much, it’s a great way to celebrate his legacy.”

Saturday’s events help raise funds for the foundation, which focuses on causes McConkey was passionate about. This weekend’s event will benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Tahoe Truckee Unified School District’s environmental education programs.

“I can’t even tell you how stoked he would be. This is exactly what he would want,” Sherry McConkey said. “He’s not the type that would want anyone to be sad and get sad and that kind of stuff. He would want people to party and have fun and be themselves and goof around and just have fun and celebrate life and live life to the fullest. If he’s looking down, I know he’s got to be stoked.”

Tickets for Saturday’s after-party are available for purchase at www.shanemcconkey.org and Le Chamois at Squaw Valley.