Surprise! The Clarks perform again in Pittsburgh

By BRIAN PALMERStaff Writer

Great Day featuring the Clarks

Tomorrow, 2:30 p.m.

Post-Gazette Pavilion…

Great Day featuring the Clarks

Tomorrow, 2:30 p.m.

Post-Gazette Pavilion

Tickets $23 to $30

(412) 323-1919

As the years pass, the music stays the same and the places they play change more and more each year. But hometown boys the Clarks don’t forget their roots and they always remember to keep their fans – who have followed them from the beginning – satisfied with jam-packed local shows.

Tomorrow will be no exception; the Clarks will return from their tour promoting their new album, Another Happy Ending, to headline the Great Day show at the Post-Gazette Pavilion.

The Great Day show also brings some other acts to the pavilion, including lesser-known artist Martin Sexton, who will headline the second stage. With four studio albums under his belt, Sexton is on the road promoting his double live album, Live Wide Open, on his independent label, Kitchen Table Records.

With an incredible vocal range, hitting a falsetto at his highest note and bringing it back down to a bluesy grumble, Sexton is virtually a one-man wrecking crew onstage, playing intricate and innovative guitar parts as well as bass parts with his thumb. For first-time patrons and fans of old, he hits his listeners with storytelling blues full of heart and soul.

The South African-based group, Seether, with their stateside debut, Disclaimer, and their hit single “Fine Again,” will also contribute to the Great Day. Also expect Stroke 9, the band who sang about a “little black backpack” back in 1999 and about kickin’ some ass on the Jay and Silent Bob Soundtrack in 2001, to hit the stage promoting their new album, Rip It Off, in stores Oct. 1.

Helping to fuel the local fire will be the indie sensation from Latrobe, Juliana Theory. Still playing for the local crowd, they have taken to the road to promote their major label debut, Love, expected to hit stores Nov. 12. Other notable acts include Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket, Bleu, Seven Nations and G. Love and Special Sauce.

The gates open at 2 p.m. and the show starts at 2:30 p.m., with the Clarks starting the day with an intimate acoustic performance. While you wait through the day to see them hit the stage again be sure to check out Sexton, Seether and everyone else in between.