Heavy Dates

BOSTON/PROVIDENCE

We're guessing that on the evening of June 30, anyone with an interest in Detroit white-boy hip-hop will be either sitting at home with the new Eminem disc or, if he or she is lucky, headed to Foxboro Stadium, (617) 931-2000, to catch Kid Rock as part of Metallica's sold-out "Summer Sanitarium" bash (which also features Korn, Powerman 5000, and System of a Down, as well as a free show beforehand in the Foxboro parking lot with Tree and 7th Rail Crew). But just in case there are still folks left with a hankering for Motown's other white meat, those pro-wrestling-loving, KISS-make-up-wearing, Sharon Osbourne-dissing Insane Clown Posse characters will be throwing down with their ninjas at Avalon, (617) 423-6398, in Boston, that night.

Ironic, isn't it, that Puff Daddy's biggest hit took a sample from a group who called themselves the Police? Puffy's benefactor's troubles with the law aside, former Police-man Sting goes off in support of his latest solo effort, Brand New Day (A&M), with a gig at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield, (617) 931-2000, on June 30; that same night country superstar Wynonna, sans Mama Judd, takes center stage behind her similarly titled New Day Dawning (Curb) at the FleetBoston Pavilion, (617) 931-2000, in Boston, and hippie jam-rock superstars Phish kick off a two-night stand at the Meadows Music Theatre, (860) 548-7370, in Hartford, Connecticut.

Providence sends two of its finest post-punk noise-rock oddities our way this week: the ever-morphing electrostatic outfit Six Finger Satellite make a rare appearance at the Middle East, (617) 864-3278, in Cambridge, on July 5 with the In/Out, the Vexing, and the Cut Throats; and Lightning Bolt, a duo who make a tremendous racket with just drums and bass, pull into the Milky Way, (617) 524-3740, in Jamaica Plain, on July 6 on a bill with insane-in-the-membrane psychotherapist/world-beat oddity Dr. Nancy Mrocek, PhD.

-- Carly Carioli