Set times have been announced for the two stages of hip-hop heavies at tomorrow's "Rock the Bells" show at the Comcast Center featuring Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, Ghostface and more.

Doors open at 11 a.m. and the show kicks off at noon with D.C. comer Wale. Pace yourself though, because headliners Tribe don't go on until 9:25. Here's the main stage line-up and here's the side stage. Tickets are still available here. And remember, set times are subject to change.

Liz Phair recently re-released her splendid debut album "Exile in Guyville." To support the re-issue she's taking to the road and will hit the Paradise on Aug. 29. Tickets are $25 and on sale here.

Additional tickets for the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band show Aug. 2 at Gillette Stadium will go on sale today at 10 am through Ticketmaster.

These should be fairly decent ones too since, according to the press release, "The tickets were previously held back while stage dimensions and production elements were finalized."

Farm Aid 2008 with Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Dave Matthews and more
At the Comcast Center
Sept. 20 at 1:00 pm
Tickets are $35.00, $55.00, $95.00 and VIP tickets for $200.00*
*plus $7.00 venue and applicable convenience fees
Tickets go on-sale Monday, July 28, 2008 at 10:00 am

Alanis Morissette
At the Orpheum Theatre
Sept. 20 at 7:30 pm
Tickets are $35.00, $45.00 and $55.00
Tickets go on-sale Saturday, July 26, 2008 at 10:00 am

Kate Voegele
With Virginia Coalition
At the Somerville Theatre
Sept. 26 at 7:30 pm
Tickets are $17.50
Tickets go on-sale Friday, July 25, 2008 at 10:00 am

It was a good year for British music. Nominees for the Mercury Prize were announced today and it's an eclectic list that includes soul, rock, folk, dance and roots music. All that said, we're guessing Radiohead is a lock.

Adele, "19" (XL)

British Sea Power, "Do You Like Rock Music?" (Rough Trade)

Burial, "Untrue" (Hyperdub)

Elbow, "The Seldom Seen Kid" (Fiction/Universal)

Estelle, "Shine" (Atlantic)

Laura Marling, "Alas I Cannot Swim" (Virgin/EMI)

Neon Neon, "Stainless Style" (Lex)

Portico Quartet, "Knee-Deep In The North Sea" (Vortex)

Rachel Unthank & The Winterset, "The Bairns" (EMI)

Radiohead, "In Rainbows" (XL)

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, "Raising Sand" (Rounder/Decca)

The Last Shadow Puppets, "The Age Of The Understatement" (Domino)

The winner will be announced Sept. 9

Good news for those of you who can't make it to Chicago in August for the always-awesome Lollapalooza festival: Fuse, the cable television music network, is setting up shop at this year's three-day blowout, Aug. 1-3 at Grant Park, to broadcast performances, interviews, and breaking news. Headliners include Radiohead, Kanye West, Nine Inch Nails, and Gnarls Barkley.

In other Fuse news, the network is stepping up its original programming, which could mean we're in for some cool music-related reality shows or it could spell disaster. Coming this fall:

“Redemption Song,” where ten down-on-their-luck women vie for a record deal.
“Fuse Excellent Adventure,” where comedian Nate Jackson travels the musical corners of the earth to meet the world’s most interesting, entertaining and devoted music fans.
“Rock Bottom,” which follows rising musical groups as they stage an intervention and give one troubled band member dealing with drug addiction, alcoholism or personality problems a choice – clean up your act or get replaced.

Perry Farrell told British music mag NME that the members of Jane's Addiction are planning to meet to discuss getting back together. "We've got to figure out a common ground," Farrell said. "Jane's Addiction is a very inflammable group -- there's a lot of very strong personalities. But I still think it would be worth it to get Jane's Addiction together because the people and the party that could ensue from that would be so amazing it's worth making up over." Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins, Farrell, and Eric Avery performed together for the first time in 17 years during the NME Awards in Los Angeles on April 23.

Talk about a no-brainer. Feist, whose upbeat ditty "1234" propelled her to untold heights of indie-fabulousness, has rerecorded her global hit -- with altered lyrics -- and filmed a sweet new video of the song for "Sesame Street." The singer is slated to appear on the children's television show in August, but you can check out the video here.

This morning's inbox contained a message from Britney Spears' manager Larry Rudolph:

Britney Spears is spending her summer in the recording studio, working on a brand new album. She’s working with a team of top-notch producers and songwriters and we’re very excited about what she’s accomplished so far. No album release date has been confirmed yet.

Check out the video for "House of Cards," the slow jam from "In Rainbows." According to sources more knowledgeable than yours truly the images were created using 3D plotting technologies that collect information about the shapes and relative distances of objects, and the video was made entirely with visualizations of that data. In other words, it's modern, mysterious, cerebral, and beautiful. Totally Radiohead.

Coldplay kicked off its summer tour in La La Land last night complete with floating video globes, missed cues, pre-recorded backing tracks, and a two-song trip to the uppermost tier of the Fabulous Forum. Read all about it here. And here's the set list:

"Life in Technicolor"
"Violet Hill"
"Clocks"
"In My Place"
"Viva La Vida"
"42"
"Yes"
"The Scientist"
"Chinese Sleep Chant"
"God Put a Smile Upon Your Face"
"Square One"
"Speed of Sound"
"Trouble"
"Lost!"
"Strawberry Swing"
"Yellow"
"Death Will Never Conquer"
"Fix You"
"Lovers In Japan"
"Death and All His Friends" / "The Escapist"

Beck is snubbing us on his upcoming tour. In fact he's skipping every market east of Chicago on the road show supporting "Modern Guilt." Here's hoping he's going to flesh out the schedule in coming weeks. If not, we might take back the glowing review.

This just in from MTV...We'll forgive the mangled grammar. They must be so excited.

"After 14 years since Guns N’ Roses last official music release, Axl Rose selects Rock Band 2 to debut official new track “Shackler's Revenge” from the highly-anticipated album Chinese Democracy."

In other Rock Band 2 news:

Rock Band 2 is the first and only video game to feature the music of AC/DC. It includes their epic rock anthem, "Let There Be Rock.”

For the first time ever, music from American music icon, Bob Dylan, is featured in a video game with “Tangled Up In Blue.”

Rock Band 2 will feature backwards compatibility with all Rock Band downloadable music content released to date.

Owners of the original Rock Band will have the ability to export most of the Rock Band disc tracks and upgrade them into Rock Band 2 gameplay--the first time ever in videogame history!

Here's the complete track list:

AC/DC “Let There Be Rock”
AFI “Girl’s Gone Grey”
Alanis Morissette “You Oughta Know”
Alice in Chains “Man in the Box”
Allman Brothers “Ramblin’ Man”
Avenged Sevenfold “Almost Easy”
Bad Company “Shooting Star”
Beastie Boys “So Whatcha Want”
Beck “E-Pro”
Bikini Kill “Rebel Girl”
Billy Idol “White Wedding Pt. I”
Blondie “One Way or Another”
Bob Dylan “Tangled Up in Blue”
Bon Jovi “Livin’ on a Prayer”
Cheap Trick “Hello There”
Devo “Uncontrollable Urge”
Dinosaur Jr. “Feel the Pain”
Disturbed “Down with the Sickness”
Dream Theater “Panic Attack”
Duran Duran “Hungry Like the Wolf”
Elvis Costello “Pump It Up”
Fleetwood Mac “Go Your Own Way”
Foo Fighters “Everlong”
Guns N’ Roses “Shackler’s Revenge”
Interpol “PDA”
Jane’s Addiction “Mountain Song”
Jethro Tull “Aqualung”
Jimmy Eat World “The Middle”
Joan Jett “Bad Reputation”
Journey “Anyway You Want It”
Judas Priest “Painkiller”
Kansas “Carry On Wayward Son”
L7 “Pretend We’re Dead”
Lacuna Coil “Our Truth”
Linkin Park “One Step Closer”
Lit “My Own Worst Enemy”
Lush “De-Luxe”
Mastodon “Colony of Birchmen”
Megadeth “Peace Sells”
Metallica “Battery”
Mighty Mighty Bosstones “Where’d You Go”
Modest Mouse “Float On”
Motorhead “Ace of Spades”
Nirvana “Drain You”
Norman Greenbaum “Spirit in the Sky”
Panic at the Disco “Nine in the Afternoon”
Paramore “That’s What You Get”
Pearl Jam “Alive”
Presidents of the USA “Lump”
Rage Against the Machine “Testify”
Ratt “Round & Round”
Red Hot Chili Peppers “Give it Away”
Rise Against “Give it All”
Rush “The Trees”
Silversun Pickups “Lazy Eye”
Smashing Pumpkins “Today”
Social Distortion “I Was Wrong”
Sonic Youth “Teenage Riot”
Soundgarden “Spoonman”
Squeeze “Cool for Cats”
Steely Dan “Bodhitsattva”
Steve Miller Band “Rock’n Me”
Survivor “Eye of the Tiger”
System of a Down “Chop Suey”
Talking Heads “Psycho Killer”
Tenacious D “Master Exploder”
Testament “Souls of Black”
The Donnas “New Kid in School”
The Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat”
The Grateful Dead “Alabama Getaway”
The Guess Who “American Woman”
The Muffs “Kids in America”
The Offspring “Come Out & Play (Keep ‘em Separated)”
The Replacements “Alex Chilton”
The Who “Pinball Wizard”
Bonus Artist / Bonus Song Title
Abnormality “Visions”
Anarchy Club “Get Clean”
Bang Camaro “Night Lies”
Breaking Wheel “Shoulder to the Plow”
The Libyans “Neighborhood”
The Main Drag “A Jagged Gorgeous Winter”
Speck “Conventional Lover”
The Sterns “Supreme Girl”
That Handsome Devil “Rob the Prez-O-Dent”

Word is that after more than a decade in the making, a track from the long-awaited Guns N' Roses album "Chinese Democracy" will be released in September -- on the video game Rock Band 2. The inclusion of "Shackler's Revenge" in the popular game would seem to indicate that the new album will actually be released this fall, an event akin to hell freezing over. Stay tuned for an official announcement, expected later today.

John Mellencamp comes to the Bank of America Pavilion for two shows tomorrow and Tuesday with Lucinda Williams. (Tix still available here).

We did a quick email Q&A with him this week about his new album "Life, Death, Love, And Freedom," which was produced by T Bone Burnett and, like good coffee, is strong, dark, and stimulating. ("SE" also snuck in a question about his upcoming musical theatre collaboration with Stephen King, "Ghost Brothers of Darkland County.")

Tuesday will be a big day for Mellencamp, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year. In addition to his second Boston show, "LDLF" drops in stores, and he will have news in the Globe about this year's Farm Aid benefit concert.

Q. Having produced yourself for so many years where did the impulse to call T Bone come from for the new album?

A. Having known T bone for a long time, I always liked his production. He gave me the freedom to concentrate more on the songs and my performance and not being as concerned [with] what the band was doing.

Q. As a songwriter and performer you have always projected a very individual attitude that seemed unconcerned with outside opinion or influence, but that sense of liberation really comes across forcefully on this album. Is that simply a function of evolution or did you approach the songwriting/singing differently this time?

A. All of the above... at this point it would seem incorrect to chase some elusive
formula.

Q. There is a good deal of rumination about death on the record but there are also several instances of you expressing gratitude, wonderment, and even a little bit of hope for the way you have lived, fought, and loved. Did recording this album alter your feelings about mortality at all or the way you hope to live the rest of your life?

A. One should not assume that this record is personal, these songs were written over a 15 day period in the tradition of the American folk songbook.

Q. It's terrific that you're touring with Lucinda. Any chance you two might be performing together at all?

A. Haven't discussed it yet...it’s a nice idea.

Q. Little Big Town member Karen Fairchild provides some great harmonies on the album. What was the inspiration for her inclusion?

A. I have worked with Karen on [his last album] "Freedom's Road" as well as LBT opened up for me for a tour, so I have found that our voices sound good together.

Q. How much did you love Billy Joel's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speech? What did you make of his sentiment that the world needs to hear the particular way you give voice to feelings of frustration and alienation?

A. Billy is a great songwriter so I always appreciate his thoughts...and humor.

Q. On your last album you observed that freedom's road must be under construction. Do you have any reason to believe that it will be re-opened any time soon?

A. There is always hope and optimism.

Q. What is the status of your theatrical collaboration with Mr. King?

A. Still working. Steve is very fastidious, and I believe is re working the 2nd act.

-Britney's going to be part of Madonna's upcoming "Sticky and Sweet" Tour. And Madonna's brother claims she's a narcisisst in his upcoming book.

-Amy Winehouse can't stop hitting people.

-The Smashing Pumpkins plan to celebrate their 20th anniversary. China is the appropriate gift.

-Duncan Campbell, along with Maxi Priest, is taking over for his brother Ali as the new lead singer of UB40.

-The Flaming Lips describe their new album as a combination of John Lennon and Miles Davis.

-Former Foreigner belter Lou Gramm is recording a Christian Rock album.

-Lil Wayne has reclaimed the top spot on the Billboard albums chart from Coldplay.

-The CMT series "Gone Country" is returning for a second season of trying to turn non-country singers into country singers. This year's batch includes: misunderstood actress Sean Young, former "American Idol" contestant and mini-Fran Drescher Mikalah Gordon, Chris Kirkpatrick of N Sync who clearly didn't learn his lesson from "Mission: Man Band," Sebastian Bach, Jermaine Jackson, and Irene Cara of "Fame" fame. (Anyone remember "D.C. Cab"?) The show premieres next month.

Remember that contest we told you about where local bands compete for an opening slot at Coldplay's Boston show? The folks at WFNX have whittled the field down to 15 and now it's your turn. Check out the bands here and vote for your favorite. The top three will go to Coldplay, who make the final selection.

Somebody at Capitol Records has his/her finger on the pulse. Responding to music fans' growing appetite for vinyl -- a subject that writer Jonathan Perry covered eloquently in the Boston Globe -- the label is launching "From the Capitol Vaults," a vinyl campaign that kicks off with the Aug. 19 release of eight remastered titles: A Perfect Circle’s "Mer de Noms," Coldplay’s "Parachutes" and "A Rush Of Blood To The Head," Radiohead’s "OK Computer," "Kid A," "Amnesiac," and "Hail To The Thief," and Steve Miller Band’s "Greatest Hits 1974-78."

What a guy. To celebrate his 38th birthday, Beck gave us a present: "Modern Guilt." Read the Boston Globe review here.

“That’s not our bag. I didn’t spend a year in the most expensive studio in England, with the most expensive producer in America and the most expensive graphic designer in London, to then give it away. F*** that.”

The ever-candid and refreshingly old-school Noel Gallagher on why Oasis won't be taking a cue from the recent pay-what-you-like tactics of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails. Fans can expect to pony up full price for the new Oasis album, "Dig Out Your Soul," due in October.