Gomez w/ Hey Rosetta

Gomez broke big in the late '90s, when the English quintet won the United Kingdom's most prestigious music award, the Mercury Prize, for their 1998 debut, <I>Bring It On</i>. Though their appeal stateside took root first in the jam band culture, their approach has always been wider than that, a byproduct of having five songwriters. You'll find the sumptuous instrumental warmth of chamber pop, the sturdy backbeat of Beatles-inspired rock, the soulful sway of Motown (particularly in Ottewell's vocals), an expansive folkiness that harkens back to Haight-Ashbury, and bursts of electronic clamor with an obvious debt to Radiohead. It all comes together especially nicely on the band's seventh album, <I>Whatever's on Your Mind</i>. For this tour celebrating the band's 15th anniversary, the group will play a set decided by their fans.