MUSIC: Heat strokes and beer! Summer concert season is here.

Summer is almost here, which, considering where we live, means that we will soon be getting acquainted with the delightful sensation of residing beneath a giant hair dryer for four months.
    But hey, there is some good news: it’s almost summer concert season, where tons of big shows hit the road.
    What acts are you most excited about seeing in the near future?
    Here’s what I’m anticipating the most:
1.    Sex Pistols @ The Joint, June 7: Don’t miss your chance to get spit on by dudes old enough to be your grandpa, as this is the Pistols only U.S. date this summer.  Sure, their tunes have aged better than they have, but hey, who’d want to miss the chance to get upbraided by a punk icon -- one Johnny Rotten -- who possesses all the good humor of a grizzly bear attempting to pass a kidney stone?
2.    Cavalera Conspiracy @ The House of Blues, Aug. 1: We’ll probably never see a full-on Sepultura reunion, but this is the next best thing, with brothers Max and Igor Cavalera reuniting for the first time since the mid-‘90s to blast out some crusty, ill-tempered thrash that infuses such classics as “Arise” and “Beneath the Remains” with raw punk vigor. And the head-spinning Dillinger Escape Plan is on the bill, too. What more do you need -- other than a good health insurance plan?       
3.    Coldplay @ MGM Grand Garden Arena, July 19: Used to hate these wet-eyed, Kleenex-abetted rockers, but now I dig ‘em. (Read more about it in next week’s “Sounding Off” column in the R-J. Or not.)
4.    Alkaline Trio @ House of Blues, July 25: Is it me, or is pop-punk just not Satanic enough? Thankfully, this bunch gets their Anton Lavey on, kicking out moody, downcast, sky-is-falling jams that boast all the ceaselessly buoyant hooks of a malevolent Journey.          
5.    Judas Priest @ The Pearl, Sept. 1: Too bad this woolly mammoth of a tour – which also features a Dio-helmed Black Sabbath (under the Heaven and Hell moniker), the mighty Motorhead and thrash legends Testament -- is being downsized for Vegas so only Priest appears. Still, this is one worth dusting off the leather codpiece for, especially since Priest will be debuting material off their new two-disc concept album on Nastradamus. How metal is that? Like eating a lead burrito, dude.