Will Call Winner: Mudcrutch!

With summer dates upon us, it was a big week for classic rock, classic pop and even classic funk at Will Call. In the first category, Chicago and the Doobie Brothers will team up for a Gibson Amphitheatre show on June 5 (get your tickets Sunday), while Boz Scaggs will have one for the road on Aug. 7 at the Grove of Anaheim (tickets Saturday). In the second, George Michael will have faith in the Forum on June 25 (tickets Monday), Pat Benatar, Berlin and Scandal will be hitting Pacific Amphitheatre with their best songs on Aug. 1, while Cyndi Lauper and the recently reactivated B-52s just wanna have a fun-plex at the Greek on June 28 (both on sale Saturday). And finally, there's George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, who will be making your funk the P-funk at the House of Blues Anaheim on June 4 (Saturday) and the Crash Mansion on June 5 (now).

In not-yet-classic hip-hop news, RZA will be coming to the Music Box @ Fonda on June 20 (tickets Saturday), while Naughty by Nature, Coolio, Tone-Loc and Young MC will team up with Stevie B, Lisa Lisa, Trinere, Nocera, Klymaxx and Club Nouveau for Freestyle Explosion 2008 at the Honda Center on June 13 (tickets Saturday). And in positively new country news, there's Kenny Chesney and LeAnn Rimes, who'll be playing Staples Center on May 28 (tickets Monday).

As for the winner, on any other week that'd have to be Rock and Roll Hall of Famers R.E.M., who'll be playing the glorious Hollywood Bowl with two powerhouse indie-rock openers, Modest Mouse and the National, on May 29 ; get your tickets Sunday for that one.

But I have to give the blue ribbon to Mudcrutch, Tom Petty's old band, three-fifths of which went on to form the Heartbreakers, leaving two original members out in the cold. Apparently not one to let them fade out Pete Best-style, Petty got the band back together to record its long, long, long-awaited debut album, which will come out April 29. In the lead-up to what is certain to be a heck of a release party, Mudcrutch will play a four-night stand (April 25-26 and 28-29) -- not at some huge venue that Petty could have booked on the strength of his fame alone -- but at the Troubadour. How cool is that? Despite what the print article says about tickets being available now (my bad), they actually go on sale Friday. Mudcrutch fans take note.

-- Liam Gowing

Tom Petty photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images