Music

It’s less than a month before the Bunbury Festival kicks off July 13 for its three-day run on the riverfront in downtown Cincinnati.

Creator Bill Donabedian, one of the co-founders of the MidPoint Music Festival years ago, has no intention of starting small, then trying to build for the future. There are more than 100 acts scheduled on the event’s six stages (see Set Times under the Music & More button on the website to plan your viewing schedule).

Sonny Landreth returns to his roots on his latest album, “Elemental Journey.” But it might surprise some people that before he became a guitar star, Landreth put in a lengthy stint as a trumpet player.

To see or not to see the Beach Boys, that is the question.

The band’s 50th anniversary tour plays Riverbend Tuesday amid some of the most conflicting publicity in years.

A recent spate of stories centers on the somewhat shaky rapprochement of Brian Wilson, the fragile creative genius behind the band’s legendary music, and his cousin, singer Mike Love, who has kept the flame alive while Wilson battled demons and band lost original members Dennis and Carl Wilson, Brian’s brothers.

Five songs into Wednesday night’s Dawes show, Taylor Goldsmith asked how many in the crowd of about 300 had seen the band before. Maybe a third or so whooped and hollered in response.

“This is for the first-timers,” the band’s frontman said before the Los Angeles  foursome tore into an incendiary version of “When My Time Comes” from its first album, “North Hills,” at the Taft Theatre Ballroom.

The time had come to dial up the intensity.