Atticus Tour 2009

Hold on a second: It's called the Atticus Tour, and the co-headliner is a band called Finch? Wow, that's really precious. Maybe they'll hire Scout Willis as a cage-dancer, or add melancholy indie-pop duo Harper Lee to the bill later on. Actually, let's hope they don't. Featuring the identical swept bangs of Phoenix-based Christian rockers blessthefall and the near-unintelligible screaming of Boston-based post-hardcore outfit Vanna, this six-band road show may have already exceeded its doctor-recommended allowance of artsy pretense. But, then, what do you expect? The tour was conceived by two members of Blink-182 as an offshoot of their designer clothing line (think Ed Hardy, only less asshole-ish) and has gradually strayed from its power-pop roots. The best of this year's lot is probably Drop Dead, Gorgeous, a fairly unaffected metalcore band from Denver whose "Two Birds, One Stone" single was featured on the soundtrack of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. A song in a big Hollywood action movie? That's nothing to Gregory Peck at.