• Counting Crows, the Goo Goo Dolls, theworkingtitle — 7 p.m. Friday at Germain Amphitheater, 2200 Polaris Parkway (1-800-779-8499)

While their mid-’90s peers such as Candlebox and Better Than Ezra are playing smaller venues such as the Newport Music Hall and Lodge Bar, Counting Crows and the Goo Goo Dolls have united for a tour that will probably fill most of Germain Amphitheater on Friday.

Counting Crows has sustained a decade-plus career with a string of hits that started with 1994’s Mr. Jones and continued through 2004’s Accidentally in Love. The Goo Goo Dolls have built upon the successful poprock formula they started on 1995’s A Boy Named Goo and perfected with 1998’s Dizzy Up the Girl.

Opening duties go to upstart rockers theworkingtitle, whose debut, about-face, will be released Tuesday.

Tickets cost $25 to $67.50 at the amphitheater box office and Ticketmaster.

• Switchback — 8:30 tonight in the Hey Hey Bar and Grill, 361 Whittier St. (614-443-2086)

Switchback is the latest to weigh in on the war in Iraq. On its new heartfelt album Falling Water River, the Chicago duo focuses on the human tragedy and leaves the political commentary to the listener.

The record speaks well for the considerable experience accumulated by Brian FitzGerald and Martin McCormack during the release of eight previous albums. They create a sound as old as Celtic-influenced Appalachian traditional music with a wholly contemporary appeal.

Admission is $10.

• Chris Duarte — doors open at 7 tonight at the Blues Station, 147 Vine St. (614-884-2583)

Duarte hails from the Stevie Ray-Hendrix-Collins-Guy school of rock-blues.

Tickets cost $12.

• Bump — doors open at 8 tonight at Little Brother’s, 1100 N. High St. (614-421-2025)

Summers would never be complete without jam bands. Bump, from Detroit, will arrive with a sound self-described as "Pink Floyd meets Motown." But Bump’s attempt at atmospheric soul (the debut album Incredible Consequence) is better described as second-generation Dave Matthews drivel.

Admission is $3 to $5.

• Phil Lesh and Friends — doors open at 6 p.m. Friday at the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion, 405 Neil Ave. (614-431-3600)

Lesh made music before cofounding the Grateful Dead in 1965 and continues today, long after the band ended with Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995.

Granted, the bassist’s 30 years with the Dead produced the music for which he is best known, but the foundations came from earlier avant-garde classical-music study, most notably with composer Luciano Berio during the early ’60s. Some of those lessons still inform his music.

Lesh’s "Friends" — guitarists Warren Haynes and Jimmy Herring, drummer John Molo and keyboardist Rob Barraco — are up to the challenge of Lesh’s playing and composing. The concert will feature tunes from the ensemble’s latest album, There and Back Again, as well as, yes, a Dead song or two.

Tickets cost $40 at the pavilion and Ticketmaster.

• Robin Trower — doors open at 8 p.m. Friday at the Newport Music Hall, 1722 N. High St. (614-358-7625)

Although Trower made mighty contributions to the Procol Harum albums Home and Broken Barricades during the guitarist’s stint with the British art-rock band during the early ’70s, it was his Hendrix-like solo work that made his name and continues today.

Tickets cost $23.50 at the Newport box office and Ticketmaster, $25 the day of the show.

• Tim Easton (CD release), the Spikedrivers (CD release) — doors open at 8 p.m. Friday at Little Brother’s, 1100 N. High St (614-421-2025)

Easton, touring the country solo-style, will arrive with a cache of new tunes. The former Columbus resident’s latest folkrock release is Ammunition, an album of songs he built to play live and alone.

Guests on Ammunition include Lucinda Williams, Tift Merritt and the Jayhawks’ Gary Louris. They won’t be in the house, but Easton no doubt will duet with Megan Palmer, who employed Easton on her recent album Forget Me Not.

Palmer and her cohorts in Columbus’ Spikedrivers will be on hand to play songs from their new self-titled album.

Admission is $10.

• Budweiser Wing Zing: Ted Nugent — doors open at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion, 405 Neil Ave. (614-431-3600)

Everyone’s favorite guitarslinging outdoorsman has become quite the reality TV star. "Sweaty Teddy" appears on the Outdoor Channel’s Spirit of the Wild and Wanted Ted or Alive and VH1’s Supergroup.

The Nuge, Barry Sparks (bass) and Mick Brown (drums) will rant and roll through 25 or so songs. Between Cat Scratch Fever and Stranglehold, gnaw on some chicken wings and wash ’em back with beer.

Frank Harrison, Olde Cellar Band and the Dan Orr Project will also perform. Tickets cost $12 at the pavilion and Ticketmaster, $15 at the door.

• Mindless Self Indulgence, Kill Hannah — doors open at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the Newport Music Hall, 1722 N. High St. (614-358-7625)

Members of the New Yorkbred punk/industrial-rock/hiphop/cartoon band Mindless Self Indulgence go by colorful names (the singer’s: Urine). The group’s "outrageousness" has earned it opening slots for Rammstein, a band featuring a singer who wears a flamethrower on his head, and Insane Clown Posse, a horror-rap group for 6-year-olds.

As for Kill Hannah, the Chicago band has remained close to its roots in the English alternative pop of the ’80s.

Tickets cost $17.50 at the Newport box office and Ticketmaster, $20 the day of the show.

• Beth Orton, Clay Hill — doors open at 7 p.m. Monday at the Newport Music Hall, 1722 N. High St. (614-358-7625)

Rumor has it that Beth Orton has become a duo for her summer tour. The British electrofolkie is reportedly pregnant, which should make for an especially memorable appearance by the candid singer.

The subdued songstress has also ditched previous collaborators William Orbit and the Chemical Brothers on her latest album, Comfort of Strangers. The result is an intimate yet more full-bodied sound to Orton’s plaintive songs, which include the sunny single Conceived.

Tickets cost $17 at the Newport box office and Ticketmaster, $20 the day of the show.

• Candlebox — doors open at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Newport Music Hall, 1722 N. High St. (614-358-7625)

For those who didn’t make up their minds the first time, grunge footnote Candlebox has regrouped.

Tickets cost $17.50 at the Newport box office and Ticketmaster, $20 the day of the show.

• Mofro — doors open at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Little Brother’s, 1100 N. High St. (614-421-2025)

The north-central Florida band will appeal to the ears of people who dig J.J. Cale, Chris Whitley, Delta blues, Southern soul music, summer heat and cold beer. Tickets cost $12 at the club and Ticketmaster, $14 the day of the show.

• Say Hi to Your Mom — 9 p.m. Tuesday at Andyman’s Treehouse, 887 Chambers Rd. (614-291-2460)

Hollywood native Eric Elbogen is the lonely-hearted savant behind the quirky melancholy of Say Hi to Your Mom. What started as an acoustic bedroom project has in three albums blossomed into a full band experimenting in preprogrammed electronics and live sounds. Impeccable Blahs finds Elbogen delving into lush synths and breathy vocals akin to the glitchy pop of Postal Service.

Admission is $3 to $5.

• Icebox Music Series: Nate Wooley (trumpet) and Aaron Siegel (percussion) — 9 p.m. Tuesday at Acme Art Company, 934 Cleveland Ave. (614-397-6185)

An aspiring avant-garde musician can’t find a much better job than being a part of saxophonist Anthony Braxton’s ensemble. University of Michigan grad Siegel not only plays drums in Braxton’s Sextet but is also a member of Memorize the Sky, Chorus of Seeds, Rainer and Low and Away. He’ll soon release his solo percussion debut, The Cabinet, on the Longbox label.

New Jersey trumpeter Wooley also has performed with Braxton and appears regularly with his own trio, Blue Collar, as well as Chris Speed, Tim Barnes, Matt Moran, Scott Rosenberg and Siegel.

Both Wooley and Siegel stretch the accepted modes of performance, blurring the lines between tone and texture, sound and silence.

Admission is $6. Visit www. iceboxshows.com or call 614-397-6185.

• Mouth of the Architect — 9 p.m. Tuesday at the High Five Bar & Grill, 1227 N. High St. (614-421-2998)

From the filthy streets and empty warehouses of Dayton comes Mouth of the Architect. The quintet has taken little time to discover the porthole through which metal will progress. Fusing the instrumental beauty of Mogwai and Godspeed You Black Emperor with the bottomheavy rumble and growl of Sleep and Isis, the boys create their own monolithic maze of epic chaos and calm.

Admission is $5.

• Toad the Wet Sprocket and Glenn Phillips, Big Head Todd and the Monsters — doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion, 405 Neil Ave. (614-431-3600)

A delicate slug of frothy acoustic ballads, Mr. Lemons is the fourth solo release from former Toad the Wet Sprocket singer-songwriter Glenn Phillips, who will perform with his former band mates. The bluesy, gently rocking Colorado band Big Head Todd and the Monsters also will perform.

Tickets cost $22 at the pavilion and Ticketmaster, $27 at the gate.

• Junior Brown — doors open at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Little Brother’s, 1100 N. High St. (614-421-2025) Brown, a practitioner of vintage honky-tonk guitar-playing, is a quintessential "guitarist’s guitarist." Given his skills, his talent as a singer of considerable personality often is overlooked. Brown’s voice is at least half responsible for the charm of his new live album, The Austin Experience. Tickets cost $18 at the club and Ticketmaster, $20 the day of the show. The tele phone number for Ticketmaster is 614-431-3600. Compiled by Aaron Beck, Gary Budzak, Kevin Elliott, Andrew Hampp and Curtis Schieber abeck@dispatch.com gbudzak@dispatch.com ahampp@dispatch.com