NCAA’s Big Dance: The Hold Steady & Kings of Leon (& Others), for Free at Discovery Green

Folks, I’m not a sports fan. Texan though I may be, I can’t muster much more than a shrug when it comes to watching sports. Playing ’em? Hell, yeah, so long as you don’t expect me to be good. But watching ’em, eh…not so much.

I’m saying this by way of explanation as to why/how this one had slipped past me ’til late yesterday. If you’d asked me where/when the NCAA Final Four were this year, I really, truly would’ve had no freaking idea what to tell you. That’s how out of it I am, most days (I’m apparently unable to avoid the Superbowl or the World Series), when it comes to sports.

And I’m kicking myself, because those crafty college-sports people have put together some damn cool-sounding free (yep, free — probably the only thing free you’ll get in connection with a sporting event this big, mind you) shows over at Discovery Green. They’re calling it The Big Dance, and each night’s got some neat stuff going on, music-wise.

For one thing, the show tomorrow (Friday, April 1st) features The Hold Steady(!), a band I know and love dearly, dearly, dearly, to the point where their albums have a permanent home in my car and iPod — see here for why I love the band so damn much — and hometown boys {Los Skarnales}, who are always, always, always cool all by themselves. I’m a little wary of headliners Sublime with Rome, but eh, I like hearing old Sublime songs as much as the next guy, so y’know…

Then there’s the show on Saturday (April 2nd), with headliners Kings of Leon, another band I like quite a bit (although I’m far from as rabid about them as THS) and the mind-blowing pedal-steel of Robert Randolph & the Family Band, plus Panic! At the Disco & Vallejo to round things out.

The first time I heard KoL, back when Youth and Young Manhood was out, with the excellent “California Waiting” and “Holy Roller Novocaine,” I never, ever thought I’d see the day when the band would serve as theme music for college basketball. We truly live in Bizarro World, y’all:

The third night of the Big Dance, Sunday, April 3rd, isn’t really my cup of tea — it’s pretty much the country-music night, with countrified beach bum Kenny Chesney, Pat Green, Uncle Kracker, & Roger Creager, only two of whom I’ve ever heard before (Chesney & Kracker) and none of which I like all that much. But hey, to each their own.

Anyway, it sounds like a fun time to hang out up at Discovery Green; that place is rapidly becoming one of the busiest, most interesting spots in town, honestly…