Summer of British love

It’s a late summer British invasion of sorts, as Elton John and Paul McCartney plan concerts in the region.

No, Sir Paul isn’t going to play Spokane. But he’ll be only three hours away, at the University of Montana’s Washington-Grizzly Stadium, on Aug. 5. The rock legend will be making the Montana stop on his “Out There” tour between gigs in Minneapolis and Salt Lake City, before wrapping it up at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park. Which, any Beatles fan knows, was the scene of the last full Beatles concert in 1966.

Tickets for the Missoula show go on sale at 10 a.m. MDT (9 a.m. PDT) on May 9 at griztix.com or (888) 666-8262. Prices will range from $49.50 to $250.

Closer to home, Sir Elton will return to the Spokane Arena on Sept. 17. The singer-songwriter recently released a remastered version of his classic album “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” and last fall released “The Diving Board,” in collaboration with longtime writing partner Bernie Taupin and producer T-Bone Burnett.

Tickets to see John go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday through all TicketsWest outlets. Prices are $29, $79 and $139.

Previous John concerts in the region have sold like crazy. His first local gig, in 1999, sold out in two hours. Sales for a Mom’s Weekend show at Washington State University in 2008 overwhelmed the TicketsWest website. Again, the show sold out in two hours. A second show was added and nearly sold out as well.

His April 2011 gig at the arena took a little longer to sell out – three days. Still, the lesson for Spokane fans: Don’t procrastinate for too long.

We'll let Reg say it best (BELOW).