Joe Cocker News

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are running down a few thousand Hells Angels.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers are revving up to headline the inaugural Rock'n the Rally, a five-day summer music festival in South Dakota created to coincide with the famed Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the largest and oldest mass gathering of motorcycle enthusiasts in the world.

The concert takes place Aug. 6-10 at a 34-acre amphitheater on the Glencoe Camp Resort, located in the Black Hills near the town of Sturgis, where last year an estimated 500,000 bikers rumbled through to celebrate the rally's 65th anniversary.

Other big names on the bill include the Black Crowes, Nickelback, Keith Urban, Sammy Hagar, Live, the Gin Blossoms and Big & Rich, along with old-school acts such as Joe Cocker, Steve Miller Band, Cheap Trick, Steppenwolf and 38 Special.

"We are providing a modern and expansive venue with a full lineup each day of world-class acts that appeal to the Bike Rally's audience," said property owner Gary Lippold, who's presenting the festival with Dork Fish Ink. "For 66 years, Sturgis Bike Week has been a celebration of independence and freedom--the same concepts that define rock and roll."

Ticket prices range from $50 to $70 and go on sale Mar. 10 at www.starticketplus.com. More artists are expected to be added to the lineup in the coming days.

If all goes well, promoters hope to make Rock'n the Rally an annual tradition, in the vein of Coachella and Bonnaroo, which Petty and the Heartbreakers are also headlining in June.

Once the "Free Fallin' " singer is done carousing with bikers, he and his band will head south for the annual Austin City Limits Festival in Austin, Texas, which is ramping up for another musical blowout.

This year's shindig at Zilker Park Sept. 15-17 rounds up over 130 bands playing on eight stages. Along with Petty, other music heavyweights set to take the stage include Irish crooner Van Morrison, psychedelic rockers the Flaming Lips, Ben Harper, John Mayer, Matisyahu, Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, the New Pornographers, the Shins, Massive Attack, Gnarls Barkley, Kings of Leon and such jam-friendly acts as the String Cheese Incident and Ween.