Northwest Arkansas Media photo by ANDY SHUPE

Negotiations continue to keep the Arkansas Music Pavilion at the Northwest Arkansas Mall in future years, but for 2012, the venue will be elsewhere.

AMP owner Walton Arts Center announced Monday afternoon that because lease negotiations between mall management and the arts center have stalled, the outdoor, tent-style venue will be located at the Washington County Fairgrounds for the 2012 season. It had been located at the mall every year since 2005.

Northwest Arkansas Times reporter Joel Walsh analyzes the situation and chats with AMP officials about the impact of the move and the status of the $4 million worth of renovations that were slated for the venue in 2012.

Also announced in the process was the first concert act of the season. That honor goes to Big Gigantic, a Colorado-based electronic duo. Tickets for the April 21 show are expected to go on sale early next week, and another act is expected to be announced soon.

Bonus: Here’s Big Gigantic performing “Sky High”:

Click here to view the embedded video.

No doubt about it, The Avett Brothers are performing at Wakarusa. Above is their song “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise.”

With two of the three Wakarusa lineup announcements already made, the biggest question that remained was in regard to the artist that will fill a vacancy near the top of the list, ranked just below Pretty Lights and just above Primus.

Well, as of a few minutes ago, we know that other headliner: The Avett Brothers, who are wrapping up work on a new album.

The folk rock act from North Carolina will visit Mulberry Mountain near Ozark sometime between May 31 and June 3. Those are the four days that Wakarusa will invade Franklin County for its fourth annual event in Arkansas.

Also joining the bill are Matisyahu, The Travelin’ McCourys, Ghostland Observatory, Slightly Stoopid and many more.

Four-day event passes are $149. Prices for camping or day parking vary according to distance from the main stage area. Other price packages, such as VIP tickets, are also available through the ticketing website.

Now that we know the full lineup, what do think? How does Wakarusa 2012 compare to other years?

It’s ‘Rain’ing down shows! Two of note have been recently announced: A two-date run by Umphrey’s McGee at George’s and a show by Beatles tribute act Rain, who perform “Got To Get You Into My Life” above.

Tickets go on sale Friday (Jan. 20) for two shows coming to Fayetteville later this spring.

Announced late last week is a show by Rain, a touring production that offers a faithful tribute to The Beatles. The stage show includes video boards, costume changes, historical footage and more. Tickets for the group’s May 7 show at the Walton Arts Center go on sale at 9 a.m. Friday.

Tickets will be $38-$54 and can be purchased by calling 443-5600 or through the venue’s website.

Also, it appears that less than six weeks before their show at the nearby Wakarusa festival, jam rockers Umphrey’s McGee will perform at George’s Majestic Lounge on two consecutive nights. The shows, listed on the venue’s website, will be 8 p.m. April 17-18.

Tickets, according to the venue’s ticket website, will go onsale at 1 a.m. Friday. No price is listed.

Bret Michaels is still ‘Riding Against the Wind.’ And riding his way back to Northwest Arkansas, too.

Poison frontman and reality television star Bret Michaels returns to Northwest Arkansas in early March, but for a different kind of event than fans might be use to seeing from the veteran rocker.

Michaels — himself affected by diabetes — will perform at the annual Kiss a Pig Gala, which raises money for diabetes research and treatment. The event takes place March 3 at the John Q. Hammons Center in Rogers.

He has previously headlined at the Arkansas Music Pavilion.

As a charity fundraiser, dinner and wine tasting, tickets exceed that of a normal concert-only event. Individual tickets are $150.

For details, visit the Kiss a Pig website.

Among the artists newly announced for Wakarusa is Primus, who play “My Name is Mud,” above. Wakarusa is often a dirty affair, so it seems fitting. [Note: Some rock star language is contained in the video above, so be warned.]

With 35 artists already confirmed for Wakarusa, organizers of the annual music festival dumped a new batch of names a few moments ago to double the total to about 70 acts spanning all genres.

The annual music and camping festival takes place May 31 through June 3 at Mulberry Mountain, located on Arkansas 23 near Ozark.

Newly added artists are:

Primus

Umphrey’s McGee

Girl Talk

Fitz & The Tantrums

Big Gigantic

Del McCoury Band

Quixotic

Gary Clark, Jr.

Tea Leaf Green

Iration

And many more.

A third and final artist announcement is scheduled for 11 a.m. Jan. 19. We’ll keep you updated.

Tickets are already onsale via the event website and are currently $149 (without camping pass) for a four-day pass. Other ticket options and prices are also available.

Wakarusa has made a ‘Home’ in Arkansas. The band Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros will make a temporary home in Arkansas when they perform at the early summer festival. Bonus: The song above contains an Arkansas reference.

As promised, Wakarusa has released the names of many of the artists who will perform at the four-day event when the festival returns to Mulberry Mountain from May 31 to June 3. The announcement was made via the festival’s Facebook page.

Highlighting the first pool of names are Pretty Lights, Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Weir, Robinson & Greene (Grateful Dead/Black Crowes/etc…) and and G. Love and Special Sauce.

More artists are expected to be announced on Jan. 12 and Jan. 19.

Tickets are already onsale via the event website and are currently $149 (without camping pass) for a four-day pass. Other ticket options and prices are also available.

A montage of footage from previous Wakarusa fests can be found above. And, yeah, the festival really is this cool.

We don’t know either, except for in a few cases. That’s why the headline says guess.

But with the part of the lineup for the annual summer music festival to be announced Thursday (Jan. 5), we thought we’d take a look at some of the bands rumored to be on the way to Mulberry Mountain between May 31 and June 3.

Some thoughts, before we dig in a little deeper:

• Festival organizer (and chief booking agent) Brett Mosiman told me several years ago that he tries to alternate between jam acts and rock acts as headliners, depending on booking availability, of course. Since last year was a rock year (My Morning Jacket and Ben Harper) expect a big name from the jam scene in 2012.

• Last year, Wakarusa organizers spent more money on talent than ever before. That yielded the largest crowd ever for the Arkansas version of the festival (it at least once drew a larger crowd when it was based in Kansas). Connecting those dots, there is no reason to think spending will be less than 2011. It’s okay to think big.

• Early ticket sales are also on pace with last year, another reason to expect a big year, lineup wise, at Wakarusa.

• Booking for Wakarusa is nearly a yearlong process, and organizers try to lock in talent just before a big break and before the end-of-year awards lists and Grammy nominations. Wakarusa has accomplished that feat twice in a row with The Black Keys in 2010 and Mumford & Sons in 2011. In a similar fashion, don’t be surprised if someone on the same level (Bon Iver, to toss out a name) comes to Waka in 2012.

• Don’t expect the electronic element of the festival to wane. It’s proved very successful for Wakarusa.

• We’re told the lineup will be announced in three parts on successive Thursdays — Jan. 5, Jan. 12 and Jan. 19. Although the press release did not specify, previous announcements have been delivered precisely at noon.

Now, how about some names?

Reported on websites:

• Shannon McNally

• Hot Buttered Rum (confirmed on their website)

• Montu

Near locks:

• Mountain Sprout

• Dirtfoot

• Split Lip Rayfield

All of these bands are affiliated with Pipeline Productions, which oversees Wakarusa. Also, each of the three listed above have performed at Wakarusa before.

Who do you want to see at the festival?

Well, don’t you want your band to perform there?

Here’s how it could happen. Each year, Wakarusa brings a battle of the bands competition to markets near the venue. For us in Northwest Arkansas, that event will take place on Jan. 19 at George’s Majestic Lounge.

One band from the competition there will perform at Wakarusa. To enter the competition, visit the Winter Classic website and register.

Good luck!

Above is the Ben Kweller song “Wasted & Ready,” in which the singer-songwriter rhymes the words ‘spaghetti’ and ‘ready.’ It’s really much better than that makes it sound. Kweller is coming to George’s next year.

Looks like we jumped the gun on announcing the newest slate of shows at George’s Majestic Lounge.

Remember our post yesterday where we observed a trend of new acts being announced for the Dickson Street venue? Well, that post came just about an hour before venue officials sent out a more detailed press release, which includes a few names we hadn’t caught yet.

Newly announced dates include:

• North Mississippi Allstars, March 23

• Leftover Salmon, April 13

• Ben Kweller, May 5

The email also says “several more exciting shows to announce,” so stay tuned…

Colt Ford is coming back to Fayetteville for a show Jan. 12 at George’s. Until then, he’ll likely just “Waste Some Time.” Warning: gratuitous moonshine drinking, shirtless men and country rap are featured in the video above.

George’s Majestic Lounge has been announcing shows for early next year at a pretty dramatic clip recently, and they’ve continued that momentum in the past few days.

Officials with the Dickson Street venue have announced the following shows:

• Country/Southern rock musician Colt Ford, Jan. 12

• Electronica act Crystal Method on Jan. 27

• Southern/alt country rockers Lucero on Feb. 24 and 25

Tickets for all three shows are on sale now at the club or through its ticketing website.