Front Range concerts will include Rihanna, The Cult

DENVER — In a sea of heritage acts, reunions and multi-night jam-band stands, Rihanna’s 2013 tour is one of the more exciting and forward-looking arena shows coming to the Front Range this year. Sure, the pop/R&B icon’s latest album “Unapologetic” may not be the most immediate thing in her catalog, but Rihanna’s “Diamonds World Tour” is sure to show us a few things we haven’t seen before. Tickets for her Nov. 9 concert at the Pepsi Center are on sale at 10 a.m. Monday. ($43.50-$129, TicketHorse)

Tickets are also available for:

• Queens of the Stone Age at Red Rocks Amphitheatre? It’s not that we’re ungrateful, because Josh Homme and company have proven themselves a blistering live experience in the past.

It’s just that we’re having a hard time picturing the group in the mellow, open-air environs of Morrison. Tickets for the Aug. 15 show with Gogol Bordello are on sale now. ($39.95-$44.75, Ticketmaster)

• Lyle Lovett and Kris Kristofferson have both proven their penchants for chameleonic career shifts, ostensibly being rooted in country, folk and Americana but ranging wide when the mood strikes them. That should make the two an apt pairing for a concert at Red Rocks on Aug. 19. Tickets are on sale at 10 a.m. Friday. ($39.50-$95, Ticketmaster)

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• The Moody Blues’ landmark album “Days of Future Past” marked its 45th anniversary last November, but the band shows no signs of slowing down.

The group returns to Denver to play the Bellco Theatre on Oct. 16, with tickets on sale now. ($49.50-$69.50, Ticketmaster)

• U.K. hard rockers the Cult have enjoyed (or suffered?) one of the most tumultuous careers in rock over the past three decades, but its diehard fans and mainstay leader Ian Astbury have provided a modicum of consistency to the group.

The band’s “Electric 13” tour — on which it will play its 1987 classic “Electric” in its entirety — visits the Ogden Theatre on Aug. 2. Tickets are on sale. ($37.75, axs.com)

The Sonic Bloom Festival returns for its eighth year June 13-16 at the Shadow Ranch in Georgetown. Look for electro and dance-music performances from Lucent Dossier Experience, OPIUO, VibeSquaD, Random Rab, Zilla, the Grouch & Eligh, the Polish Ambassador, Minnesota, Bluetech and others, in additions to workshops, yoga, multimedia art installations and other live performances.

Tickets are on sale for $175-$195 or $350 for VIP passes; For more information and for tickets, visit sonicbloomfestival.com.

John Wenzel: 303-954-1642 or jwenzel@denverpost.com