The Kent Stage will host a concert tomorrow featuring local artist Alex Bevan at 8 p.m., followed by a special after-hours concert featuring Lotus Groove with Gypsy Dave and the Stumpjumpers.

Tickets are $12 at the door, but advance discount tickets are available online at www.kentstage.org. Tickets for the after-hours concert are $3 for Kent State students and $5 for non-students.

According to the Kent Stage’s Web site, folk/rock songwriter Bevan has gained notoriety in Northeast Ohio with his “imaginative and honest songwriting combined with an agile, improvisational wit.” His performance will highlight songs from his newly recorded album Fall & Angels, and will also revisit favorites from earlier works.

The after-hours concert will take place after Bevan is done playing.

Lotus Groove bass player Jim Garibaldi said the band views tomorrow night’s show as a promotion for future events. On April 18, they’ll perform with One Under at the Robin Hood, and April 26, they’ll join Rusted Root lead singer Michael Glabiki at Fat Jimmy’s.

“We’re trying to bring live music back to Kent because it’s dead right now,” Garibaldi said. “It’s dead and it sucks.”

Also hoping to breathe life into Kent’s live music is Gypsy Dave and the Stumpjumpers, which Garibaldi calls a folksy “foot-stompin, acoustic hoedown, in-your-face” band from Pennsylvania, which released a new album, As Stars Gather Light last fall.

“They’re all about live music, and they love to get the crowd involved,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s physically possible to go to one of their shows and not at least tap your foot.”

Both bands have music posted on Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/lotusgroove and http://www.myspace.com/thegypsydave.

Contact on-campus entertainment reporter Denver Collins at [email protected].