While summertime seems to be the season of overblown rock fests, this fall will bring a pretty impressive post-punk package tour to your town -- at least if you live in one of the nation's more sizable towns. The overall lineup is impressive enough, what with appearances from such grumpy old men as the Stranglers, Buzzcocks and Dickies, but the newly-constituted versions of two of the headliners promise some real fireworks. First off, Cleveland legends Pere Ubu --who're nearing a quarter-century of "avant-garage" noisemaking -- have recruited none other than ex-MC5 axeman Wayne Kramer to fill the guitar slot on the tour. Even more interestingly, Fall frontman Mark E. Smith has put together an all-new, all-female lineup of his band -- which fell apart after he disappeared on the band's last stateside trek after he allegedly assaulted his bandmate/girlfriend Julia Nagle. Nagle's still in the band, although she reportedly has a restraining order preventing Smith from seeing her offstage.

DAVID SPRAGUE