Hey, how ya liking the new format, with blurbs and what not? Hope this is a useful for you all.
Tuesday, August 30
International Reggae Allstars @ Bunkers
St. Dominic’s Trio @ Driftwood
Shame, They Hate Change @ Fine Line
Gypsy @ International Bazaar Stage, Minnesota State Fair
Rot + Perth + Slugs + Knights + Static Truth @ Icehouse
DSL: Dire Straits Legacy @ Leinie Lodge Bandshell
- Annie Mack @ Schell’s Stage at Schilling Amphitheater, Minnesota State FairAs I gushed last week, the Schell’s State at the Fair has been expertly booked this year. Folk-blues-gospel singer-songwriter Mack sings in a big, yet artfully restrained voice, and her songs bend traditional themes to modern. Her 2001 EP, Testify, captures her at her peak—defiant, unbowed, and, if not exactly hopeful, far from defeated.
August Conspiracy Series featuring Johnny Sincerely’s Traveling Blues Orchestra @ 331 Club
Workers Playtime, Adam Kiesling @ 331 Club
The Gefroh Brothers Concert @ Water Works
Trevor McSpadden & Mary Cutrufello @ White Squirrel
Nate and Hannah (Tuesday Residency) @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, August 31
Hannah von der Hoff (August Residency) with Theyself @ Aster Cafe
Shaun Johnson Big Band Experience @ Dakota
Anthony James Roos & the Red Quarters, Dana Thompson @ Driftwood
Florida Georgia Line with special guest Bailey Zimmerman @ Grandstand, Minnesota State Fair
Molly Dean and Under Violet @ Icehouse
Bad Girlfriends @ International Bazaar Stage, Minnesota State Fair
- Low Cut Connie @ Leinie Lodge Bandshell, Minnesota State FairAdam Weiner and his retro team are finally making it to the State Fair. Last year, they pulled out of a Current-sponsored Grandstand show over reasonable concerns about the fair’s COVID policies. While those protocols haven’t changed since last year, the band's been restless to get out on the road, and their songs are just solid enough and their exuberance just corny enough to make them an ideal act for the Leinie Lodge.
Tang and the Tabs, The Ardent Spirits, Your Ex-Girlfriend @ Mortimer’s
Soda Supreme and Keny Grey with Kid $wami, Bloodline, XO @ 7th St Entry
Turn Turn Turn @ Schell’s Stage at Schilling Amphitheater, Minnesota State Fair
KFAI House Party Presents Drew Peterson @ 331 Club
Nights with Tim @ White Squirrel
Thursday, September 1
The Challenger Disaster Conspiracy with Goodnight Ritual and Them That Dare @ Amsterdam
Hyooman + the Key Kids @ Aster Cafe
Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunkers
An Evening with Judi Vinar, Pat Donohue, & Dean Magraw @ Crooners
Maria Jette and Phillip Brunelle @ Crooners
The Quick Fix, Bruce Nygren & the Mumblebugs @ Driftwood
REO Speedwagon, Styx, Levon @ Grandstand, Minnesota State Fair
- Neko Case, Disq @ First AvenueThe alt-country powerhouse and sometime New Pornographer hasn’t released a full-length of new material since Hell-On in 2018, but it’s been a few crazy years since then, hasn’t it? And she hasn’t exactly been slacking: Earlier this year, Case released a greatest hits collection, Wild Creatures, as one often does usually long before you hit the two-decade mark as a recording musician as she has, and just like the rest of us, she’s got a Substack. So much for the newsier, factual stuff, but you don’t really need me to tell you why she’s worth seeing live. As I said in my unlinkable (thanks, Strib) City Pages review of Hell-On: “Voices this forceful are rarely this cool, so analytical, so untinged with pain—rather than flaunting her power, Case luxuriates in an appreciation of consonants, and the restraint she’s developed over the years is more important than the clarion force, an effect she captures in the line “I’m too much for people, so I gauge / And shout my thoughts at you from a distance.”
Rosetta Peters + JG Everest (album release) @ Icehouse
Bad Girlfriends @ International Bazaar Stage, Minnesota State Fair
Tom, Dick, and Harry @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Low Cut Connie @ Leinie Lodge Bandshell, Minnesota State Fair
Hypoxic Punks @ Minnehaha Park
Velvet Television, Finesse, The Magic Castles, Mr. Submissive @ Mortimer’s
Coma Twins, Partial Traces, and Lutheran Heat @ Palmer’s
Turn Turn Turn @ Schell’s Stage at Schilling Amphitheater, Minnesota State Fair
Phillip Saint John (Album Release) with PACT, Mic Dos, Exxe @ 7th St Entry
Northeast Invitational @ 331 Club
Upon A Burning Body with Signs of the Swarm, Vulvodynia and Decayer @ Turf Club
Adam & Ava Levy (Thursday Residency) @ White Squirrel
Friday, September 2
Gothess hosted by DJ Miss Q and Hyperkarma @ Amsterdam
The Midnight Choir Social Club @ Aster Cafe
St. Paul and the Minneapolis Punk All Stars @ Canterbury Park
Summer of '66 Featuring Chronofon @ Crooners
- CJ Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band @ DakotaCJ’s dad Clifton was the zydeco man, his accordion style defining the upbeat Creole Louisiana genre for listeners in the ’70s. But Chenier the younger, who started playing with his dad at 21, has stepped into those roomy shoes with ease. Since inheriting the Red Hot Louisiana Band in 1987 and taking over lead accordion duties himself, he’s become an ace bandleader in his own right. Pretty irresistible stuff.
The TC Ramblers, Room 95 & Wootzen @ Driftwood
The King Khan & BBQ Show with Miranda and The Beat @ Fine Line
Oftener with Fend, Hot Bagels and Nephele @ The Garage
Zac Brown Band, Robert Randolph Band @ Grandstand, Minnesota State Fair
Airlands + Alina Maira + Caleb Dee @ Icehouse
Funktion Junction @ International Bazaar Stage, Minnesota State Fair
Jim Pellinger @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
The Family Stone @ Leinie Lodge Bandshell Stage, Minnesota State Fair
Hvdes X High Zombie @ The Loft
Kung Fu Hippies @ Minnehaha Park
The Slow Death, Raging Nathans, Tightwire, Mikey Erg @ Mortimer’s
Gregg Hall & The Wrecking Ball with Brian Beard @ Palmer’s
Phresh Fridays with DJ Still Phresh @ Palmer’s
- First Avenue Goes to the Fair @ Schell’s Stage Schilling Amphitheater, Minnesota State FairFor two nights, First Ave offers a cheap and easy way to catch up on local music from those of us who can’t hit the clubs every night. Night one highlights include the theatrically rockin’ Meghan Kriedler of Kiss the Tiger. Night two’s highlight is Cindy Lawson, the ’90s indie mainstay (her band the Clams helped break the gender barrier), who has come roaring back this year with her first new music in decades. But everyone here is worth sampling.
Lyla Abukhodair, Cazual Citizens, The Cold Casuals, and LESLIE @ 7th St Entry
Uncle Jesse’s Comb, Full Cathodes, Goodbye Mordecai @ 331 Club
Elder with Belzebong and Dreadnought @ Turf Club
Saturday, September 3
The Way Back Yard Boys + Gabe Roderick @ Aster Cafe
K.A.A.N. and Demrick @ Cabooze
California Dreamin' - The Songs of Laurel Canyon @ Crooners
Michael Jackson and the Jackson Family Review with the R Factor @ Crooners
Ahmed and the Jazz Creators @ Crooners
CJ Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band @ Dakota
The Ardent Spirits, the Strolling Clones @ Driftwood
- Diana Ross, Naturally 7 @ Grandstand, Minnesota State FairI mean, duh. The queen of Motown would be a central pop and R&B figure even if she’d never sung another note after leaving the Supremes. Instead, she pursued an odd, uneven career path that took in Billie Holiday remakes and disco. She peaked just often enough before she, and Diana, reconquered the charts with the help of the guys in Chic, that it added up to a worthy Act II in retrospect and established her divadom. Her setlist these days mixes these eras neatly, and kicks off with the indelible all-purpose anthem “I’m Coming Out.” No word on how many costume changes she works into the act.
Damage Controller + Cult Vibes + Din Din @ Icehouse
Funktion Junction @ International Bazaar Stage, Minnesota State Fair
MPLS String Project with Luke Peterson Quartet @ KJ’s Hideaway
Blue Groove @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
The Family Stone @ Leinie Lodge Bandshell Stage, Minnesota State Fair
Diie, Memory Deluxe, Story Night, Household Chemicals @ Mortimer’s
Timisarocker, the Black Widows, Athereal Rose @ Palmer’s
Hold Your Lady Tight with DJ Sh’Dance @ Palmer’s
Mayyadda with Dahlia Jones @ Parkway
First Avenue Goes to the Fair @ Schell’s Stage Schilling Amphitheater, Minnesota State Fair
Cuauhtli, Rashad502, Bayb Rio & Freeworld, and Kash Out Gang with Mickey Breeze @ 7th St Entry
Kinder Dosage, Cloud Captains, Vaguely Deadis @ 331 Club
Caroline Jones with Willow Creek Brothers @ Turf Club
NightChurch: Dance Party @ Uptown VFW
The Roseline with Folios & Redwing Blackbird @ White Squirrel
Sunday, September 4
- Water Is Life Festival @ Bayfront Festival ParkLooks as though this distinctive Duluth arts and music festival, spearheaded by longtime indigenous activist Winona LaDuke’s Honor the Earth org, is now an annual event: Congrats on year two, folks. As befits its eco-friendly bent, the lineup leans folkish, but more on the rough and impolite than the genteel side, with Ani Difranco and the Indigo Girls the big veteran names, along with hometown heroes Low providing plenty of electricity. Also onboard are a slew of mostly but not exclusive Minnesotan performers, including Allison Russell, Tia Wood, Dessa, Joe Rainey Sr, Keith Secola, Annie Humphrey, David Huckfelt, Corey Medina, Gaelynn Lea, Thomas X. You don’t need an excuse to hop up to Duluth, especially on the cusp of autumn, but here’s a good one, with politics that are hard to discount: What kind of psycho doesn’t love water?
One World: Sting & the Police Tribute @ Dakota
Super Duty, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood
Tony Cuchetti + Blair Krivanek @ Icehouse
Twin Cities Flamenco Collective @ Icehouse
Salsa Del Soul @ International Bazaar Stage, Minnesota State Fair
Jolly Pops @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Dan Chouinard and Ann Reed @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
The Jayhawks @ Leinie Lodge Bandshell
Cornbread Harris: Church of Cornbread @ Palmer’s
Michael Gay’s Old Country Buffet @ Palmer’s
TS FOSS, Another Night @ Palmer’s
Nunnabove @ Schell’s Stage at the Schilling Amphitheater, Minnesota State Fair
The Driftless Revelers @ White Squirrel
Monday, September 5
- Nelson Devereux’s Zones Residency @ IcehouseSaxophonist Devereux’s monthlong Icehouse residency closes out tonight with a performance of the material from Zones, his newly released album. With layered sax lines complementing one another, often in repetitive yet varied patterns, the album straddles jazz and ambient without pulling a hamstring.
Salsa Del Soul @ International Bazaar Stage, Minnesota State Fair
Socaholix @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Necessary Diversion @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
The Jayhawks @ Leinie Lodge Bandshell
- Labor Day Patio Picnic Potluck @ Palmer’s Do these folks know how to throw a party or what? Headliners The Real Chuck NORAD have great taste in covers and a knack for personalizing them, tossing John Prine’s “Summer’s End” and Bjork’s “Bachelorette” in alongside Ethiopian jazz great Mulatu Astatke. Also on the bill are ’90s tributeers Fistful of Datas, formerly local noise-rap trailblazer Moodie Black, bedroom popper Larry Wish, and (deep breath) Snailmate, Extraterrrestrials, Controversial New Skinny Pill, Trappistines, and Little Lizard. As for the potluck bit, well, every band is bringing a dish to share. Note: “If weather is dumb the show moves indoors.”
Nunnabove @ Schell’s Stage at the Schilling Amphitheater, Minnesota State Fair
The Roe Family Singers @ 331 Club
Matt Arthur Contraption @ 331 Club
Sciurus Sequencia: Monday Night Jazz and Improvised Music Series @ White Squirrel
