A REALLY Loaded Saturday in Your Complete Concert Calendar: Oct. 20-26

1 Mic, 1 Cable, 30 Minutes @ Carbone’s—This local-artist showcase from Fulton Brewing and Carbone’s takes place on the third Wednesday of each month. And folks? It’s the third Wednesday of the month. Tonight’s musical lineup features Michael Sherwood, Shelly Lynne, and Troy Norton, each of whom gets—you read the event name—30 minutes to share a stripped-down set with listeners. Nate P. of SHORELUNCH fame hosts, and Fulton pints are just $5 during the show. Not a bad way to spend a Wednesday.—Em Cassel

Benny Weinbeck @ Crooners

Dancing Queen—Tribute to Disco @ Crooners

MC Lyte @ Dakota—If there’s one thing I’m gonna do, it’s shout out old school rappers my age who are still making a living on the mic. Released in 2024, 1 of 1 was Lyte’s first album in nearly a decade, and it offers a taste of what you might expect from tonight’s show: throwback beats and career reminiscences, with skills undiminished.—Keith Harris

The Twin Cities Céilí Band @ Dubliner Pub

Miss Shannon Presents @ Eagles 34

The Jack Wharff Band, Jonas Conner @ Fine Line

Open Mic with Neal Dimick @ Ginkgo Coffee

Flavor Jam Spooky @ Green Room

Fonville x Fribush @ Icehouse

Explosion Big Band @ Jazz Central

Pat Donahue and Friends @ Midway Saloon

Karaoke Blast With Chazz @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Welt, Mishi Mega, Heliocene, Todd @ Mortimer’s

The Cameras, Anything You Want, Tarias and the Sound @ Pilllar Forum

The Swamp Poppas @ Schooner Tavern

Indigo Girls with Linda Perry @ State Theatre

DJ Night @ Terminal Bar

Nina Luna, Sammie Jean Cohen, Aly Dyg @ 331 Club

Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Virgil Caine @ 331 Club

Patrick Droney @ Varsity Theater

Nancy Olson @ White Squirrel

Lords of the Universe, Thomas Richey & the Rowdy Gents @ White Squirrel

Shadowwrought, Desolation Plains, Stake of Hawthorn @ Zhora Darling

Thursday, October 22

Rave Cage @ Abi’s

Second Breakfast @ Acadia

Lakeview @ Amsterdam

The Hanson Family Band @ Animales

MNAKED: Norah Shea (feat. Augie Babel) & Sam Ryden & Guests @ Aster Cafe

Mary Louise Knutson Trio @ Berlin

Crates: Mingus Ah Um by Charles Mingus @ Berlin

Jaybee & the Routine @ Bunker’s

Protest: A Revolutionary Rock Opus @ Capri

RZ Shahid & Friends @ Cedar Cultural Center–Though I picked Shahid for 2024's Poised to Pop, I somehow slept on the rapper's trio of 2025 EPs, Free Flowin, Sumn to Say, and Motion. Compile those 11 tracks on a single playlist and you'll have one of last year's finest local rap collections. You'll hear from those tonight, for sure, along with Shahid's latest track, "TOMO" (stands for "take our masks off"). Among the other artists he’s putting on tonight are Jandaletha Rae, Righteous Emcee, and Brandyn Lee Tulloch with Poetic Roots.—Keith Harris

Erin Livingston @ Crooners

Cafe Accordion Orchestra @ Crooners

Ethan Iverson @ Crooners

Chris Botti @ Dakota

Grooveland, the Grainbelters @ Driftwood Char Bar

Soul Trouvere @ Dubliner Pub

Joe Carey @ Dubliner Pub

LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34

Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34

Spine Stealers and Friends @ Eagles 34

Fruit Bats, Matthew Logan Vasquez @ Fine Line

Palace, Rollo Doherty @ First Avenue

Snapz Live Band Open Mic @ Green Room

Seth Walker, Samantha Grimes @ Hook and Ladder

Intuition and Equilibrium @ Hook and Ladder

Ghost Wagon (Album Release), Becky Kapell @ Icehouse

Acoustic Thursdays @ Mainstreet Bar

Dan Gjelten, Bob Ockenden and Kevin Daley @ Metronome Brewery

DJ NeekaSoDope @ Mia

Cowboy John & Gigi @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Drums of Navarone @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Zodiac with DJs Shannon Blowtorch and Dimitry Killstorm @ Mortimer’s

Haydn and Liszt @ Orchestra Hall

Sammy Rae & the Friends, Melt @ Palace Theatre

Jeffrey Foucault, Molly Dean @ Parkway Theater

Fellow Travelers, Loan Sum, Alewives, Good Morning Midnight @ Pilllar Forum

Danser, 13 Howell @ Schooner Tavern

Mati, Moise, Morgan McCarthy @ 7th St Entry

Outlander in Concert @ State Theatre

Moonlight Ramblers @ 318 Cafe

Brotherhood of Birds @ 331 Club

Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers with Trapper Schoepp @ Turf Club

Desperate Electric, Matcha Fever, Quietchild @ Uptown VFW

The Wrecks @ Varsity Theater

Body Heat: Live Band Burlesque Funk Show @ Volstead’s

Lamm & Henley @ White Squirrel

Johnny Sincerely @ White Squirrel

They Dead, Institutional Green, Unstable Shapes @ Zhora Darling

Friday, October 23

Postcards @ Acadia

Lexie Modica (Album Release) @ Amsterdam

Funk Friday feat. TH3 @ Animales

Judy Thomas @ Aster Cafe

The Cindy Lawson Band @ Barely Brothers Records—see Saturday's listings.

Rusty Buckle @ Bear Cave

Nancy Bierman Trio @ Berlin

Julian Davis Reid and Circle of Trust @ Berlin

Lauryn Lesley @ Berlin

Riley & the Urban Revival @ Blues Saloon

DJ D-MIL @ Boardwalk

Dan Ristrom @ Bunker’s

Protest: A Revolutionary Rock Opus @ Capri

Maggie Koerner @ Cedar Cultural Center

The Tubs, Mopar Stars @ Cloudland—Owen Williams still sings a whole lot like Richard Thompson on this Welsh band’s latest, Hard Life. I mention this as a point of information rather than a criticism; it’s even somewhat endearing since you can tell he’s probably trying to mimic Bob Mould. (The giveaway is the one that goes “If I can’t change your mind.”) If he doesn’t have ol’ Dick’s spite, he still complains a lot about women, as power poppers will do, as much out of habit as out of experience. But the Tubs are hookier than a lot of power-pop guys, and new guitarist Dan Lucas, in for the departing George Nicholls, knows when to chime, when to jangle, and when to add a little lick in just the right place.—Keith Harris

Cindi Scheffler @ Crooners

Bruce Henry and Dean Magraw @ Crooners

Chris Botti @ Dakota

Adult Enrichment, Manual Controller, Robot Slide @ Day Block Brewing

The Soul Trustees, the Strolling Clones @ Driftwood Char Bar

DD & Company @ Dubliner Pub

Irish Music Session @ Dubliner Pub

Miss Shannon Sock Hop with Lena and the Lovekills @ Eagles 34

Dogstar @ Fillmore

Tank and the Bangas, DJ Zeus, Ariel J. @ Fine Line

Sylvan Esso, Papa Mbye @ First Avenue—Are Sylvan Esso... local? Hear us out. The indie-pop group's producer, Nick Sanborn, got his start in the Durham, North Carolina-based band Megafaun, which was a spinoff of the early Justin Vernon project DeYarmond Edison, who came from Eau Claire, Wisconsin… Sounds (painfully, tenuously) local(ish) to me! At any rate, Sanborn teamed with beguiling singer Amelia Meath for Sylvan Esso, and together the duo hit No. 39 on the Billboard charts with their 2014 self-titled debut. Meath and Sanborn aren't coasting on late indie-sleaze legacy vibes, however. Their latest, last month's Ow, charged outta the gates with the winking, bratty rocker "Hot Slob." Arty yet fun, peak-Pitchfork-evoking yet always evolving—we stan this freshly minted Minnesota band from Durham! Picked to Click 2024 winner Papa Mbye, who recently took over booking duties at Mortimer’s, opens.—Jay Boller

Jeremy Messersmith @ Fitzgerald Theater

Gambit Music Fest @ Gambit Brewing—The St. Paul brewery has rounded up a sweet selection of local music for the weekend. Tonight Greg Norton headlines; tomorrow you can check out two hard-gigging bands: Black Widows and the Silent Treatment. And there a dozen other groups in the mix too. Now that's what I call a masterful gambit, sir.—Keith Harris

406 Band @ Ginkgo Coffee

Candlelight: Haunted Halloween @ Granada

Bayroom: Haunted House @ Green Room

Dubuquefest @ Hook and Ladder

Claws Out with Friends Without Faces, Critterthing, Gojii, RabidFoxArts, Leafhoof, Briar Lupine @ Hook and Ladder

Chresten Hyde Quintet @ Jazz Central

Bradeazy @ The Loft

New Primitives @ Mainstreet Bar

Safety Knife, 1947, Vash the Stampede @ Memory Lanes

RAYMND, Noah Schmitt @ Metronome Brewery

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Loud & Heavy @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Y2K with DJs Sophia Eris and Shannon Blowtorch @ Mortimer’s

Haydn and Liszt @ Orchestra Hall

Lise Davidsen and James Baillieu @ Ordway

Clawhammer Mike and the Old-Time Barn Stormers @ Padraigs

Ryan Bingham and the Texas Gentlemen @ Palace Theatre

ELnO @ Parkway Theater

DD the Spektrum, Roc Barboza, Blimey, Nu Nova @ Pilllar Forum

Hot Pastrami! @ Schooner Tavern

Ian Sweet, Meg Eisler @ 7th St Entry

Indigo Girls with Linda Perry @ State Theatre

Zac Brown Band, Brothers Osborne @ Target Center

Michael Monroe @ 318 Cafe

USPOP, Good Diction @ 331 Club

In Her Own Words and Every Avenue with Fluorescents @ Turf Club

Jigitz @ Varsity Theater

Mill City Hot Club @ Volstead’s

History Repeating Herself, Nephilim @ White Squirrel

MLLT @ White Squirrel

Saturday, October 24

Awake for the Fall @ Acadia

Gravezig @ Amsterdam

Ponyfolk @ Animales

The Scarlet Goodbye, Holy Hannah! @ Aster Cafe

Johnny Table All-Stars @ Bear Cave

Charlie Bruber & Jack Barrett @ Berlin

Brian Citro Organ Trio @ Berlin

Jen-E @ Berlin

DJ YS @ Boardwalk

Twine @ Bunker’s

Halloween Takeover @ Cabooze

Emmy Woods @ Carbone’s

Protest: A Revolutionary Rock Opus @ Capri

Majmin @ Cedar Cultural Center

Cindy Lawson (Album Release), Toilet Rats, Mad Mojo Jett @ Cloudland—Is Cindy Lawson the local-rock comeback story of the ’20s? Maybe I’m forgetting someone, that’s possible, but let’s run with that for now. Once known as a member of the Clams, an all-female band back when such a thing was a rarity, Lawson has spent the past few years gigging with DIY industriousness and sloganizing/guitar-slashing with punk bluntness. Tonight is a release party for her four-track EP, Long Live the Resistance!; her songs’ targets include abusive men (“If you could get away with it would you do it again?”) and ICE agents (“We were there/We saw it happen”), with proceeds from EP sales going to the legal defense fund of the Minnesota 15. Lawson and her band will also be at Barely Brothers Records on Friday.—Keith Harris

Joel Shapira’s Maggie’s Maison with Benny Weinbeck @ Crooners

Bennett/Evans 1975 Album @ Crooners

Michael Jackson’ Family Revue with R Factor @ Crooners

Chris Botti @ Dakota

discodesque ep10: Kema and Pet Girlfriend @ Disco Death

Palomino Breeze, Zoe Says Go @ Driftwood Char Bar

HER Night: All Girls Halloween Party @ Dual Citizen

Bedlam @ Dubliner Pub

Friend Dog, the Midnight Current, Can Damage @ Dusty’s

Dan Voorhees @ Eagles 34

Carnage the Executioner @ Eagles 34

Buena Vista Social Club @ Fillmore

Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel @ Fine Line

Sylvan Esso @ First Avenue—see Friday's listings.

Jeremy Messersmith @ Fitzgerald Theater

Banana Grenade as Title Fight, Just a Casualty as the Germs, Velvet Ghoul, Flowers 4 Guilt @ Flying V

Gambit Music Fest @ Gambit Brewing—see Friday's listings.

DJames @ Gidi Bar

The Jazz Room: A Journey to the Heart of New Orleans @ Granada

Koo Koo, DJ Hamster Dance @ Green Room

Nur D (Album Release), Brandyn Lee Tulloch, DJ Hayes, Brass Solidarity @ Green Room—Nur-D hustles. His new album, due on Wednesday, is his 11th full-length (in under a decade). It’s called Hell, and damn straight it’s, uh, topical. “END OF THE WORLD,” which I’ll leave in all caps just to drive home how much he means it, updates “1999” for the 21st century—“I’m-a do my dance when the flashbang hits,” he boasts, inviting you to put your body “right on my apocalypse.” Elsewhere he disses “slavecatchers in the street” (aka ICE) for their chapped lips as well as their brutality. Nur-D never fails to rise to the moment; it’d be nice if we had fewer moments here in Minnesota for him to rise to.—Keith Harris

Bruce McBride’s Myriad Magical Musical Minstrels with Famous Volcanoes, Play Prettys, the Banned Name, Barking at Ghosts, No Badness, Alicia Kay, 4321 All-Stars, the Chunckles @ Hook and Ladder

Sapphoween @ Hook and Ladder

Lyle Brewer @ Jazz Central

Colonel Mustard’s Mechanical Orchestra @ Jazz Central

Rebecca Black (DJ Set) @ The Loft

Sugar Buzz @ Mainstreet Bar

Fred Sturm’s Migrations @ Metronome Brewery

High & Mighty @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Beat: Belew/Vai/Levin/Bozzio @ Mystic Lake Casino

Ben Folds @ Orchestra Hall

J. A. Jayant & Co. @ O’Shaughnnessy

Steve Taylor and Some Band @ Pantages Theatre

SHUGE, Meghan Kreidler, Ditch Pigeon, Pour Choices @ Minnesota Music Cafe

RLB @ Schooner Tavern

Dice, the Back Alley @ 7th St Entry

Ahee @ Skyway Theatre

Hot Fruit, Houseluna @ Terminal Bar

2 Girls & a Boyd @ 318 Cafe

Grand Lilac, Fumbler, the Envies @ 331 Club

Gilla Band, Piss @ Turf Club—Look people, we have got to spread the hot gigs out better—I don’t know what the hell I’m gonna do Saturday night. A standard four-piece vox-gtr-bass-drums rock band in appearance, these Irish fellers play so consistently in the red that their music more closely resembles some tech wiz’s industrial clamor than, I dunno, Geese or whoever. “The trick,” as bassist Daniel Fox told Pitchfork’s Laura Snapes, “is to be louder than everyone else.” The quartet’s new album, Pugnello, strips down further toward pure blare—is that powerhouse drummer Adam Faulkner battering out those confounding rhythms or a machine or both?—with frontman Dara Kiely’s rants providing the barest melodies. The lyrics that emerge from the din make me listen closer, though in the tradition of Mark E. Smith, Kiely gets as much out of an exasperated “ohhhh” as he does from lines like “I'm injecting a lethal dose of nothing/I'm blaring a dangerous amount of Coldplay.”—Keith Harris

Unotheactivist @ Underground Music

MOEDlow @ Underground Music

The Assortment with Michael Grey @ Uptown VFW

Rebecca Black @ Varsity Theater

Erin Livingston @ Volstead’s

“The Stories We Sing” with Chase D. Burkhart, Josh Reinitz, Mari @ White Squirrel

Folios, Clog @ White Squirrel

Public Meltdown @ White Squirrel