A Very Special Tax Day Edition of Your Complete Concert Calendar: April 18-24

Pretty much all the live music you can catch in the Twin Cities this week.

By Keith Harris

10:15 AM CDT on April 18, 2023

Photos provided|

Bassekou Kouyate, Sunny Day Real Estate

Happy gecsday to all who celebrate!

Tuesday, April 18

Inflict. (Farewell Show) with Contrition, DRUID, Mirror Of Being @ Amsterdam

100 gecs with Machine Girl @ Armory—Racket’s Em Cassel may have arrived at the core appeal of 100 gecs, and it ain’t complicated: The superstar hyperpop duo is fun as hell. Like its predecessor 1000 Gecs, their latest, last week’s 10,000 Gecs, mines the depths of gleefully uncool ‘90s tastes (nu-metal, pop punk, ska), blends everything into an experimental stew with glitchy PC bleeps and bloops, and emerges, somehow, with singular pop earworms. It’s the party soundtrack antidote to doomscrolling—Dylan Brady and Laura Les don’t take anything seriously, so why should you? Sum 41-evoking single “Hollywood Baby” might be the standout 10,000 Gecs jam, but don’t sleep on “Frog on the Floor,” a demented hoedown nursery rhyme about a misunderstood amphibian who loves keg stands but can’t get flies out of his teeth. We’ve all been there.

International Reggae Allstars @ Bunkers

Morgan James @ Dakota

St. Dominic’s Trio @ Driftwood

Snow Tha Product @ First Avenue

Erik Koskinen & His Band @ Icehouse

The Academic with Daphne Jane @ 7th St Entry

April Conspiracy Series featuring The Infernos, Crush Scene @ 331 Club

Worker's Playtime, Collapsing Stars @ 331 Club

Screaming Females with Generación Suicida and The Mimes @ Turf Club—If there's such a thing as meat-and-potatoes punk, this NJ trio has been grinding it out with midtempo determination for two decades. And they'e not about to change up their sound now—on their latest album, Desire Pathway, Marissa Paternoster continues to state her prerogatives over snarly guitar.

Trevor McSpadden & Mary Cutrufello @ White Squirrel

PSYPL (Tuesday Residency) with am Graber and MELO REN @ White Squirrel

Wednesday, April 19

MN Songwriter Showcase hosted by Nick Hensley @ Aster Cafe

Dylan Salfer @ Bunkers

Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas @ Cedar Cultural Center

Maggie's Wednesdays: Lori Dokken @ Crooners

Loudon Wainwright III @ Dakota—Now 75, the acerbically comic singer-songwriter has made old age his main subject for at least a decade—in 2012, Older Than My Old Man Now flaunted the fact that he'd already lived three years longer than his dad. His latest, Lifetime Achievement, has a few tender moments, a few irritating ones, a few funny ones. and the instructive "How Old Is 75?"

Senor Blues, Sun Wave Mountain Cave @ Driftwood

Carcass with Municipal Waste, Sacred Reich, and Creeping Death @ First Avenue

Mega Mango, Aiden Intro, Parachutes @ Green Room

Delicate Friend (EP Release) with Bad Posture Club and Rabeca @ Hook and Ladder

Monica LaPlante + System Exclusive @ Icehouse

Boot R&B, SuperModified, Spit Takes, Tang and the Tabs @ Mortimers

Smash Into Pieces with Citizen Soldier @ 7th St Entry

Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Lonesome Dan Kase @ 331 Club

Fuzzy Math Jazz @ 331 Club

Flyte with Ben Noble @ Turf Club

Petite League with Kate Malanaphy + Charlie Doesn't Surf @ Underground Music Venue

Saint Paul Mudsteppers Monthly @ White Squirrel

Nights With Tim @ White Squirrel

Thursday, April 20

Pixy @ Amsterdam

Lewis Capaldi with Em Beihold @ Armory

Graham Bramblett, Doug Collins @ Aster Cafe

Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunkers

Cafe Accordion Orchestra @ Crooners

A Birthday Tribute to Luther Vandross @ Crooners

Wayne Anthony & Ballare Orchestra @ Dakota

Paul Porter Band, Demolition Means Progress @ Driftwood

Placebo @ Fillmore

Lizzy McAlpine with Olivia Barton @ First Avenue

Rawtwhylah, Illism, the Culture @ Green Room

420 Blazin’ Blues & BBQ: Concert & High Minded Vendor Fair @ Hook and Ladder

The Talbott Brothers, Fox and Bones @ Icehouse

Root River Jam @ KJ's Hideaway

Petty Larcenists, Sparrowhawk, Pleasure Horse, Homemade Shit @ Mortimers

Bikini Kill with CB Radio Gorgeous @ Palace Theatre—Now that Tobi Vail, Kathi Wilcox, and especially Kathleen Hanna stand unchallenged as elder stateswomen of punk feminism, it’s important to remember something: People fucking hated Bikini Kill. Not all people, true, and mostly men, but no punk band of the time drew violent hecklers and smug interviewers quite like these women did. As they take their belated victory lap with this reunion tour, it’s tempting to reduce their moment to an encyclopedia entry (“they epitomized riot grrrl as movement and music”), but in their day Bikini Kill were scary, exhilarating, challenging, and annoying. Lyrically they acknowledged rape and abuse and other grim aspects of life as a woman that weren’t talked or sung about, and musically they rebuilt punk from the ground up, their barrage as simplistic as the all-boy hardcore bands but more innately tuneful and less bullheaded. Let’s hope the men have sense enough to stand in the back without Hanna having to tell them

David Morris with Noah West @ 7th St Entry

Soul Asylum @ State Theatre—To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the band's MTV Unplugged performance, recorded at the height of their fame, Dave Pirner has decided to recreate it. New Orleans great Ivan Neville rejoins them on keys, and local outfit STRINGenius will be on hand to flesh out some arrangements.

Cross Pollination: The Gentlemen’s Anti-Temperance League @ 331 Club

Dream Of The Wild with Brotherhood of Birds and Whiskey Rock ‘n’ Roll Club MPLS @ Turf Club

Phase Meridian, VIN, Thundergoat, and Bite Back @ Underground Music Venue

Crane Killers @ Underground Music Venue

Mary Jane: A Space Cowgirl’s Songbook @ Uptown VFW

Colt Ford @ Varsity

Pig’s Eye Records presents… The Tender Years, Loser Magnet, Folios @ White Squirrel

Friday, April 21

American Scarecrows, Miles Nielsen and the Rusted Hearts, The Mascot Theory @ Amsterdam

Black Tiger Sex Machine with Kai Wachi @ Armory

Mostly Trees with Chandler @ Aster Cafe

Dan Ristrom & The Big Throwdown @ Bunkers

Chelsea Grin with Carnifex @ Cabooze

Willie West (CD Release) @ Crooners

The Music of Patsy Cline with Joyann Parker @ Crooners

A Birthday Tribute to Luther Vandross @ Crooners

Maggie's Afterglow: Jennifer Grimm @ Crooners

Eric Mayson, Hallie Spoor, Youth in a Roman Field @ Driftwood

Spyro Gyra @ Dakota

Emo Nite with Forrest Kline (of Hellogoodbye) @ Fine Line

The Suburbs with The Hang Ups @ First Avenue—Two Minneapolis music institutions on one stage. Since reforming, Chan Poling's old new-wavers are no longer a rarity in local venues, but a Hang Ups show comes along a little less often these days.

Nunnabove, Mayyadda @ Green Room

Mango Jam @ Hook and Ladder

Magic Castles, Bermuda Squares, Oyster World, and DJ Henry @ Hook and Ladder

Austin Plaine @ Icehouse

Joe Flip (Album Release) @ KJ’s Hideaway

Get Higher @ Mortimers

Spring Break Fan Jam @ Myth Live

Giallo, Primitive Force, Chain of Command @ Pillar

Mo Lowda & The Humble with Illiterate Light @ 7th St Entry

ARMNHMR @ Skyway Theatre

Los Temerarios @ State Theatre

Elevation Nights @ Target Center

The Envies, Story Night, Aesha Minor.@ 331 Club

James Eugene Russell with Faith Boblett and Laamar @ Turf Club

Little Lizard with Timisarocker, Love, Ulysses, & Cannabis Kiss @ Underground Music Venue

Hipshaker MPLS @ Uptown VFW

Gabe Barnett & Them Rounders with Ginger Bones, Woodzen @ White Squirrel

Saturday, April 22

redveil with femdot. and D’mari Harris @ Amsterdam

Airlands @ Aster Cafe

Chase & Ovation @ Bunkers

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba @ Cedar Cultural Center—A master—if not the master—of the three-stringed West African lute-like ngoni, Kouyate has recorded some of the most exciting semi-traditional music to emerge from Mali in the past decade. I’m fudging with that “semi-” because he’s nudged the instrument into the modern age, plugging in and toying with effects like wah-wah to expand his range. There’s a reason African music stars like Toumani Diabate, Ali Farka Toure, and Youssou N’Dour keep his phone number handy. If you’re curious, start with Jama Ko, released in 2013 just after his nation suffered a military coup and sounding damn fired up about. Or just come on to this show and enjoy the live Ngoni Ba experience, which includes dynamic vocalist Amy Sacko (who also happens to be his wife).

Gustavus Jazz Ensemble @ Crooners

Scott Mateo's World Music Trio @ Crooners

The R Factor @ Crooners

Gypsy Mania "Hot Club" Quartet @ Crooners

Maggie's Afterglow: Charmin Michelle @ Crooners

Spyro Gyra @ Dakota

The Lesser Jacksons. The Disappointments @ Driftwood

The Taylor Show: Taylor Swift Night @ Fillmore

Pinback with Disheveled Cuss @ Fine Line

Sunny Day Real Estate with The Appleseed Cast @ First Avenue—Did you hear? Emo is back. Not in the way it was back 10 years ago, when the Front Bottoms and Modern Baseball revitalized the genre following its post-TRL decline. Today’s emo resurgence, according to a feature from freakin' CBS News, is being championed by Demi Lovato, Mod Sun (son of Minnesota), Landon Barker (son of Travis), and the founders of Emo Nite. Sunny Day Real Estate didn’t appear anywhere in the head-scratching segment, but real-heads know the Sub Pop-signed Seattle band helped put emo—then known as emotional hardcore—on the underground map with 1994’s Diary. Jeremy Enigk & Co. tend to break up a lot, though it seems the classic lineup (minus bassist Nate Mendel) will be onboard for this fourth reunion. We dare you not to smile when the opening riff from “In Circles'' hits at First Ave.

Chris Lager Band @ Green Room

Stage Fright: A Tribute To Bob Dylan & The Band @ Hook and Ladder

JoJo Green, Ty Pow & The Holy North @ Hook and Ladder

Ellis Pau with Radoslav Lorković @ Icehouse

Ross Clowser Trio @ Icehouse

ELOUR (Album Release) with Loser Magnet + Socktopus @ Icehouse

Sincerely Covers Waits @ KJ’s Hideaway

LA Buckner, Andrew Schwandt Trio @ KJ's Hideaway

Space Laces @ The Loft

The Meadow: Year of the Curator @ Mortimers

Battle for the Vox @ Northrop

The Okee Dokee Brothers @ Ordway