Something about me: I go to a restaurant and I can't resist the sampler platter. I'm indecisive and I'm always worried I'll miss out on something if I choose just one entree. I'm kinda the same when it comes to shows: I like a lineup that gives me a broad option. If you're like me, 1) I'm so sorry, but; 2) this is a great weekend for sampler-platter shows. On Friday you've got First Ave's annual Best New Bands night, and the Green Room's Second Anniversary stretches over Friday and Saturday. And the Cedar Commissions? They kick off this weekend too. Enjoy the variety!
Tuesday, January 28
International Reggae All Stars @ Bunker’s
Kavyesh Kaviraj & Omar Abdulkarim @ Dakota
St. Dominic’s Trio @ Driftwood
Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
- The Get Up Kids with Smoking Popes @ Fine Line—Here’s an interesting tidbit I learned from listening to multiple podcasts featuring Matt Pryor, frontman of the Get Up Kids: While 1999’s Something to Write Home About is rightly regarded as an emo classic, the catalyzing force behind its angst isn’t romantic—the band was really pissed at their old record label. Relisten today and the songs take on whole new music-biz meanings rather than lovelorn ones. Or you can take this newfound knowledge to the Fine Line, where TGUK will be performing their sophomore album in its entirety. The Kansas City band have always voiced misgivings about helping launch the mall-emo boom of the '00s, mostly because they arrived via a very different underground rock scene that was more Our Band Could Be Your Life than Hot Topic. And that authenticity bubbles throughout the rock-solid TGUK discography, with the band ripping through the blistering, synthy emo of Something to the mellow Americana of its follow-up, On a Wire. A mid-’00s breakup couldn’t stop the Get Up Kids from becoming the scene institution they are today, riding high on the 25th(ish) anniversary reissue of Something to Write Home About—an album that Pitchfork finally got right.—Jay Boller
Twin Cities Latin Jazz Orchestra @ Jazz Central
Dirty Shorts Brass Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Pop Punk Princess @ Mortimer’s
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis @ Orchestra Hall
The Simon & Garfunkel Story @ Orpheum Theatre
Ragefuture Open Mic @ Palmer’s
Dylan LeBlanc & David Ramirez @ Parkway
The Backfires with Foxtide @ 7th St Entry
OpenMic Mpls @ Sociable Cedar Werks
January Conspiracy Series featuring Hyooman and Curve @ 331 Club
Worker’s Playtime with Phil Heywood @ 331 Club
King Buffalo with Jr Parks @ Turf Club
Day Tvvo with Ellee Grim @ Underground Music Cafe
Ali Gray’s Country Jamboree @ White Squirrel
Eldest Daughter (Tuesday Residency) with Taylor James Donskey, Poorwill @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, January 29
Shady Babies Open Mic @ Acadia
MN Songwriter Showcase @ Aster Cafe
Red Thread & Aby Wolf and the Laurels String Quartet @ Berlin
The Daily Norm, D.C. Leonhardt, & Ambient Toad @ Can Can Wonderland
Jeff Ray with Mikkel Beckmen @ Como Park Conservatory
Pat Donohue, Tim Sparks & Phil Heywood @ Dakota
Michael Grooves Band @ Driftwood
Miss Shannon’s Swing Night @ Eagles 34
- Tim Heidecker with Neil Hamburger @ First Avenue—Heidecker is not just a wildly influential comedic genius but a very good musician to boot. What can you expect at this gig from Tim and his Very Good Band? “I’ve found this little sweet spot, where I can still be funny and I can still be myself. I don’t have to pretend to be this pretentious singer-songwriter, because I’m not. I’m just me,” he recently told an interviewer. Heidecker’s musical output over the past decade—five studio albums plus a live one—would put plenty of full-time musicians to shame, with releases that target Trump (2017’s Too Dumb for Suicide) and ones that look inward (last year’s contemplative indie-folk effort Slipping Away). “My artistic life has been about obscuring identity and irony, and making it so that you don’t know who you’re getting when you’re dealing with me,” he told Variety last fall.—Jay Boller
Thomas Abban (Residency) with Lady Midnight @ Green Room
Regional Jazz Trio: Anthony Cox, JT Bates, Mike Lewis @ Icehouse
Mortiholics Residency @ Mortimer’s
Monarch, In Solid Air, Galleon, and Cause for Concern @ Palmer’s
Jordy Vaughn with Priscilla Momah Scinnlaece @ Pilllar Forum
BZ3 Organ Trio @ Schooner Tavern
Burning Blue Rain (EP Release) with Saltydog and Lighter Co. @ 7th St Entry
Artist Showcase @ Sociable Cider Werks
Roll n Soul Band @ Terminal Bar
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with the Five Dans @ 331 Club
Rianna Marie with Emmy Woods, Hattie Peach @ White Squirrel
Kat & the Kodachromes with Jeremiah, Ditchweed, & The God Damn Band @ Zhora Darling
Thursday, January 30
Afters, Vinny Franco and the Love Channel, anni xo, & Drug League @ Amsterdam
Old Feels (Asher Kurtz) & Nelson Devereaux @ Berlin
Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunker’s
The Beatles Reimagined @ Dakota
Mark Ross & 319, Bring Your Mom @ Driftwood
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Snapped Live Band Open Mic @ Green Room
Janelle and Simply Fusion @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Pee Wee Dread, Lars Nelson Band, and the Nick Foytik Band @ Palmer’s
Calla Mae with Cute Intensions and Sylvia Dieken @ Pilllar Forum
Scott Allen and the List, John Magnuson Trio @ Schooner Tavern
Lazer Dim 700 with Slimesito @ 7th St Entry
Artist Showcase @ Sociable Cider Werks
The Record Club, Powersock @ 331 Club
Eric Mayson (Tape Release) with TABAH, 26 BATS!, and LaSalle @ Turf Club
Friday, January 31
Treaty Oak Revival with Kolby Cooper @ Armory
Love Songs For Angry Men & Tony Cuchetti @ Aster Cafe
Minneapolis String Project @ Berlin
The Dick Von Dyke Show @ Black Hart
Jazz Potpourri Extraordinaire @ Crooners
Katie Gearty and Rick Carlson @ Crooners
Matt Herzog Band, Funk Lump & the Nugs @ Driftwood
True Green, Shady Cove, Alice Bolin, Emily Jones @ Eagles 34
- Best New Bands of 2024 @ First Avenue—Who are the best new bands of 2024? We gave you our answers last year, but tonight First Ave’s annual bash presents you with another equally valid set of options, with just one artist overlapping. (That’d be longtime scene veteran but “new” solo act Christy Costello.) Also possibly familiar to Racket readers will be Bizhiki, pow wow singer Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings’s collaboration with Joe Rainey and Sean Carey, whose album Unbound was among my 2024 favorites. You can also familiarize yourself with the tuneful youths in the Dalmatian Club, the folksy group Kiernan, introspective rapper Mati, capital-letter-avoidant alt-rockers porch light, and the jazz quartet room3. Show up and say you saw ’em when.—Keith Harris
- The Shackletons, Megasound, Dark Pony, Katacombs @ Green Room—Has it really been two years already since we offered this preview of a new live music venue in Uptown? (Yes, it has; look at the damn date on the story, Keith.) The Green Room’s well-deserved two-night victory lap begins on Friday with footloose rockers (and Green Room regulars) the Shackletons, along with Megasound, Dark Pony, and Katacombs. Congrats to Green Room for helping to bring live music back to Uptown. We’re looking forward to year three.—Keith Harris
John Louis and Kelley Smith @ Hook and Ladder
Wandering Eye and Via Chisage @ Hook and Ladder
Seventh Annual Minneapolis SongSLAM @ Icehouse
Bob Frey & the Adaptors @ Metronome Brewery
Ray Covington with Jordan Johnston @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Liszt and Dvořák @ Orchestra Hall
Haydn’s Fire Symphony @ Ordway
The Boot R&B, Tim Casey & The Martyrs, and Scott Allen and The List @ Palmer’s
Mallrats Present MTV Unplugged @ Parkway
Aphid with Waking Hours, Berzica @ Pilllar Forum
Porridge Radio with Sluice @ 7th St Entry
Faux Pseudo, Sleepy Eye, Paul Cerar @ 331 Club
Solid Gold with Vlush @ Turf Club
glitterdark 2 (live) with 3125 B2B mother3k, m4plefields + Shepherdess @ Uptown VFW
Gasolina Reggaeton Party @ Varsity
Songs by Boys by Girls feat. Lori Dokken, Patty Peterson, Rachel Holder, & Judi Vinar @ Woman’s Club
Ancient Waves, Betty Won't, Ciao Bello @ Zhora Darling
Saturday, February 1
The Long Goodbyes @ Aster Cafe
Chris Wilbourn (aka Felix of Heiruspecs) @ Berlin
Mikel Wright & the Wrongs @ Bunker’s
John Jamison II, May Klug, Yeej @ Cedar Cultural Center
Panel, Time Thieves, Partial Traces @ Cloudland
Martin Zellar and the Hardways @ Crooners
Katie Gearty and Rick Carlson @ Crooners
In Your Eyes: Peter Gabriel Tribute @ Day Block Brewing
Seafoam Green Tangerine, Klezmer on Ice @ Driftwood
Spit Takes, Watches, Yuhh @ Dusty’s
Dylan Marlowe with Brian Fuller @ Fine Line
Magic City Hippies with Mustard Service @ First Avenue
- Marijuana Deathsquads, Why Not, Reiki, Ava Levy @ Green Room—On night two of the Green Room's anniversary, the always explosive Marijuana Deathsquads headline, and they’re joined by Why Not, Reiki, and Ava Levy.—Keith Harris
Winter Sol 2025: Socktopus, Something To Do, Lost Island Society, Linus @ Hook and Ladder
Then Comes Silence with Stranger Gallery, DJ Gwiingwans @ Hook and Ladder
The Other Ol’ Blue Eyes @ Icehouse
Andrew Schwandt Trio @ Jazz Central
- DJ Alexis Rose @ Modist—She's at Modist each Saturday this month. Check out our feature on her here if you missed it. (Or even if you didn't.)
Liszt and Dvořák @ Orchestra Hall
Haydn’s Fire Symphony @ Ordway
Nato Coles & The Blue Diamond Band, The 241's, and Miss Georgia Peach @ Palmer’s
Yellow Ostrich with Fend Kiernan @ Pilllar Forum
The Dirty Nil with Grumpster and House & Home @ 7th St Entry
Becky Kapell @ Schooner Tavern
DESPISE, HALLUX, RETMARÜT, LEFT IN ROT @ Seward Cafe
Mommy Sez No, Lost Evidence, Red Fletcher, Millennial Falcon @ Terminal Bar
The Changeups, Ira Haze & The Straze, Izzy Cruz @ 331 Club
Jeremie Albino with Benjamin Dakota Rogers @ Turf Club
Bogues @ Underground Music Cafe
Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys @ Uptown VFW
DecaDance: D. Untethered, Sci-Fi, Alexis Rose, ABEL @ Uptown VFW
Joe Nicola Hosts Guitar-O-Rama @ White Squirrel
Trever Knutson @ White Squirrel
Gently, Gently with Whispered The Rabbit, Money Bones @ White Squirrel
Aberration, Nothingness, & Extermination Day @ Zhora Darling
Sunday, February 2
Schubert Mixology with Bradley Greenwald and Friends @ Amsterdam
Patty and the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
Nathan Hanson/Leyna Marika Papach/Kyle Motl/Steve Hirsh @ Berlin
Theology: Video Game Music @ Can Can Wonderland
Monthly Bluegrass Jam @ Caydence Records & Coffee
Midwinter Nordic Dance with Frigg @ Cedar Cultural Center
Switchgrass @ Como Park Conservatory
Urban Classic Presents Pure Soul @ Crooners
- Chief Adjuah @ Dakota—Formerly known as Christian Scott, the artist now known as Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah has been one of the 21st century’s more innovative trumpeters in the music he dislikes calling jazz, preferring the term “stretch music.” But on his latest album, Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning, released in 2023, Adjuah abandoned the trumpet in favor of the West African n’goni and homemade stringed instruments of his own design, while drawing on the polyrhythms and chants of New Orleans “Black Indian” music toward bold ends—the title track celebrates a heroine who torches an ICE facility. But that was two years ago. Who knows how much further Adujah has travelled in the time since?
Emerson Woodshed Collective @ Dual Citizen
Phine & Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood
TC Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
Michelle with Ayoni @ Fine Line
Sunday FUND Day - An LGBTQ+ Fundraising Event featuring XINA @ Green Room
Church of Cornbread @ Palmer’s
West Bank Social Club @ Palmer’s
Nile & Six Feet Under with Psycroptic and Embryonic Autopsy @ Studio B
Wunderhorse with Deux Visages @ Turf Club
Wilkinson James with Erik Brandt (of the Urban Hillbilly Quartet) @ White Squirrel
Smokin’ Joe with Cold Sweat, Theyself @ White Squirrel
Topez Annual Birthday Show @ Zhora Darling
Monday, February 3
The Mystery Mic: Ian Mcclean @ Acadia
Albert Lee & Jeremy Clyde @ Dakota
Steve Clarke ‘n Band @ Eagles 34
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
Hard Bop Collective @ Metronome Brewery
Karaoke with Ben Moooker @ Palmer’s
