Hope that headline wasn't too scary for ya!
Tuesday, October 22
Leon Bridges with Hermanos Gutierrez @ Armory
International Reggae All-Stars @ Bunker's
- Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn @ Dakota—Since freeing herself of Danity Kane and Diddy Dirty Money, Richard has become one of the most versatile R&B artists of the 21st century. Her early solo work was dense and intricate stuff that gradually opened up in more accessible ways as she incorporated the influences of her native New Orleans as well as the house music she loved. Most recently, Richard has stepped in a chamber jazz direction, working with the neoclassical producer Zahn. Earlier this month, they released their second album together, Quiet in a World Full of Noise.
St. Dominic's Trio @ Driftwood
Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
The Sisters of Mercy with Blaqk Audio @ Fillmore
Emerging Artist Night @ The Garage
Twin Cities Latin Jazz Orchestra @ Jazz Central
Dirty Shorts Brass Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Grupo Bella + Los Alegres Bailadores @ Ordway
Ragefuture Open Mic @ Palmer's
Jeris Johnson with Slay Squad and BLAKSWAN @ 7th St Entry
Artist Showcase @ Sociable Cider Werks
Industrial Strength with DJ Sin @ Terminal Bar
Worker’s Playtime with Craig Paquette @ 331 Club
October Conspiracy Theory featuring Cilician Gates, 1947 @ 331 Club
The Convalescence with Casket Robbery, Ignominious, and Witchden @ Turf Club
Cat Ridgeway & Johnny Manchild @ Underground Music Venue
Cole Diamond Band @ White Squirrel
Homunculus Rex (Tuesday Residency) with Jonger, Sol, Boss’ Daughter @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, October 23
MN Songwriter Showcase @ Aster Cafe
Marimba Matt @ Can Can Wonderland
Buddy Holly: Oh Boy! @ Crooners
Kitchen Patrol & Joe @ Day Block Brewing
Kelly Smith & MIkkel @ Driftwood
Miss Shannon's Swing Night @ Eagles 34
Zach Seabaugh with Noah Rinker @ Fine Line
- Jack White @ First Avenue—Surprise! Meg White’s former bandmate announced that he was coming to town just yesterday. He's currently on a sort of guerrilla tour, playing at smaller clubs than usual (these shows are called "underplays" in media parlance, a term that kinda grosses me out for some reason) with little advance notice. Congrats to White for finding a way to wriggle outside the strictures of music biz as usual with trickster aplomb—his latest album No Name is not only more or less untitled, but was originally packaged as a giveaway. ("The unconventional release structure of the album has been discussed by media outlets," Wikipedia tells me.) And the music? It rocks aplenty in that eccentric, reliable, inessential way of his.
Rummage! with Eric Mayson + Toby Ramaswamy @ Icehouse
Lazy Scorsese (October Residency) @ Mortimer's
Orchestra in Orbit @ Orchestra Hall
The Matt Arthur Contraption @ Palmer's
Not Yet All Things with Boy Dirt Car and Shoplifting Kink @ Pilllar Forum
Swamp Poppas @ Schooner Tavern
Friday Pilots Club with Capital Soirée and Family Dinner @ 7th St Entry
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Pat Donohue and Friends @ 331 Club
The Beguine Brothers Old Time C & W Revue Ltd. @ 331 Club
Villains Unleashed: $iah and Bigg Kiaa Collab @ Underground Music Cafe
Real Friends @ Varsity Theater
Sarah Morris and the Sometimes Guys @ White Squirrel
Andrew Kneeland & Marti Moreno with Erica VonBank, Sun Patches @ White Squirrel
Thursday, October 24
Porches with sweet93 @ Amsterdam
J Bell & the Lazy Susan Trio, the Seculents @ Aster Cafe
Bryan Nichols & Brandon Wozniak @ Berlin
Take That Back feat. Joan Hutton & Sue Orfield @ Berlin
Jaybee & the Routine @ Bunker's
- Sister Species (Album Release) with Theo Langason @ Cedar Cultural Center—Sister Species's fine new album, Lena in the Bog, offers another dollop of precise chamber pop from this lush septet (I think I counted right—these big groups are tricky), pulled capably together by head sis Emily Kastrul and her questing yet sensible voice.
Extra-Terrestrials, King Sized Coffin, Nemesissy @ Cloudland
Richard Cortez (Album Release) @ Crooners
ACME Jazz Company with Arne Fogel @ Crooners
Stock Market Cinema, New Locals, Noslo, Easeupkid @ Day Block Brewing
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Karaoke With On-Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Shalva- Hatha X Collective @ Eagles 34
It’s A 2000s Party ⏤ Halloween Edition @ Fine Line
The Heavy Heavy with Dylan LeBlanc @ First Avenue
Ganja White Night -Wobbleween @ Granada
Snapped Live Band Open Night @ Green Room
Crush Scene + 26 Bats! @ Hook and Ladder
Nunnabove (Single Release) with iLLism and Goon Tribune @ Hook and Ladder
Charlie Parr + JT Bates @ Icehouse
Drums of Navarone @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Orchestra in Orbit @ Orchestra Hall
The Psychedelic Furs & The Jesus and Mary Chain with Frankie Rose and DJ Jake Rudh @ Palace Theatre
The Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs @ Palmer's
XTC: The Tribute: Senses Working Overtime 9 @ Parkway
Doug Collins & the Receptionists, Billy Dankert Trio @ Schooner Tavern
Allegra Krieger and Greg Mendez with hemlock @ 7th St Entry
Gently, Gently, the Grieving Pines @ 331 Club
Genevieve Stokes with Lily Kershaw @ Turf Club
Family Dinner, Weald, Bloom or Bust @ Underground Music Cafe
Phantom Fields with Ex Rodeo @ White Squirrel
The Avett Brothers and Trampled by Turtles @ Xcel Energy Center
Friday, October 25
Ganja White Night - Night 1 @ Armory
Nick Hensley and Shane Akers @ Aster Cafe
Cyber City Disco: Lauryn Lesley, Ryote, Jobot @ Beast Barbecue
The Lawrence McDonough Trio @ Berlin
Lamont Cranston with the Butanes @ Cabooze
Diie, Brief Candles, Squinny @ Cloudland
Laura Caviani and David Milne @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Dorothy Doring with Rick Carlson @ Crooners
Vintage Vegas feat. Mick Sterling, Cate Fierro & The High Rollers Orchestra @ Crooners
The R Factor: Remembering Prince @ Crooners
Tribute Bands: B-52s, Weezer, Flaming Lips @ Driftwood
Miss Shannon's 4th Friday Sock Hop feat. the Tinglers @ Eagles 34
Egotruck (Album Release) @ Eagles 34
Enter Shikari with You Me At Six and Yours Truly @ First Avenue
Bollywood Party with DJ Sukhi @ Green Room
Girls Night Out: A Tribute to Superstar Women of Country Music @ Hook and Ladder
Dave Hagedorn and the Vibraphonics @ Jazz Central
Kasablanca with Qrion, Alvin Stone, Leo Himself @ The Loft
NxtGenJazz feat. Callum Schultz @ Metronome
Funktion Junction @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Disney's Hocus Pocus in Concert @ Orchestra Hall
Ragefuture Halloween @ Palmer's
Martin Zellar & The Hardways with Presley Haile @ Parkway
Sunshine & the Night Walkers @ Schooner Tavern
BabyJake with Will Swinton @ 7th St Entry
Maggie Rogers with Ryan Beatty @ Target Center
Monica Livers, Bryn, Sammie @ Terminal Bar
KYM, Anni XO, d’lakes @ 331 Club
Skalloween with Space Monkey Mafia @ Turf Club
The Velveteers with Alex Vile and Ghost Kitchen @ Underground Music Venue
- Drive-By Truckers @ Uptown Theater—Over a quarter of a century into their career, the Truckers have so many classic albums under their belt that picking a favorite can feel arbitrary. Released in 2002, Southern Rock Opera may not be their best, but it’s certainly their biggest statement, addressing the sins of George Wallace, the complexity of the American South, and, above all, how much Lynyrd Skynyrd fuckin’ rocked. (Note past tense—let’s set aside for now how little brother Johnny has tarnished Ronnie Van Zant’s legacy since the band’s plane went down.) If its reach exceeds its grasp, don’t you wish you could say that about more rock albums these days? And there’s always been more Crazy Horse than Skynyrd to the Truckers’ barrage, an irony I’m sure that both Ronnie Van Zant and Neil Young would appreciate.
ELnO with DJ Time Machine @ Uptown VFW
Gimme Gimme Disco @ Varsity Theater
Linus with My Kid Banana, Unattractive Giant Monster @ White Squirrel
Soulflower with Madameblu & Yana the Moonrocket @ Zhora Darling
Saturday, October 26
Ganja White Night - Night 2 @ Armory
Lena Elizabeth (Single Release) @ Aster Cafe
Adam Linz/Joe Strachan @ Berlin
Breymer (Album Release) with Rosie @ Berlin
Cut Rate Clones, My Kid Banana, Sparrow Hawk, Murder Curious @ Can Can Wonderland
Wingbeaver, Daisy Cutter, Barnacle @ Caydence Records & Coffee
The Cedar Celebration Hosted by Dessa @ Cedar Cultural Center
Whispered the Rabbit, Partial Traces, Lilac Fortress @ Cloudland
Lynne Rothrock, Dan Schwartz, and Steve Jennings @ Crooners
Vintage Vegas feat. Mick Sterling, Cate Fierro & The High Rollers Orchestra @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Dorothy Doring with Rick Carlson @ Crooners
China Rider, Direwolves of London @ Day Block Brewing
House of Music Showcase, the Strolling Clones @ Driftwood
Honky Tonk Halloween with the Cole Diamond Band @ Dusty's
Din-Din Halloween Event @ Eagles 34
Naz Rave—Wolves Back @ Fine Line
- Richard Thompson with Kacy & Clayton @ Fitzgerald Theater—Sure the revered British singer-songwriter has a new album—Ship to Shore it’s called, and it’s not a bad one, as late-in-life song-batches go. But you’ll be showing up to see if the old guy can still shred, and having witnessed him unloading on “Genesis Hall” at First Ave, I can attest to the fact that he damn sure could as recently as 2018. Expect a setlist that stretches from his years with groundbreaking Brit folk-rockers Fairport Convention through his celebrated collaborations with ex-wife Linda to his long solo career—maybe even a new song or two. Though Thompson tours plenty, he prefers to travel light and perform acoustic shows. So when he gets a full band together and plugs in, you want to be there.
Tommy Bentz Band @ Gambit Brewing
Genehanna Saga, Bonefire, SYM1, North Innsbruck @ The Garage
Jungleween with Reed Grimm, Purple Funk Metropolis, Sophia Cruz @ Green Room
GRRRL SCOUT: Casual Hex Halloween Party @ Hook and Ladder
Foreign Fields with Elskavon @ Icehouse
Jeffrey Merrill Trio @ Jazz Central
Prairie Fire Choir @ Metronome
High & Mighty @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Halloween Horror Night Party @ Myth Live
Disney's Hocus Pocus in Concert @ Orchestra Hall
Haunted Palmers Patio @ Palmer's
Of The Orchard with Greentop, The Keystones, Emma Jeanne @ Pilllar Forum
Marko and Friends @ Schooner Tavern
Delicate Steve with Fran @ 7th St Entry
Shaq’s Bass All Stars: DJ Diesel, Eliminate, Rated R @ Skyway Theatre
Ira Haze and The Straze, Greg Volker and The River, Flatwound @ 331 Club
Armchair Boogie and Henhouse Prowlers with Dad Matthews Band @ Turf Club
Minka, Little Lizard, Big Delicious, Callback @ Underground Music Venue
- Drive-By Truckers @ Uptown Theater—See Friday's listings.
Transmission Presents "A Stranger Halloween" @ Uptown VFW
Home Team Quarterback with M.A.Y., Tiger Blue @ White Squirrel
Sunday, October 27
Swing Brunch with Patty & the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
Curated by Bassist Liz Draper (feat. Ava Mendoza) @ Berlin
Rachel Holder and Friends @ Crooners
Mama's Table: Down Home Harmonies @ Crooners
Phine Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
DayFunk: DJ Mes, Mazi, E-Tones, & Nick Gunz @ Eat Street Crossing
Sunday Scaries: A Musical Celebration @ Green Room
Synastry Sundays with DJ GirlBlunt @ Green Room
Spooky Strings: The Boom Island String Quartet @ Metronome
Dan Rumsey (Album Release) @ Metronome
Jimmi & the Band of Souls, Erin McCawley's Harrison Street @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Ragefuture: A Mortimer's Halloween @ Mortimer's
Orchestra in Orbit @ Orchestra Hall
Charles Lloyd Quartet @ Ordway
Church of Cornbread @ Palmer's
West Bank Social Club @ Palmer's
Texas Toast Chainsaw Massacre @ Pilllar Forum
M.A.G.S. with Barely Civil and Trash Date @ 7th St Entry
- Stevie Wonder @ Target Center—Let’s start with the caveats: Stevie leads every night off with his sentimental new political ballad “Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart” and he hands over the middle of the show to a protégé named Sheléa. Which only leaves you with… well, 20-some classic songs performed by America’s greatest living musician, who hasn’t been through town in nearly a decade. Honestly, this seems like it should be a bigger deal. As someone lucky enough to have attended his Songs in the Key of Life tour in 2015, I’ll just say that you deserve to be in the same room with the man at least once, to experience the sheer joy he derives from being Stevie Wonder. It’s downright inspirational, and you might even experience twinges of patriotism, as Stevie’s implicit argument this election season is that if the U.S. can produce a Stevie Wonder it must have something going for it.
Xenia Sandstorm-McGuire @ 331 Club
The Real Chuck NORAD @ 331 Club
Sadness @ Underground Music Venue
Danger Pins with Mary & Dan @ White Squirrel
Hiahli with The Lavender Project, Elour @ White Squirrel
Jack M. Senff & Friends @ Zhora Darling
Monday, October 28
Medium Zach & Kavyesh Kaviraj @ Berlin
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
World Music Monday @ Eagles 34
Declan McKenna with Vlad Holiday @ First Avenue
Long Prairie, Severio Mancieri, Jake Stack @ The Garage
MN Hard Bop Collective @ Metronome
Auto-Tune Karaoke @ Mortimer’s
Vince Staples with Baby Rose @ Palace Theatre
Funky Fourth Mondays Monthly with The TH3! @ Palmer's
Floral x Rob Ford Explorer with VIN, Big Chomp @ Pilllar Forum
Metal Monday @ Schooner Tavern
Rav and Kill Bill: The Rapper with Scuare and no1mportant @ 7th St Entry
