There may be snow on the ground and trees for sale in the lots, but in the music world, the holiday season hasn't quite kicked into gear. But this may be your last week before the seasonal fare and annual celebrations take over.
Tuesday, December 3
Stella Prince with Matcha Fever, Joan of Profile, LaSalle @ Amsterdam
International Reggae All Stars @ Bunker’s
Cool Yule with the WPK Trio feat. Judi Vinar & Peter Vircks @ Crooners
St. Dominic’s Trio @ Driftwood
Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
JS Ordara (December Residency) with Jeremy Ylvisaker and JT Bates @ Icehouse
Red Planet @ Metronome Brewing
Grooves ft. DJ Jen-E @ Mortimer’s
Palmer’s Songwriting Showcase @ Palmer’s
Songbird Series @ Pilllar Forum
The Thing with Lighter Co. @ 7th St Entry
Industrial Strength with DJ Sin @ Terminal Bar
Workers Playtime with Dan Israel @ 331 Club
December Conspiracy Series featuring El Drifte, Lunaderos @ 331 Club
The New Havoline Supremes @ White Squirrel
Glitterpit with Despondent, Neighbor Dog, Ty And The My Mys @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, December 4
Shady Babies Open Mic @ Acadia
MN Songwriter Showcase @ Aster Cafe
Enter the Void @ Can Can Wonderland
The Tanner Taylor Trio @ Crooners
Home for the Holidays @ Crooners
The Grainbelters and Houseband @ Driftwood
Miss Shannon’s Swing Night @ Eagles 34
Riverside Swing Band Christmas Show @ Eagles 34
Blood Incantation, Midwife @ Fine Line
Open Mic with Neal Dimick @ Ginkgo Coffee
Sassafrass with Barnacle, stone ark, Berzica @ Pilllar Forum
Belles with Trevor Martin and Monique Smaz @ 7th St Entry
- Cyndi Lauper @ Target Center—For a proper distillation of the Cyndi Lauper aura, I urge you to consult this 1984 Letterman clip. In it, we see peak Lauper—an unusual, irrepressible punk-rock girl from Queens who, yes, just wants to have fun. And write hits. She has had so many hits, from the oft-covered “Time After Time,” to her own cover of Roy Orbison’s “I Drove All Night,” to penning the music and lyrics for the Broadway hit Kinky Boots. Now 71, Lauper just embarked on what’s being billed as her farewell tour, and the early reviews are mostly positive; Variety praised the setlist selection, including a revisit of her 1983 cover of Prince’s “When You Were Mine,” as well as Lauper’s feminism-forward monologues that lend a VH1 Storytellers quality to the show. Gayle, a 20-year-old pop-rocker from Texas, opens the Minneapolis tour stop.—Jay Boller
Bosso Poetry Company @ 331 Club
Greet Death with Prize Horse @ Turf Club
The Second Stringers @ White Squirrel
Celebrating the Music of Tom Waits @ White Squirrel
King Caesar with Primitive Broadcast Service, Helseher, and Blacklighter @ Zhora Darling
Thursday, December 5
Admiral Fox (December Residency) with Willow Waters + Rabeca + Ghosting Merit @ Aster Cafe
Cody Steinmann Trio (Album Release) @ Berlin
Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunker’s
Lemon Bucket Orkestra with Ukrainian Village Band @ Cedar Cultural Center
Sue Scott's Island of Discarded Women with Sarah Stoesz and Keri Noble @ Crooners
Dogpile & American Pleasure Dome @ Driftwood
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Drew Baldridge with Tori Martin and Dylan Wolfe @ Fine Line
Vic Volare’s Cocktail Karaoke @ Granada
Kiss the Tiger (December Residency) with Big Salt @ Icehouse
The Best of Bach @ Orchestra Hall
Leo Kottke with Nellie McKay @ Ordway
Monica LaPlante, Sex Scenes, Oyster World, and Neo Neos @ Palmer’s
The Tolerables with Delilah Daybreaks and My Kid Banana @ Pilllar Forum
The Customers, Danger Pins @ Schooner Tavern
Dad Bod, WBS, Chutes, and Yonder @ 7th St Entry
Northeast Invitational @ 331 Club
Little Fevers with Pleasure Horse, Betty Won't, and Echo Parlor @ Turf Club
Jerrika Mighelle @ White Squirrel
Calla Mae with Lydia, Ray Gun Youth, Hot Bagels @ White Squirrel
Connie Evingson & Mary Louise Knutson @ Woman’s Club of Minneapolis
Friday, December 6
Topiary Blush + Thomas Richey @ Aster Cafe
Billy Johnson & the Hill Cats @ Bunker’s
Flamin’ Oh’s with Faith Boblett @ Cabooze
Hardcore Karaoke @ Can Can Wonderland
Demos & Deadlines, Bird Bass, Disposable Days @ Caydence Records & Coffee
Antje Duvekot with Seth Glier @ Cedar Cultural Center
Prodrome, Shrive, Onlytime @ Cloudland
The Tanner Taylor Trio @ Crooners
Wayne Anthony & Friends @ Crooners
Judi Vinar and Rick Carlson @ Crooners
Joe Pug & Robert Ellis @ Dakota
J-Mo on the Beat and the Jayliners with the Rowdy Gents @ Day Block Brewing
Old Friends Band, the Record Club @ Driftwood
Dallas Orbiter, Redshift Headlights, Manias @ Eagles 34
Tophouse with Griffin William Sherry @ Fine Line
Last Shot at Redemption, The Light in the Ocean (TLITO), The Broken Rule @ The Garage
A Very Merry Vicsmas @ Granada
Late Nite Take Out @ Green Room
Willow Storm & The Lightning Bolts @ Hook and Ladder
Debbie Briggs Vintage Jazz & Friends @ Hook and Ladder
Maria and the Coins with Molly Brandt + Raegan Elizabeth @ Icehouse
Joan Hutton Quartet @ Jazz Central
Haliene with EGZOD & Awakend @ The Loft
Honeymoon Madness with Cook County @ Metronome Brewing
The Best of Bach @ Orchestra Hall
Eli Gardiner, Ira Haze and The Straze and Spaghetti Monetti and The Sauce @ Palmer’s
Ms. Dorothy & the Sky’s the Limit @ Papa Legba
Doll Chaser with Kyrie Nova & the Defiant, Shitty Kickflips, and thumper @ Pilllar Forum
20th Annual Jeff Arundel Holiday Show @ River Room
St. Dominic’s Trio @ Schooner Tavern
Mason Ramsey with Halle Kearns @ 7th St Entry
The New Standards @ State Theatre
Landfill Harmonic, Don't Kill the Kids, WAAR Party @ Terminal Bar
Night Of Joy, Tender Comrade, Field Hospitals @ 331 Club
Dirty South vs. West Coast Dance Party @ Uptown VFW
Inside Llewyn Davis @ White Squirrel
Hunny Bear with Emerson Island, Heliocene @ White Squirrel
Quicksand with Pilot to Gunner & Unstable Shapes @ Zhora Darling
Saturday, December 7
Capitol Guitars 20 Anniversary Bash @ Amsterdam
The Way Back Yard + Jed LaPlante @ Aster Cafe
Galleon, In Solid Air, The Grieving Pines @ Caydence Records & Coffee
Flowers Now: A Celebration of Black Elders @ Cedar Cultural Center
Ann Hampton Callaway @ Crooners
A Swinging Motown Holiday @ Crooners
Judi Vinar and Rick Carlson @ Crooners
TCK, Snow Removal Blues Band @ Driftwood
Switchyard and El Drifte @ Dusty’s
The Forever Young Band @ Eagles 34
Wolves of Glendale with Loreweavers @ Fine Line
- Dillinger Four and Extreme Noise Records 30th Anniversary Show @ First Avenue—Extreme Noise is like the beating heart of punk culture in the Twin Cities, a rare tactile place to feel a sense of community between house shows and message boards. The all-volunteer crew behind it started celebrating the 30th anniversary this past summer with a string of very loud showcases, and now we’re getting what appears to be the main event: an all-ages Mainroom bash with hometown punk greats Dillinger Four, their only local gig of the year. "With these shows, the emphasis is on all ages and bringing all the different generations of the punk scene together as much as possible,” longtime Extreme Noise volunteer Phil Schwarz explained to Racket in July. Schwarz will be spinning with other DJs at First Ave, where there’ll be a fun sampler platter of opening bands: Home Front, Canal Irreal, Condominium, and Buio Omega.—Jay Boller
Claudia Schmidt @ Ginkgo Coffee
MATI with Kwey, Gr3g, Mack OC @ Green Room
Black Widows (Vinyl EP Release) @ Hook and Ladder
Grrrl Scout: Don the Gay Apparel @ Hook and Ladder
The Other Ol’ Blue Eyes @ Icehouse
Hemma with Trash Date and Hazelcreak @ Icehouse
Paul Harper Quartet @ Jazz Central
Jessie Street Jazz @ Metronome Brewing
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead @ Palace Theatre
Modern Wildlife, Gentleman Speaker, and Falcon Arrow @ Palmer’s
Jim Brickman @ Pantages Theatre
The Cameras with Brother Means Ally, The Penny Peaches, Anything You Want @ Pilllar Forum
Pandemonium: Harder Faster @ Red Sea
Tommy Bentz Band @ Schooner Tavern
Gavn! with Kate Yeager and Adam Yokum @ 7th St Entry
Layz with Calcium, Jkyl & Hyde, AlienPark @ Skyway Theatre
The New Standards @ State Theatre
IDLE FLO, Anna Houston, Down on Curfew @ Terminal Bar
SnoBall 2024, Holiday Sing Along with Eric Radloff, Elour @ 331 Club
Polivon, SoCal Kyle, Emily and the Space Butterflies @ Underground Music Venue
Mustard Plug with The Prizefighters, & Stacked Like Pancakes @ Uptown VFW
- Pissfest @ Varsity Theater—If the old punk guard’ll be at First Ave this Saturday, the younger, queerer cohort will be at the second annual Pissfest. That’s where buzzy local pop-punk trio Vial—whose thoughts on TikTok and touring are available via Racket—will lead a showcase featuring NYC-based Hopeless Records signees Sorry Mom, Virginia punks Destructo Disk, Picked to Click finisher Anita Velveeta, and the wonderfully named MC/drag performer Kenty Poussée Fatale. Why is it called Pissfest? Well, Vial timed the inaugural one to the 2023 release of their Nirvana cover, “Territorial Pissings,” and it seems they figured: Why interrupt a good thing mid-stream?—Jay Boller
- Meshell Ndegeocello @ Walker Art Center—At 56, Ndegeocello is far from the brashly androgynous neosoul precursor who broke on MTV in the ’90s. On her recent albums, the nimble bassist mixes jazz, funk, and poetry in equal measures; her latest, No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin, is a conversation of sorts with Audre Lorde as well as Baldwin, keyed to a belief that Black liberation will require art as well as power. I’m curious to see how the record, which includes appearances from multiple spoken-word poets, takes shape in a performance that’s being called “a theatrical live rendition.”—Keith Harris
The Gated Community with Paperbacks @ White Squirrel
Ear Candy Vol. 9 @ White Squirrel
Edith Head with Hot Press, Mean Magic @ White Squirrel
Burlesque Brunch @ Zhora Darling
Quicksand with The Rope, Pilot to Gunner, and Pill Cutter @ Zhora Darling
Sunday, December 8
Swing Brunch with Patty and the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
Curated by Ross Hutchens (feat. Mike McClure) @ Berlin
Ben Cook-Feltz @ Cedar Cultural Center
Cafe Accordion Orchestra @ Crooners
Phine & Friends, Shotgun Ragtime Band @ Driftwood
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
The 45th Annual John Lennon Tribute @ First Avenue
Rock n Roulette 2024: A She Rock Fundraiser @ Hook and Ladder
Twin Cities Flamenco Collective @ Icehouse
Jen Burleigh-Bentz @ Metronome Brewing
Sunday Jazz Series: NxtGn @ Metronome Brewing
A St. Thomas Christmas: Cherishing Peace @ Orchestra Hall
Church of Cornbread @ Palmer’s
West Bank Social Club @ Palmer’s
Anthony Shore’s Christmas with Elvis @ Parkway
Daisycutter with Dead History, Toilet Rats, Linus @ Pilllar Forum
Johnny Delaware with C.M.M. @ 7th St Entry
Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School @ 331 Club
Emmy Woods & The Red Pine Ramblers, Slapdash Bluegrass Band @ 331 Club
R&R Sundays with Jeff Ray @ White Squirrel
Serf Revolt with the Dirty Pretty @ White Squirrel
Monday, December 9
Carinda’s Variety Open Mic @ Acadia
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
Twin Cities Queer Contra Dancing @ Eagles 34
MN Hard Bop Collective @ Metronome Brewing
Auto-Tune Karaoke @ Mortimer’s
Sarah Jane Music School Showcase @ Pilllar Forum
Saint Paul Mudsteppers @ 331 Club
Mumblin’ Drew’s Oldfangled Orchestrators @ White Squirrel
Lost Island Society with Fairooz Nazifa, Fumbler @ White Squirrel
