David Byrne @ Orpheum Theatre—When David Byrne came to the Orpheum in 2018, I sat out his shows for what seemed like a justifiable reason at the time: I wasn’t crazy about his latest album, American Utopia, and I honestly wasn’t keen on any of the solo albums he’d released since deciding his genius was too vast to be constrained by Talking Heads. Well, I’m not too hot about Byrne’s latest, Who Is the Sky?, but I’m not gonna make the same mistake again. Lots of hard-to-impress friends called the Orpheum gig the best show they’d ever seen, and on the evidence of the concert film he released in 2020 (no Stop Making Sense but come on, what is?) I was a dummy. And honestly, Who Is the Sky?, recorded with the Ghost Town Orchestra, is intriguing if for no other reason than you can hear several of the songs ("She Explains Things to Me," "What Is the Reason for It?”—“it” being love) as Byrne publicly addressing the autistic tendencies he (like many of us) has long suspected he possesses. But who cares about the new record? He’s a master showman, and he’ll deliver.

Old Timey Music @ Padraig’s

Pinkshift with LustSickPuppy and Combat @ 7th St Entry

Artist Showcase @ Sociable Cider Werks

Vampires Everywhere!, Another Day Dawns @ Studio B

November Conspiracy Series featuring mike munson @ 331 Club

Worker’s Playtime with Steve Brantseg @ 331 Club

Tired Eyes — Neil Young and Crazy Horse Tribute Band @ Turf Club

The New Havoline Supremes @ White Squirrel

Third Date (Tuesday Residency) @ White Squirrel

Alpine Shepherd Boy, The Wildermen, Tin Whiskers, Polivon @ Zhora Darling

Wednesday, November 5

Gauze with Slime Monsters from Outer Space, Rat Fight, Honey Tree @ Amsterdam

JC Sanford’s EQ (Album Release) @ Berlin

The Cherry Pit Open Jam @ Berlin

Twine @ Bunker’s

Karaoke with Danni D @ Cabooze

DL4 @ Carbone’s

Claudia Schmidt and Ann Reed @ Crooners

Landslide: The Music of Fleetwood Mac @ Crooners

Sam Grisman Project @ Dakota

Marianna, Griffin, Frannie Crego @ Driftwood Char Bar

Mattie and Mia @ Dubliner Pub

Miss Shannon’s Swing Night with the Southside Aces @ Eagles 34

Smallpools with Kevian Kraemer and the Romance @ Fine Line

Open Mic with Neal Dimick @ Ginkgo Coffee

Pat Donohue and Friends @ Midway Saloon

Tytus Canby @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Magnificent Musical Creatures @ Orchestra Hall

Pinched, Anything You Want, Kym and the Kick @ Pilllar Forum

Robert Wilkinson, Steve Brantseg @ Schooner Tavern

Goon Tribune with LASALLE and SoulFlower @ 7th St Entry

Open Mic with Grant Dawson @ 318 Cafe

Bosso Poetry Company @ 331 Club

Harold’s House Party via on KFAI with LaPlant Road @ 331 Club

Alessia Cara @ Uptown Theater

Violent Vera @ Varsity Theater

The Second Stringers @ White Squirrel

Artificial Sweetener: A Hunny Bear Residency with Outta Coentro, Funk N’ Spuds @ White Squirrel

Teen Mortgage @ Zhora Darling

Thursday, November 6

UMD Techno Club Takeover @ Abi’s

Belmont @ Amsterdam

Halsey @ Armory—Remember when Halsey got so mad at Pitchfork she accidentally called for another 9/11?

The Buck-Fifty Boys @ Aster Cafe

Caroline Davis Portals @ Berlin

Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunker’s

Kate Finn @ Crooners

Overdressed Duo: A World Tour of Opera @ Crooners

Our House: A Tribute to Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young @ Crooners

Keb’ Mo’ @ Dakota

The Ostrom Brothers Band @ Driftwood Char Bar

Pop Wagner @ Dubliner Pub

Test Site 67 @ Dubliner Pub

LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34

Karaoke with On Call Karaoke @ Eagles 34

Katz ‘n’ Dogs @ Eagles 34

Leif Vollebekk with Valley James @ Fine Line

Jeff Tweedy with Sima Cunningham @ First Avenue—As I’m sure I’ve mentioned here before, I’m less of a Tweedy fan than is demographically appropriate. I appreciate his gifts as a songwriter and bandleader, but I also find his singing, which sands the edges off a mild anxiety to achieve a soothing calm, lacking in emotional range. Still, I dutifully listened to Twilight Override, the new 30-song triple album Tweedy’s released under his own name, and it’s prime indie mood music: thoughtful arrangements, decent tunes, fewer lyrics to grab on to than I’d hope. I could probably make a terrific 10 to 12 cut playlist from it, even if too many of the songs I’d pick would be about writing songs and otherwise trying to communicate.

Vinyl Night @ Gambit Brewing

Willy Porter (Album Release), Lanue @ Icehouse

Owe This Land A Body, Padloc, Pinmissle, Chronic Wasting Disease @ Klash Coffee

Acoustic Thursdays @ Mainstreet Bar & Grill

Lowdown Dirty Fools Blues @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Cowboy John & Gig @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Magnificent Musical Creatures @ Orchestra Hall

Straight No Chase @ Pantages Theatre

The Del McCoury Band @ Parkway Theater

Jellyjacket, Train Wreck Boys @ Schooner Tavern

The Friend Ship @ 318 Cafe

Northeast Invitational @ 331 Club

Swear Jar Presents Afterparty @ Underground Music

Synastry @ Uptown VFW

Emmy Woods @ White Squirrel

BlackLighter, Northern Hammer, Death Makes Time @ White Squirrel

The Sloppy Boys @ Zhora Darling

Friday, November 7

Seafoam Green Tangerine, Postcards, Quarter Past Halftime @ Acadia

Anthony Gomes @ Amsterdam

David Harland & Sol Strings @ Aster Cafe

Brian Just @ Barely Brothers

Ryan Garmoe/Ethan Ostrow Project @ Berlin

Jen-E @ Berlin

Drinkwine @ Blues Saloon

DJ D-Mil, Maiden Dixie @ Boardwalk

Some Shitty Cover Band @ Bunker’s

St. Rangers with Laplant Road @ Cedar Cultural Center

The Silent Treatment, Two Harbors, the Slow Death @ Cloudland

Joyann Parker @ Crooners

What’s in a Name Vol. 2 @ Crooners

Keb’ Mo’ @ Dakota

Front Porch @ Day Block Brewing

Zoe Says Go, Gossamer @ Driftwood Char Bar

Irish Music Session @ Dubliner Pub

Irish Diplomacy @ Dubliner Pub

Katie & the Upswing @ Eagles 34

The Movement with Kabaka Pyramid and Brendan Clemente @ Fine Line

Mon Rovîa with RYMAN @ First Avenue

Aphid, Chara, Virgo, Chimera @ Flying V

Naked Eye @ Gambit Brewing

Adam Ezra Group @ Ginkgo Coffee

Fever Candlelight: Vivaldi Four Season @ Granada

Candlelight: 90s Unplugged @ Granada

Snapped Live Band Open Mic @ Green Room

Paul Cebar (Album Release) @ Hook and Ladder

Tina Schlieske, Laamar @ Icehouse

Billy Peterson & Brian Grivna Quartet @ Jazz Central

VVakefield, Inflict, Fragged Out, ...and I Found a Way, Brerzica @ Klash Coffee

Madgrrl, Hhunter @ The Loft

Qwer @ The Lyric

R Factor @ Mainstreet Bar and Grill

The Way Way Back @ Memory Lanes

The Johnnie Brown Experience @ Minnesota Music Cafe

DJ Espada @ Mystic Lake Casino

Chencho Corleone @ Myth Live

Dessa Returns @ Orchestra Hall

Eunice Kim Plays Saint-Saëns’ Third Violin Concerto @ Ordway

Kings of Gospel ft. Fred Hammond, Marvin Sapp & Jovonta Patton @ Orpheum Theatre—Nice to see north Minneapolis gospel star Jovonta Patton sharing the stage with two other midwesterners.

Line Dry @ Padraig’s

Of Monsters and Men with Arny Margret @ Palace Theatre

My Kid Banana, SugarCoat, Bella Larson and the Scene Kids @ Pilllar Forum

Capital Sons, Lolo’s Ghost @ Schooner Tavern

Andrew Cushin with Social Animals @ 7th St Entry

Eli Gardiner, ShugE @ 331 Club

Chase Wright with Connor McCutcheon @ Turf Club

Alex’s Birthday Bool Sesh @ Uptown VFW

The Taylor Party: The TS Dance Party @ Varsity Theater

QRRKY with Queen Jeanne @ White Squirrel

Freak of the Week @ Zhora Darling

Saturday, November 8

Cole Allan @ Acadia

Jens Lekman @ Amsterdam—A rather predictable thing happened after Danish songwriter Lekman wrote a song called “If You Ever Need a Stranger (To Sing at Your Wedding)” 20 years ago—strangers started asking Lekman to sing at their weddings. Often enough, he complied, and some of his experiences became the creative material for his latest album, Songs for Other People’s Weddings. Lekman describes the characters he meets on these gigs—the just-married couple sharing a suit that fits them both who he gets stuck behind in the urinal line, the two single sisters at his table who remind him of The Simpsons’ Patty and Selma—while telling the story of his own deteriorating relationship. As always his speechlike tenor conveys a gentle humanism that his lyrics match, and the string accompaniments—more meringue than frosting—buoy the melodies rather than smothering them.

Chris Lake @ Armory

Abby Gaul (Album Release), Zachary Scot Johnson @ Aster Cafe

Boot Cut @ Barely Brothers

East Africa Vibez @ Bazemnt

Green Line Trio @ Berlin

Abinnet Berhanu's Ahndenet አንድነት feat. Genet Abate @ Berlin

Byzarra @ Berlin

DJ Ys, Junk FM @ Boardwalk

Hemma (single release) with Mareyes & Def Sonic @ Bryant Lake Bowl

GB Leighton @ Bunker’s

Strictly R&B: Ladies Night @ Cabooze

J-Mo On The Beat & The J-Lighters with Rockin' Hep Cats @ Can Can Wonderland

Santino Fontana @ Capri

Prairie Fire Choir with Barbara Cohen & Little Lizard @ Cedar Cultural Center

Products Band, Dicot, Fend @ Cloudland

Adi Yeshaya @ Crooners

Irving Berlin: I’ve Got Plenty to Be Thankful For @ Crooners

Mick Sterling Presents Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road @ Crooners

L.A. Buckner & Big Homie @ Dakota

Perfectly Still, We Are Arya, Gradience @ Day Block Brewing

The Fabulous Hackmasters, Driftless Area @ Driftwood Char Bar

Mac and Cheese @ Dubliner Pub

Doug Collins & the Receptionists, Michael Gay @ Dusty’s

Swingin on a Star @ Eagles 34

Rich Yarges @ Eagles 34

The Change-Ups with Ruby Blu @ 56 Brewing

Troyboi @ Fillmore

S.G. Goodman with Fust @ Fine Line—In the centerpiece of her latest, Planting by the Signs, Kentucky singer-songwriter Goodman saves a snapping turtle from some jerky boys and ponders her smalltown upbringing. Three albums in, this is where Goodman’s writing catches up with her voice, which has a hardscrabble edge but works toward a lushness she deserves. She can get imagistic without being vague, and the album even closes with an eight-minute allegorical jam, “Heaven,” that never gets too clunky or wears out its welcome. Softie that I am, though, my favorite is the very straightforward "I'm in Love," symptoms of said amatory state including “crying at commercials,” “half hour conversations at the check out line,” and, of course, “dancing in my kitchen, singing into a spoon.”

Red Bull Directions with DJ Pee.Wee (aka Anderson .Paak), Sophia Eris and Kwey @ First Avenue

Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band with Tré Burt @ Fitzgerald Theater

xSERAPHx, Empty Shell Casing, Awaiting Eschiel, Secret Set, Glad to Be Dead, Face Facts, Kill Floor, Oath, Taste of Vervain @ Flying V

Dwell @ Ginkgo Coffee

R&B Fest @ Green Room

The Belfast Cowboys @ Hook and Ladder

Fugue State feat. Michael Grey & AKKO @ Hook and Ladder

The Here Afters with China Rider @ Icehouse

Fusebox @ Jazz Central

Josiah Shipp, Jenny Matrix, Crush Card, 12th House Sun @ Klash Coffee

Rough House @ Mainstreet Bar & Grill

Take That Back @ Metronome Brewery