There is so much wonderful festing in your future, my friends. Juneteenth, Jazz Fest, the Stone Arch Bridge Festival, the Pryes Block Party... if you like listening to music while also doing other stuff outside, you're in luck. And the fun doesn't stop there—read on!
Tuesday, June 16
Square Dance @ Art House North
Greatest Jam on Earth @ Blues Saloon
City of Lakes Community Band @ Dock & Paddle
St. Dominic’s Trio @ Driftwood Char Bar
Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Miss Shannon’s Camaraderie @ Eagles 34
Ariel Corinne @ Father Hennepin Park
Racing Mount Pleasant + Isobel @ Fine Line
Changeling Trio @ Indeed Brewing
Explosion Big Band @ Jazz Central
The Celestial Being @ Minnehaha Grandstand
River City Jazz Festival @ Minnesota Music Cafe
- Mavis Staples, Lucius @ Ordway—There are several reasons why Staples, who will turn 87 this summer, remains one of popular music’s finest living song interpreters. Though hardly demure, she was never a belter by the standards of her gospel sistren, so age hasn’t taken much of a toll on her instrument. And she’s open to a breadth of material: Her 2025 album, Sad and Beautiful World, produced by Brad Cook, featured songs from younger writers like Kevin Morby and Frank Ocean, as well as a title track courtesy of the late Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse. And on top of all that, her history as a voice of the Civil Rights movement still lends a gravitas you can’t fake: Tom Waits’s “Chicago” inevitably suggests the Great Migration when Staples sings it, and when she lets the light get in through Leonard Cohen’s anthemic crack, you might have hope for the arc of the moral universe after all. I mean, could anyone else get away with Curtis Mayfield’s "We Got to Have Peace" these days?—Keith Harris
Old Timey Music Session @ Padraigs
One Big Quilt, Big Strong, Flora-Moon @ Pilllar Forum
Mikaela Davis, Julianna Riolino @ 7th St Entry
Artist Showcase @ Sociable Cider Werks
June Conspiracy Series feat. Sawtooth Witch, sand county @ 331 Club
Worker’s Playtime with Becky Kapell @ 331 Club
Dylan LeBlanc, Carlyle Griffin @ Turf Club
lukepassthatshi & 2$elly @ Underground Music
Old Town Tuesday Night Jam @ Whitey’s
The New Havoline Supremes @ White Squirrel
Aeris & the Piggies (Residency) @ White Squirrel
Wretched, Caustic Abyss, Kostnaténi @ Zhora Darling
Wednesday, June 17
Performance Anxiety, Lucky Crayfish @ Acadia
Tahiti feat. Jacob Mullis @ Berlin
The Cherry Pit Open Jam @ Berlin
Purple Queen Zen @ Can Can Wonderland
1 Mic, 1 Cable, 30 Minutes @ Carbone’s
Tomboyy, the Devil Said Jump, Ditchweed @ Cloudland
Miss Georgia Peach @ Como Park Conservatory
Cafe Accordion Orchestra @ Crooners
- Rodney Crowell @ Dakota—For the past decade or so, Crowell has been on one of those late career runs that country songwriters sometimes summon up when they feel mortality knockin’. Last year he followed up a warm 2023 collection of love songs, The Chicago Sessions, with the intermittently rocking Airline Highway, on which he was aided by younger artists like Ashley McBryde, Larkin Poe, and Lukas Nelson. Now 75, Crowell is releasing a 20-year-old shelved album later this month that claims he plum forgot about. Then Again is haunted by ghosts in ways it wouldn’t have been in 2006. On “Are You One of Us?,” Texas songwriting great Guy Clark, who died in 2016, offers sardonic counterpoint. And the slightly stuffy “If I Could Speak to Leonard” serves up textbook anxiety of influence, with Crowell even vowing to learn to tie a Windsor knot to impress Mr. Cohen.—Keith Harris
Jeff Radecki @ Driftwood Char Bar
Miss Shannon Presents Twin Cities Hot Club @ Eagles 34
Deer Tick, Jobi Riccio @ Fine Line
Young Dervish and Christian Music @ Icehouse
Sophia Kickhofel @ Jazz Central
Amateur @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Pat Donahue and Friends @ Midway Saloon
Karaoke Blast with Chazz @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Season Opener feat. Los Pinches Gueys, Hella Reptilian, KV$KET, DJ Nanobyte @ Mortimers
- Mavis Staples, Lucius @ Ordway—see Tuesday's listings.
Skull of Tomorrow, My Kid Banana, Popsicle @ Pilllar Forum
Courtney Burton Sextet @ Rice Park
Swamp Poppas @ Schooner Tavern
Greg Mendez, Scarlet Rae @ 7th St Entry
idc rn: a dance party @ Terminal Bar
Wren and Wilde, Boots & Needles @ 331 Club
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Jon Rodine and Friends @ 331 Club
Twisted Insane @ Underground Music
Axel & Betty, Derek Callendar & the Billytown Wanglers @ White Squirrel
Lords of the Universe, Attracted to Gods, the Del-Viles @ White Squirrel
Thursday, June 18
davvn + Jack the Underdog & Friends @ Amsterdam
David Huckfelt’s Mystery Lights @ Animales
Greentop, the Penny Peaches @ Aster Cafe
Anthony Cox, Bryan Murray, Davu Seru @ Berlin
Rosie Daze Band @ Bryant Square Park
Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunker’s
Van Orman & Helwin with Marc Anderson @ Cedar Cultural Center
Freedom, Love, and Light @ Crooners
- Kronos Quartet @ Dakota—Everyrocker’s favorite string quartet has been discovering kindred spirits in disparate genres for a half a century now. In the ’20s alone, Kronos recorded tributes to Mahalia Jackson, Armenian-American composer Mary Kouyoumdjian, Sun Ra, and eccentric proto-minalist Moondog. They’ll record a new album here over the course of two nights, in honor of the uprising of winter 2026, drawing from a selection of material, much of it politically oriented, including “Strange Fruit,” Coltrane’s “Alabama,” Link Wray’s “Rumble,” and Neil Young’s “Ohio.” And they’ll add two locals, pow wow singer Joe Rainey and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Broder, to their esteemed list of collaborators.—Keith Harris
DJs Off the Dock @ Indeed Brewing
Jazz on the Prairie Big Band @ Dock & Paddle
The Anchorman, Fever Pitch @ Driftwood Char Bar
Larry Wish Presents: alone-a, Matt Robidoux, Tender Meat @ Eagles 34
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
TC Jazz Fest: Fuzzy Math @ Erta Ale Ethiopian Restaurant
The Motet, Hot Like Mars @ Fine Line
Snapz Live Band Open Mic @ Green Room
Dirty P’s Thirsty 3rd Thursday Club @ Hook and Ladder
Tae & the Neighborly @ Hopkins Downtown Park
SOUL TRAIN in the Yard with Ebony and Ivory @ Icehouse
Acoustic Thursdays @ Mainstreet Bar
The New Standards, Black Market Brass @ Mears Park
TC Jazz Fest: Peter Kogan Jazz Presents… @ Metronome Brewery
Just Dave and the Rockin’ All-Stars Band @ Minnehaha Bandstand
Dark Click with Curtiss A @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Juneteenth with the Minnesota Orchestra @ Orchestra Hall
Permanent Record & Private Oates @ Parkway Theater
The Trainwreck Boys @ Schooner Tavern
Lily Fitts, Andrew Lucier @ 7th St Entry
Jobi Riccio @ Sociable Cider Werks
Cross Pollination with Knife Emoji, the Record Club, Adult Enrichment @ 331 Club
Go Your Own Way⏤A Fleetwood Mac Singalong @ Turf Club
Meldrop, Twin Suns @ Underground Music
Martin Devaney & Friends @ White Squirrel
The Hazy Phase @ White Squirrel
Twin Cities Jazz Society Vocal Showcase @ Wells Piano
Friday, June 19
Breathe Easy Entertainment @ Acadia
Alexis Plaen, Callback, Quietchild, and Calla Mae @ Amsterdam
Frequency Fridays: Freaknik Party @ Bazemnt
Zachary Finnegan Organ Trio @ Berlin
Cameron Kinghorn & Friends @ Berlin
Junk FM with DJ D-Mil @ Boardwalk
Monique B & the Experience @ Bunker’s
TC Jazz Fest: Sonic Dream @ Burger Moe’s
JAZZWRLD & THUKUTHELA @ Cabooze
Hot 8 Brass Band with Brass Solidarity and DJ Tarik Thornton @ Cedar Cultural Center
Drastic Plastic, Neo Neos, Blood Cookie @ Cloudland
TC Jazz Fest: Roma Jazz @ Crooners
TC Jazz Fest: Steve Clarke and the Working Stiffs @ Crooners
TC Jazz Fest: Cedar Ave Big Band with Colleen Raye @ Crooners
TC Jazz Fest: Jon Weber and Connie Evingson @ Crooners
- Kronos Quartet @ Dakota—See Thursday's listings.
Pith, Sewage of Youth, McCade @ Day Block Brewing
Machinery Hill, the Strolling Clones @ Driftwood Char Bar
Wild Colonial Bhoys @ Dubliner Pub
Effigies, River City Rejects, Bad Idea, Razz Tart @ Eagles 34
TC Jazz Fest: Dakota Anderson, Jon Weber @ Episcopal Homes
Thomasina Petrus, Finick @ 50th & France
Echo & the Bunnymen @ Fillmore
Futurebirds, Joelton Mayfield @ Fine Line
Ole 60, Phil Kane @ First Avenue
TC Jazz Fest: Blanche the Jazzy Jewess of South Minneapolis @ Gambit Brewing
Sorry for Party Rocking @ Green Room
Hipshaker MPLS @ Hook and Ladder
Soul Train Night Hosted by Drunken Monkeee @ Icehouse
Allegations @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
10,000 Mistakes @ Mainstreet Bar
TC Jazz Fest: Minnesota Hot Club, Jon Weber with Dorothy Doring @ Mears Park
TC Jazz Festival: Youth Stage @ Metronome Brewery
TC Jazz Festival: Leslie Vincent, Ross Clowser Quartet, Wave Cage @ Metronome Brewery
- Brass Solidarity @ Mia—If the resistance to Operation Metro Surge had a soundtrack, it was Brass Solidarity, the Twin Cities band that formed five years ago in response to the murder of George Floyd. Earlier this year, the group made national headlines for their “music for the moment” approach to uplifting the spirits of fellow protesters. Tonight, Brass Solidarity will celebrate Juneteenth at the museum, where printmaker Whitney Terrill will lead art activities, Mia staffers will conduct tours of great Black art in the collection, and West Indies Soul Food will be cooking from its truck. "This is not a moment for us to give in to insecurity. It's actually the moment that we get to stand together in the cold, knowing we're all cold, being arm in arm, knowing that this weather is just weather," Brass Solidarity singer Alsa Bruno told NPR in January, reflecting on the frigid conditions. "It's temporary. We're forever." Amen.—Jay Boller
Kinda Fonda Wanda @ Minnehaha Bandstand
TC Jazz Fest: Duo Corda @ Minnesota Museum of American Art
Funktion Junction @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Off the Leash feat. Jus Justice, Trudy, Arvell Genius & Infinity Suite, sounds by Mixie @ Mortimers
Graham Jams, Tarias and the Sound, Charlieboy, Yomchi, Asparagus @ Pilllar Forum
- Soul Asylum @ Pryes Brewing—Summer fun? Live music?? Cold beer??? Yes, the proposition of this two-day block party at Pryes is simple and effective. The taproom and patio are free and open to the public all weekend long, but you can access the concert in the Pryes side lot—with Soul Asylum headlining Friday and Gear Daddies on Saturday—with a ticket. You’ll find free live music at the patio pre-party each day, where there’s a market with merch and family-friendly activities.—Em Cassel
TC Jazz Fest: Erin Livingston @ Saint Paul Hotel
New Feral Cats @ Schooner Tavern
The Hobbled, the Heavy Sixers, Institutional Green @ Terminal Bar
Brotherhood of Birds @ 331 Club
All Tomorrow's Petty with Molly Dean and A Travelin’ Wilbury (played by David Huckfelt) @ Turf Club
Holly Humberstone @ Varsity Theater
East Lake Jazz Workshop @ White Squirrel
Yazzfest: Hunny Bear, EFMI, Astronomy Town @ White Squirrel
Saturday, June 20
Hot Flash Dance: a Dance Party for Divas of a Certain Age @ Amsterdam
Haley E. Rydell Trio @ Animales
Giant Valley String Band with Bill Cagley @ Aster Cafe
Vasich, Granowski, & Hepola Play Money Jungle @ Berlin
Christopher Hoffman: Rex @ Berlin
Macalester Dose & the Rebels, DJ YS @ Boardwalk
TC Jazz Fest: Sonic Dream @ Burger Moe’s
Strictly R&B: Gemini vs. Cancer Summer Bash @ Cabooze
Bob Schneider @ Cedar Cultural Center
Jeffrey Robert Larson & the Kings of Neon, Hellcat, Oliver Phibes @ Cloudland
TC Jazz Fest: Kevin Gamble Presents a Tribute to Ray Charles @ Crooners
TC Jazz Fest: Ronny Loew Band @ Crooners
TC Jazz Fest: Ralph Hepola Quartet @ Crooners
TC Jazz Fest: Jon Weber
Kevin Kling & Larry Long @ Dakota
The Solicitors, Fuchsia, La La and the Gents @ Day Block Brewing
Alibi, the Local Hermits @ Driftwood Char Bar
The Langer’s Ball @ Dubliner Pub
The Bill Patten Trio @ Dusty’s
Economic Headwinds @ Eagles 34
TC Jazz Fest: Maud Hixson with Rick Carlson, Jon Weber @ Episcopal Homes
TC Jazz Fest: Hot Club Mania Quartet, Global Jazz Acoustic Quartet @ Erta Ale Ethiopian Restaurant
Reviser, Dead Poets, Stranger Gallery, Spectres of Desire @ 56 Brewing
Ole 60, Phil Kane @ First Avenue
TC Jazz Fest: Gonzo’s Planet @ Gambit Brewing
Samambo Pride—Freaky Gyal @ Green Room
TC Jazz Fest: Lee Engele & Reynold Philipsek with Gary Schulte @ Heimie’s Haberdashery
Second Chance Prom: Promaggedon @ The Hennepin
90s Party with YOU OUGHTA KNOW & the 90s Preservation Society @ Hook and Ladder
Indigo Room: The Pride Month Edition @ Hook and Ladder
Queer the Mic: A Pride Party @ Icehouse
Irish Diplomacy @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Shredding Flannel @ Mainstreet Bar
- TC Jazz Fest: JazzMN Orchestra with Michael Mayo, Sullivan Fortner Trio, Zacc Harris Group, Youth Performances @ Mears Park—Last year, I spared the Jazz Fest (and Racket readers) my terrible “free jazz” joke, and you know what that means? It’s back for ‘26, suckers! Ahem. “Free jazz” is a style of music built upon adventurous improvisation that defies melodic and harmonic expectations, and it’s not for everyone. But when it comes to the Twin Cities Jazz Fest, “free jazz” is just jazz that you don’t have to pay to hear—and that’s very much for everyone. Once more this summer Lowertown will be wholly engulfed in jazz for two whole days, and you‘ll be able to wander in and out of 18 area venues, gratis, just digging the sounds. As always, Mears Park remains the center of the action; headlining the main stage there are fusion stars the Yellowjackets and the JazzMN Orchestra with vocalist Michael Mayo. Don’t know much about jazz? Find out what you like—for free. Find times and more info here, including pre-event happenings on Thursday.—Keith Harris
TC Jazz Fest: BrassZilla, Choro Borealis, Nancy Bierma Trio @ Mears Park
Pyrmafrost, Major Malfunction, Black Wine @ Memory Lanes
TC Jazz Fest: Youth Stage @ Metronome Brewery
TC Jazz Fest: How Birds Work, Carson Parker Trio, Tristano School @ Metronome Brewery
TC Jazz Fest: Anthony Thoe & Nick Baker @ Mezz Taproom
TC Jazz Fest: Alma Brasileira @ Minnesota Museum of American Art
The Good, the Bad, and the Funky @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Kayla Elsewhere @ Modist Brewing
The Assortment feat. DJ Michael Grey @ Mortimers
Taking Back Sunday, Bayside @ Mystic Lake Casino
- Morris Day & the Time, Motion City Soundtrack, Ber, Rocket Club @ Mystic Lake Amphitheater—As you may have heard, there’s a massive new amphitheater out in Shakopee. Live Nation hasn’t been forthcoming with details, but the concert giant will put its cards on the table with a $20 open-house-ish christening that’ll feature hometown talent Morris Day & the Time (freshly fled from Trump’s Great American State Fair), Motion City Soundtrack, Ber, Rocket Club, School of Rock, and DJ Jake Rudh. This "evening of Minnesota music, comedy, and community" fulfills the comedy promise with locally launched SNL rookie Tommy Brennan on hosting duties. Will the 19,000-seat venue sound nice? Will the sightlines be agreeable? Will concertgoers be price-gouged into oblivion? Finding answers to those Qs alone is worth tonight’s get-in price.
Disney Pride in Concert @ Orchestra Hall
Pity Party, Stock Market Cinema, Jammaz @ Pilllar Forum
- Gear Daddies @ Pryes Brewing—see Friday's listings.
High Speed Snowshoes with TABAH and Sallyforth @ 7th St Entry
TC Jazz Fest: Erin Livingston @ Saint Paul Hotel
Nathan Walker Band, Dave Rave and the Governers, Lolo’s Ghost @ Schooner Tavern
- Stone Arch Bridge Festival @ Stone Arch Bridge—Stone Arch Bridge Festival is the Voltron of summer fests. The head? Why, that’s the 200-plus artists who showcase and sell their work in the juried art exhibition. The torso? Well, that’s the culinary food market and the beer garden, which will keep you fed and buzzed. The arms are the two music stages which are loaded with local acts all day, and the legs are the classic car show featuring gorgeous cars and the vintage and vinyl market for folks who like to look for gold among the dust. Finally, the sword (why did a giant robot need a sword?) is the afterparty at Pryes Brewing, which features headliners Soul Asylum on Friday and Gear Daddies on Saturday (see above for more details on that).—Jessica Armbruster
- Amyl & the Sniffers @ Surly Brewing Festival Field—Amy Taylor is the kind of frontwoman that every punk band unashamed of wanting to succeed dreams about, a live-wire performer with unlimited energy and attitude, and plenty of smarts as well. On their second album, 2021’s Comfort to Me, this Aussie band soared, sounding brawnier than ever as Taylor got brainier. Dismissive when she wanted to be, as on “Don’t Need a Cunt (Like You to Love Me)” (sometimes a parenthetical makes all the difference), she also stretched her worldview on "Capital," averring, "I only just started learning basic politics." Cartoon Darkness, 2024’s followup, is a baby step backwards, as animated and two-dimensional as its title suggests, with Taylor coasting a bit on attitude, but with the band pounding behind her, it still smokes most of the competition. And to show they’re nobody’s purists, the punks have since teamed up with the Grammys’ favorite producer/DJ Fred Again on “You’re on Star.”—Keith Harris
Red Eye Ruby, Jensen Lake, Sylvia May @ Terminal Bar
Bobby Rethwish, Pool Culture, spaceport @ 331 Club
Reverend Horton Heat, the Surfrajettes @ Turf Club
RevellionFest @ Underground Music
Fluid Frequencies @ Uptown VFW
TC Jazz Fest: Roda de Samba Brasil with S @ Urban Growler
Funk Lump & the Nugs, Chemistry Set, Forever 41 @ White Squirrel
Trench Sized Trio @ White Squirrel
Letters, Hospital Property, the Dirty Pretty @ White Squirrel
TC Jazz Fest: Graydon Peterson Trio, HEYARLO!, Grady Cartony Quintet @ Zamboni’s
Self-Evident, Or Does It Explode?, …And I Found a Way @ Zhora Darling
Sunday, June 21
Patty and the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
Shane Parish Performs “Autechre Guitar” @ Berlin
Summer Solstice Sound Bath with Marc Anderson @ Cedar Cultural Center
Cootie Catcher, Chutes, Sandpaper @ Cloudland
The Big Broadway Singalong @ Crooners
Urban Classic Presents: The Music of Rufus and Chaka Khan @ Crooners
St. Anthony Civic Orchestra @ Dock & Paddle
Phine & Friends, Shotgun Ragtime Band @ Driftwood Char Bar
Sunday Trad Session @ Dubliner Pub
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
Dexter and the Moonrocks, Cigarettes @ Sunset and High June @ Fine Line
F1RST Wrestling presents WREMIX with P.O.S and Sean Anonymous @ First Avenue
12—The Ultimate Musical Tribute @ Green Room
Trevor McSpadden and Band @ Icehouse
Obi Original and the Black Atlantics (Residency) @ Icehouse
Saddle Sores @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Retrofizz @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Disney Pride in Concert @ Orchestra Hall
Church of Cornbread @ Schooner Tavern
Stone Arch Bridge Festival @ Stone Arch Bridge
swaglone.mp4, DJ Shah, & C Blast @ Underground Music
Armor for Sleep @ Varsity Theater
Juneteenth Jubilee: Velvet Ice @ Volstead’s
Karaoke with Ally @ White Squirrel
Monday, June 22
Massive Reggae Monday @ Cabooze
Dan Chouinard with Prudence Johnson @ Crooners
Bend in the River Big Band @ Dock & Paddle
Dexter and the Moonrocks, Cigarettes @ Sunset, High June @ Fine Line
L.A.’s Monday Nights @ Icehouse
Minnesota Freedom Band @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Red Planet @ Metronome Brewery
Blues Jam with Moses Oakland @ Midway Saloon
Monday Jam @ Minnesota Music Cafe
MGK @ Mystic Lake Amphitheater
Dyego & BluNites, Otlo @ Pilllar Forum
Open Mic @ Sociable Cider Werks
Care Free, Formal, Skewed, Cellar, & Frozen Over @ Underground Music
Joshua Sloane @ Varsity Theater
