I'm not the guy you turn to for Halloween recommendations, but you'll find lotsa options below. Also, since this is the one space where I get to render judgment on popular phenomena, I've blurbed Sombr, Sienna Spiro, and Ella Langley. Guess which one I can stand.
Tuesday, October 27
- Greg Freeman, Walker Rider @ Amsterdam—Greg Freeman’s panicked yowl often makes it sound like he’s having that actor’s nightmare where you wake up on stage and you’ve forgotten your lines. His anxious 2026 album, All Set the Bone, is the Vermont indie-rocker’s first since making his way to Chicago, and he’s in fine aphoristic form: “These are the days of one thing after another,” “Once you’re finished treading water/You’ll still feel the waves,” “When I’m alone, I can be anyone, but when I’m with you, I’m me.” (Aw!) Jason Molina is a frequent but limited point of comparison: “Decade” could be a lost Big Star recording, and there’s often something Built to Spillish about these songs. Without the virtuosic flights, that is—Freeman’s songs can get a little woolly as they approach or exceed the six-minute mark. But he consistently backs up his articulate despair with a refusal (or maybe inability) to give up, which is a pretty good way to go about things in 2026.—Keith Harris
Greatest Jam on Earth @ Blues Saloon
International Reggae Allstars @ Bunker’s
Capri Glee Fall Concert @ Capri Theater
St. Dominic’s Trio @ Driftwood Char Bar
Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Jeremiah and the Non Prophets @ Eagles 34
All Them Witches, Emma Ruth Rundle @ First Avenue
Soul Tribe, Timy Night, RJ Vocal, Rewire @ Green Room
Twin Cities Latin Jazz Orchestra @ Jazz Central
Dirty Shorts Brass Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Punk Pop Princess @ Mortimer’s
Peter and the Wolf @ Orchestra Hall
The Dresden Dolls @ Palace Theatre
Cave Canary. Topiary Blush, Joe Kelly @ Pilllar Forum
Yana, Emma Anderson @ 7th St Entry
October Conspiracy Series feat. ditch pigeon, knife emoji, red lovely @ 331 Club
Worker’s Playtime with Mike Munson @ 331 Club
The Hip-Shakers, the Jesse Irwin Band @ White Squirrel
Freakwhensees, Count Spookula, Calavrosa @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, October 28
Petula Maude, Moonshift, Lexi Evelyn, Banana Grenade @ Amsterdam
MN Songwriter Showcase @ Aster Cafe
Raphael Roginski Plays John Coltrane & Langston Hughes with Time Sparks & Ben Abrahamson @ Berlin
Vicky Mountain, Ted Godbout @ Crooners
Miss Shannon Presents Kinda Fonda Wanda @ Eagles 34
- Sienna Spiro, Summer Joy @ First Avenue—Our domestic nepo baby sitch may be out of hand, but over in the U.K., where the bougies learned the importance of family connections from the aristos they usurped, I swear every celeb under 30 has parents sitting on a huge stack of money. (Daisy Edgar-Jones’s dad? Created Big Brother and now heads the Sky entertainment department.) As for Adele Winehouse here, her dad is the personal jeweler for Prince Harry and Jay-Z. Not that this should matter, since Spiro “can sing,” as people like to say. And if you can stomach a song called “Great Expectation” who can’t admit she’s more an Estella than a Biddy you might even find The Visitor a pleasant enough retro-class diversion. But what made/makes Amy and Adele special is that they’re not posh.—Keith Harris
Mulk, Skat Injector, Mechanistic Butchery, Dicqbeats, CameronXMitchellX @ Flying V
Pat Donahue and Friends @ Midway Saloon
Cowboy Rogue @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Peter and the Wolf @ Orchestra Hall
Dweezil Zappa @ Palace Theatre
Madrean Sky, Old Moon, Sun Wave Mountain Cave @ Pilllar Forum
BZ3 Organ Trio @ Schooner Tavern
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Pat Donohue and the Prairie All Stars @ 331 Club
Sweeping Promises, Panel, Constant Insult @ Turf Club
Family Dinner with Doug and Sarah @ White Squirrel
Marian Runk, Boots & Needles, The Beavers @ White Squirrel
Barrister, King Swank, Malcolm Jabar, Amore Azadi @ Zhora Darling
Thursday, October 29
Stank Theory, Quarter Moon @ Acadia
TC Promotions presents: Murder the Mic @ Acadia
Larry McDonough Quartet @ Aster Cafe
Lost Highway, D. Untethered @ Berlin
Crates: Universal Consciousness by Alice Coltrane @ Berlin
Jaybee & the Routine @ Bunker’s
Salsa Brava—Dance Party in Paradise @ Capri
Good Emotional Man, Dylan Hicks & Small Screens @ Cedar Cultural Center
Tommy Boynton and Friends @ Crooners
Peter Kogan’s Monsterful Wonderband @ Crooners
Landslide: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac @ Crooners
Barry Cole Band, Midwest Crisis, Banana Grenade, Noise Pollution @ Driftwood Char Bar
Dan Israel and Mikkel @ Dubliner Pub
Swamp Twisters 2.0 @ Dubliner Pub
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Nursing Death, Coworker, Tear Dungeon @ Eagles 34
Amble, Vincent Lima @ First Avenue
Snapz Live Band Open Mic @ Green Room
The Galactic Cowboy Orchestra @ Hook and Ladder
Solvejg, Ray Gun Youth, Pity Party, Cheap Bouquet @ Hook and Ladder
Courtroom Concert: RenegadeEnsemble "Before Dawn" @ Landmark Center
Acoustic Thursdays @ Mainstreet Bar
Horst/Peterson/Grivna/Kjeer @ Metronome Brewing
Willie B Blues Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Peter and the Wolf @ Orchestra Hall
Echo Signal, Muatas, Shading the Sun @ Pilllar Forum
Scott Allen & the List, the Foshays @ Schooner Tavern
Horror on Hennepin @ Skyway Theatre
Todd Snyder Tribute with the High Rev., Matt Walvatne, Johnny Peso @ 331 Club
Forbidden, Heathen, Void @ Turf Club
Redder Moon, Die So Fluid, Stranger Gallery, Count Spookula @ Zhora Darling
Friday, October 30
New Constellations, Vox Rea @ Amsterdam
Blues Night feat. Holy Hannah! @ Animales
The Neighborhood Quartet @ Aster Cafe
Paul Barry Blues Band @ Blues Saloon
CLRS X BOMJA: Afro-Rave @ Cabooze
Noise Party Vol. 15 @ Cedar Cultural Center
Rad Owl, Powerdam, Cut Rate Clones @ Cloudland
Suzanne Paris and Benny Weinbeck @ Crooners
Urban Classic Presents Pure Funk @ Crooners
32Headshots, Beyond Forever @ Day Block Brewing
Machinery Hill, Headlight @ Driftwood Char Bar
The Comebacks Duo @ Dubliner Pub
Irish Music Session @ Dubliner Pub
Miss Shannon Special 5th Friday Pre-Halloween Show @ Eagles 34
Eldest Daughter, Honey Please @ 56 Brewing
Reventon: Latin Halloween Party @ Fillmore
Phillip Phillips, Katie Lynne Sharbaugh @ Fine Line
The Smallweeds @ Ginkgo Coffee
Sorry for Party Rocking Halloween @ Green Room
Black AF! Queer Prom @ Hook and Ladder
Indigo Room: The Halloween Edition @ Hook and Ladder
Cover Band & Costume Party @ Memory Lanes
Boom Island String Quartet @ Metronome Brewery
Cellar Dwellers @ Minnesota Music Cafe
The Tallest Man on Earth, Gwenifer Raymond @ Palace Theatre
Boomdagger, Whispered the Rabbit, …And I Found A Way, Amateur Hour @ Pilllar Forum
Ukrainian Village Band, Soul Trouvere @ Schooner Tavern
Horror on Hennepin @ Skyway Theatre
- Charlie Parr feat. Dave King (Album Release) @ State Theatre—Charlie Parr is pretty stylistically adventurous for an Americana guy. On his latest album, Rooming House, the local troubadour teamed up with ever-versatile and every-busy drummer Dave King to create “a conceptual folk opera.” Musically, it’s a sparse affair, with just Parr’s shimmering guitar and weathered voice hovering about King’s sympathetic percussion, but it enlivens an endearing cast of occupants who are short on resources but long on character. Among them, the protagonist of “(What’s So Funny About) Universal Healthcare?,” who sets out to rob a bank so he can get medical attention in prison.—Keith Harris
Pretty Pretty Please @ Terminal Bar
Skalloween with Space Monkey Mafia @ Turf Club
GooseBump ‘N’ Grind: ’90s Halloween Party @ Uptown VFW
K-pop Club Night @ Varsity Theater
Chris Holm & Friends @ White Squirrel
Linus, Unattractive Giant Monster, My Kid Banana, Dead on Board @ White Squirrel
Saturday, October 31
Multiverse Masquerade: A Nerdtastic Halloween Spectacular @ Amsterdam
Halloween Kids’ Costume Dance Party @ Animales
DJ Grady (Not Grady) @ Animales
Nocturne: Liz Draper, drey dk, & Lo Mismo @ Berlin
Room3 Collective with Laeton Olaleye @ Berlin
Mikel Wright & the Wrongs @ Bunker’s
Laamar and School of Rock @ Cedar Cultural Center
Celebrating the Music of Luther Vandross @ Dakota
The Failsafe, Death of the Heron, Alborn, Grave Society, Shot Down @ Day Block Brewing
Chine Rider Presents: Night of the Living Deadheads @ Day Block Brewing
Bring Your Mom, the Silverteens, Little Man @ Driftwood Char Bar
Sparrowhawk, Little Fevers, Union Suits, Horse Grass @ Dusty’s
Quarter Life Crisis⏤Emoween, Retro//Modern @ First Avenue
Halloween Spectacular for Kids @ First Avenue
- First Avenue’s Annual Halloween Party and Costume Contest @ First Avenue—There are cheaper Halloween celebrations, sure, but the potential for spooktacular costume observing doesn’t get better than inside the (quite haunted!) First Ave Mainroom. As DJs Sophia Eris, Michael Grey, Izzie P, McShellen, and Smitty spin tunes, 89.3 the Current host Diane will ringlead a costume contest featuring $1,000 in prizes. Local photography ace Tony Nelson will be prowling, werewolf-like, snapping pics, meaning your Agamemnon from The Odyssey, Lily Lovebraids from Poppy Playtime, or somber/respectful Oliver Tree costume, to pick three random examples, could be famous via First Ave socials come All Saints’ Day.—Keith Harris
- Ella Langley @ Grand Casino Arena—They grow up so fast. Why, just this past February I saw Langley open for Eric Church in this very same arena, and now little over a half a year—and the biggest song of 2026—later, she’s headlining the joint. Maybe “Choosin’ Texas” feels less epochal than the longest-running No. 1 in Hot 100 history should, or maybe we’re all just too eager to expect pop to be amenable to reductive cultural takes. As the great country critic Natalie Weiner has said, it’s not just a durable and catchy song, but it’s “perfect fodder for everyone who wants to post a TikTok wearing a cowboy hat which… not to oversimplify things, but lots of people like doing that because it's fun.” Most of Langley’s latest, Dandelion, is twangy soft-rock in the vein of the follow-up single “Be Like Her,” though she includes a cover of "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" for cred. Like most successful female country stars, Langley is better than the boys, because she has to be.—Keith Harris
Samambo World Presents: From Dusk Till Dawn @ Green Room
Festival de las Calaveras @ Hook and Ladder
Wormdove vs. Rahtwylah @ Jazz Central
Maxx Band Soul Experience @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Oister Boy, Fiona Hayes, Holding Hemlock @ Pilllar Forum
King Sized Coffin, Whispered the Rabbit, Kvsket, Steel Chair, Dreams Aside @ Schooner Tavern
Internet Kids Hyperpop Dance Party @ 7th St Entry
Horror on Hennepin @ Skyway Theatre
Cole Diamond, Clayton Ryan Trio, Cowboy Thoughts @ Terminal Bar
M.A.Y. (EP Release), Crash Cuddle, Warcake, Stillpoints, Color in Reverse @ 331 Club
McNasty Brass Band, Radiochurch, Rada K & the Cicadas, Theology @ Turf Club
Ghost Town: A Halloween Transmission @ Uptown VFW
Ryan Picone Quartet @ Volstead’s
Chicky Rooster @ White Squirrel
Le Cirque Rouge @ White Squirrel
Lasalle, Miloe, Special Guest @ Zhora Darling
Sunday, November 1
Donny Benet, Otnes @ Amsterdam
Sunday Swing Brunch @ Aster Cafe
The Ronny Loew Band – Saxophunk @ Capri Theater
Hooked on a Feeling: ’70-’74 @ Crooners
The Jack Brass Band @ Crooners
Chatterbox, Seraphim, Foom @ Day Block Brewing
Sunday Trad Session @ Dubliner Pub
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
Allison Russell, Autumn Nicholas @ First Avenue
Lilyisthatyou, James the Seventh @ Green Room
North Stars Jazz Workshop: Members Concert @ Jazz Central
Lost Golden Toads Album Release @ Metronome Brewery
Rezn, Lowheaven, Linus @ 7th St Entry
- Sombr, the Last Dinner Party, Hannah Jadagu @ Target Center—He’s a fan of Jeff Buckley, whose cheekbones he shares, and of Radiohead, which is why he sometimes sounds like Coldplay. Because I am a true Man of the People, I reluctantly gave I Hardly Know Her one last listen today, in the hopes of finding a smidgen of the humor suggested by the title or a turn of phrase like “you hit like a drunk cigarette,” which comes from one of his new singles, don’t ask me to remember which. And all I can remember is that icky line about not wanting his child to look like anyone but you and his humblebrag about being too sad for the girls in lowrise jeans to turn him on. “Yearncore,” Pitchfork’s Hannah Jocelyn calls his midtempo slush, and as always I’m left to wonder why the so-called sensitive guys are never sensitive to other people’s feelings.—Keith Harris
Brass Messengers, Corpse Reviver @ 331 Club
Microwave, Free Throw @ Varsity Theater
Joe Carey (EP Release), Jeff Ray, Norah Shea @ White Squirrel
Trench Size Trio @ White Squirrel
Glurge, Selfish Teammate, Prick, New Confusion @ White Squirrel
Monday, November 2
The Great Irish Singalong @ Dubliner Pub
The Damned, Flamin’ Groovies, the Courettes, DJ Jake Rudh @ First Avenue
Jonas Brothers @ Grand Casino Arena
Blues Jam with Moses Oakland @ Midway Saloon
Monday Jam @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Marigold Memories, Laura Hugo, Guauhtli, Obsidian James @ Pilllar Forum
Diles que no me maten, the Swongos, ARDO @ 7th St Entry
Roe Family Singers, Soul Trouvere @ 331 Club
