Hurray for the Riff Raff and Hurray for Your Complete Concert Calendar: March 12-18

Pretty much all the live music you can catch in the Twin Cities this week.

8:59 AM CDT on March 12, 2024

Provided; Tommy Kha|

Two very different Friday night shows: Olivia Rodrigo and Hurray for the Riff Raff

St. Patrick's Weekend looms on the horizon in this week's calendar, but there are plenty of non-green-dyed shows to check out as well.

Tuesday, March 12

Karaoke @ Acadia

International Reggae All Stars @ Bunkers

Skerryvore @ Dakota

St. Dominic's Trio @ Driftwood

Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34

BabyTron with Certified Trapper @ First Avenue

RISE + REPAIR: Climate Rally Concert featuring Annie Humphrey, David Huckfelt, & Jeremy Ylvisaker @ Hook and Ladder—The official after-party for the day's climate rally at the Capitol is also a fundraiser for Rise + Repair, an Indigenous rights/climate justice org.

Horse Lords with Ka Baird @ Icehouse—An avant-garde instrumental rock band for folks a little leery of the excesses the tag “avant-garde instrumental rock” suggests—and also for folks a little apprehensive of the austerity with which minimalists can overcompensate for their chops-happy peers’ excesses. OK, maybe those are just my hangups, but this Baltimore quartet really knows how to balance their pattern repetition against their freeform excursions for an exhilarating tension; their music is taut but elastic. They’re calling their latest release, As It Happened: Horse Lords Live, which was culled from a series of European live performances, “a mediated, sometimes obviously edited presentation of a live performance that strives for a certain level of idealization,” so maybe don’t take that as a literal representation of what you’re in store for. But you can hear the essentials: Owen Gardner’s guitar is sometimes as spiky as African desert blues (hold the blues) and sometimes more rockishly (pardon me, but it’s true) angular; Andrew Bernstein’s saxophone flaunts a brusque tone as his improvisations turn inward; Sam Haberman sets the parameters with his subtle but never delicate drumming; and bassist Max Eilbacher sometimes hews to the rhythms, sometimes works against them, and sometimes makes funny noises on his computer. Heck, you might even be able to dance to it, if a little awkwardly. But I won’t judge you if you don’t judge me.

Cedar Avenue Big Band @ Jazz Central

Nova Jazz Orchestra @ Minnesota Music Cafe

DJ Nanobyte @ Palmer's

All Nighter Tuesdays @ ROK Music Lounge

Mihali with Push & Turn @ 7th St Entry

Industrial Strength with DJ Sin @ Terminal Bar

Worker’s Playtime: Mike Munson @ 331 Club

February Conspiracy Series feat. The Pistol Whippin’ Party Penguins @ 331 Club

Waylon Jennings Tribute with The DL4, Bill Litzau @ White Squirrel

Mothobsidian (Residency) with Dog Gamn, Pure Shifter @ White Squirrel

Karaoke @ Zhora Darling

Wednesday, March 13

1947 @ Acadia

Destin Conrad @ Amsterdam

MN Songwriter Showcase @ Aster Cafe

Trench Size Trio @ Berlin

Dylan Salfer @ Bunkers

Right in the Eye: Live Movie Concert @ Cedar Cultural Center

Maggie's Wednesday: Andrew Crowley @ Crooners

Tinsley Ellis @ Dakota

Luna with Sam Blasucci and Chatham Rise @ Fine Line—Quite simply, Luna shreds. Stepping aside from the dreamy college rock of Galaxie 500 at the end of the ’80s, Dean Wareham formed one the great guitar bands of the ’90s—which is to say, given the prominence of that instrument in that decade, one of the great guitar bands period. Luna could still be plenty dreamy on occasion, but Wareham’s mordant wit (”Heading for Tacoma/And driving too fast/Nixon's in a coma/And I hope it's gonna last”) and sharp knack for a melody kept them from drifting off. And you gotta catch them live. I’m not saying I’d rather listen to Luna Penthouse Live (recorded in San Francisco in 2017 and released in 2022) instead of the career highlight album that it reproduces in full. But I am saying that I wish I was there. And that I’ll be here tonight, especially since they’ve been copping to their influences recently by studding their setlists with songs from the Velvet Underground and Television. (Wareham wrote a nice reminiscence of Tom Verlaine here.) They’ve occasionally been closing with “Marquee Moon.” Fingers crossed.

Bombay Bicycle Club with Mustard Service @ First Avenue

Candlelight Classic Rock with Strings @ Granada

Lighter Co. (Residency) with Big Delicious + Dalmatian Club + The Cameras @ Icehouse

Big Woods Brass @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Mariachi Country @ Northrop

Chelsea Cutler with Yoke Lore @ Palace Theatre

Willow Waters (Residency) with Carlisle Evens Peck and Lulu & The Shoe @ Palmer's

Soul Flower, The Eli Brunelle Trio, Rose, Tarias and The Sound @ Pilllar

Damn Phibian, Bird Bass, Weeklong Weekend @ ROK Music Lounge

Connor McRae Band @ Schooner Tavern

Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Greg Cheech Hall @ 331 Club

Dan Schwartz @ 331 Club

Fox and Bones with Mind Out of Time, Daniel Bonespur @ Underground Music Venue

Molly Maher & Her Disbelievers @ White Squirrel

Jeremy & the Lords of the Universe with Clash Mike Rockers, Linus @ White Squirrel

Thursday, March 14

Cooler Heads @ Acadia

Kid Bloom @ Amsterdam

The Second Stringers @ Berlin

Sarah Curruchich @ Cedar Cultural Center

Motion Mosaic, Solshade, Vin, Pop Star @ Cloudland

Judy Niemack and John DiMartino @ Crooners

The Robert Everest Expedition World Music Ensemble @ Crooners

Rogue Valley @ Dakota

LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34

Karaoke With On-Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34

Colin Bracewell (EP Release) with Chutes, creeping charlie and Pit Stop @ Fine Line—I met Bracewell's mom at First Ave's Best New Bands show in January and she was very nice! But that's not why I'm spotlighting this gig. I'm really into the singer-songwriter's new single "Julia" (from the new EP, Cozy), which shows off his winning falsetto and features a nicely trick horn arrangement.

Candlelight Tribute to Adele @ Granada

Black Widows (Residency) with Venus DeMars, Dj Demonica, ELOUR, Ice Climber, Qadira @ Hook and Ladder

Willy Porter @ Icehouse

Radical Denominators @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Fem(me) Fatales @ Mortimer's

The Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs @ Palmer's

D.C. Leonhardt, Peter Hayward, Luke Lynell @ ROK Music Lounge

Dan Israel Band, Edie Rae and Craig Duo @ Schooner Tavern

Post Sex Nachos with Fox Royale and Silver Warehouse @ 7th St Entry

Minneapolis Songwriter Rounds: Hosted by Emma Jean, with Abby Irene, Emmy Woods, Lily Blue @ 331 Club

Cole Diamond, Marc Ridge, and Mickyle James @ Underground Music Venue

Treehorn @ Uptown VFW

Small Animal Hospital, New Confusion, Luddgang @ White Rock Lounge

A Jason Molina Celebration @ White Squirrel

Selfish Teammate with Stressica, The Controversial New ‘Skinny Pill’, VISA カード@ White Squirrel

Speakeazie (Single Release) @ Zhora Darling

Friday, March 15

Bugsy @ Acadia

Hurray For The Riff Raff w. NNAMDÏ @ Amsterdam—Aging punks still awaiting the second coming of Joe Strummer probably weren’t expecting a queer Puerto Rican non-dude from the Bronx with an acoustic guitar to come closer to fitting the bill than any mere man, but it ain’t 1977 no more, pal. Not to saddle Alynda Segarra, very much their own artist, with that sort of baggage, but Segarra does embrace rock heroics and political purpose with a verve few younger songwriters dare today. On Hurray for the Riff Raff’s latest The Past Is Still Alive, released last month, the folk-punk visionary bolsters their scope and intensity with sharp-eyed details from life on the road, of hopping trains and sleeping on buses, graffitiing oil cans and shoplifting dinner. At 36, Segarra is old enough to mourn lost acquaintances and old enough to fret that other friends might join them, namechecking Narcan while noting “a war on the people” that has her peers ODing on fentanyl. She’s even old enough to worry about her own path forward, singing “I'm becoming the kind of girl/That they warned me about.” Or was that how they once felt in the past? Maybe both. The achievement of The Past Is Still Alive is to live up to its name, capturing our present tense as an accumulation of memory and experience. Absolutely come early for the tremendous experimental pop/R&B artist NNAMDÏ.

Echoes At Midnight + The Farewell Season @ Aster Cafe

Zacc Harris Group @ Berlin

The Good, the Bad, & the Funky @ Bunkers

Screaming Orphans @ Capri Theater

Ratliff, LVNDSCVPES, Armarock, Fair!e @ Caydence Records & Coffee

Cedar-Riverside Time Machine: Part 1 @ Cedar Cultural Center

The Songs of Grant Hart @ Cloudland

Charmin Michelle and the Wolverines Trio @ Crooners

Maggie's Afterglow: Colleen Raye and Rick Carlson @ Crooners

RIVER: The Music of Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon @ Crooners

Mia x Ally @ Dakota

Swingin' on a Star + Miss Shannon's Dance Lessons @ Eagles 34

Mechanix @ Eagles 34

Hall of Mirrors @ Eagles 34

Peekaboo @ Fillmore

Zepparella @ Fine Line

The Paper Kites with Boy Golden @ Fine Line

Arlo Parks with Chloe George @ First Avenue

Twin Cities Ballet presents Pink Floyd’s "The Wall: A Rock Ballet" with Momentary Lapse of Floyd @ Fitzgerald Theater

Video Game Music and Art @ The Garage

James Holdman @ Ginkgo

Pleezer, Trompe Le Monde, Smile Like You Mean It @ Green Room

Stephen Wilson Jr. @ Icehouse

JD Allen @ Jazz Central

Blanke @ The Loft

The Park Cafe @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Juice! @ Modist Brewing

Express Concert: Bach’s Double Violin Concerto @ Ordway

Grouplove with Bully (solo) @ Palace Theatre

Spit Takes, Butter Boys, Mary Jam and GWEN @ Palmer's

Mark Mallman with DJ Jake Rudh @ The Parkway

DESCEND: THE MUATAS & Darkwave DJ Night @ ROK Music Lounge

Mia Dorr & the Funkin' Bluesers @ Schooner Tavern

Gloryhammer @ Skyway Theatre

Mike Mains & The Branches with Druzy Rose and Tricksy @ 7th St Entry

Lovely Dark, Aesha Minor, Lazenlow @ 331 Club

The Ike Reilly Assassination with Molly Maher @ Turf Club

Caster Volor, KOBB, For Your Entertainment @ Underground Music Venue

Feral Dance @ Uptown VFW

The Bad Companions with Railroad Island @ White Squirrel

Olivia Rodrigo @ Xcel Energy Center—What I love most about Rodrigo and her second album, Guts, is the way her self-awareness never undercuts her impulsiveness, but never justifies it either. On “Bad Idea, Right?” and “Get Him Back!” she’s hilariously analytical about her bad decisions, sometimes even before she makes them. She autopsies past relationships unsparingly on “Vampire” and “Logical,” and she understands stardom from the inside (“Teenage Dream”) and out ( “All-American Bitch”). And she does this all with the “let’s try this” confidence of a star making the most of her moment. I’m not sold on some of the ballads, which aren’t meant for me anyway, but I suspect a full-arena singalong might demolish my reservations. No one in 2023 is transmuting heartbreak, jealousy, insecurity, and angst into pure pop pleasure anywhere near on her level