I’m the One Who Wants to Be With Your Complete Concert Calendar: Feb. 20-26

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

By Keith Harris

12:43 PM CST on February 20, 2024

Daniel Topete; Adam Udenberg|

Militarie Gun; Prize Horse

Just a lil Mr. Big quote in the headline for anyone headed out to the Fitz this week.

Tuesday, February 20

International Reggae All Stars @ Bunkers

Sarah Morris @ Dakota

St. Dominic's Trio @ Driftwood

Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34

Daphne Jane (Residency) with Keep for Cheap, Lana Leone @ Green Room—I think parties are pretty fun myself, but Daphne Jane's “The Next Party (I’ll Miss),” about how it’s more fun to write songs in your room, makes a strong case for not leaving the house. This February residency at Green Room suggests she’s not that much of a shut-in, however. She's joined tonight by Keep for Cheap, who were featured in last week's "Poised to Pop" feature, and the sharp songwriter Lana Leone.

Explosion Big Band @ Jazz Central

River City Jazz Orchestra @ Minnesota Music Cafe

New Band Night @ Palmer's

All Nighter Tuesdays @ ROK Music Lounge

The Hails with Hotel Fiction @ 7th St Entry

Industrial Strength with DJ Sin @ Terminal Bar

Worker’s Playtime: Chris Holm @ 331 Club

February Conspiracy Series featuring Robin Kyle, John Swardson, Marin Devaney @ 331 Club

The New Havoline Supremes! feat. Mary Cutrufello, Dan Lowinger @ White Squirrel

Los Pinches Güeys (Tuesday Residency) with The Knotties, Hella Reptillian @ White Squirrel

Karaoke @ Zhora Darling

Wednesday, February 21

Wain McFarlane @ Acadia

MN Songwriter Showcase @ Aster Cafe

Bryan Nichols Trio @ Berlin

Dylan Salfer @ Bunkers

Maggie's Wednesday: Linda Peterson @ Crooners

Ron Pope @ Dakota

Vittorio & the Bridges, Sidewalk Diamonds @ Driftwood

Militzer! @ Eagles 34

Stoop Rooster @ Eagles 34

Miss Shannon's Swing Night @ Eagles 34

Mr. Big @ Fitzgerald Theater—One hit wonders? Them? How soon we forget their uneventful cover of Cat Stevens's "Wild World," not to mention a string of Japanese top tens that lasted till 2001. Anyway, this textbook case of why we needed alt-rock playing such an intimate setting seemed worth noting—though not, of course, recommending.

Mary Prescott: Solo Piano Improvisations @ Icehouse

JCS: Creative Collaborations @ Jazz Central

Benjamin Raye and the Empire Players with Mark Ross & The Three Nineteen @ KJ's Hideaway

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Open Rehearsal @ Orchestra Hall

Cole Diamond Presents Whiskey Wednesdays @ Palmer's

1947, The Aftergreens, Blow the FM Radio @ Pilllar Forum

Swamp Poppas @ Schooner Tavern

mehro with King Isis @ 7th St Entry

Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Corpse Reviver @ 331 Club

John Magnuson Trio @ 331 Club

The Eli Brunelle Trio @ Underground Music Venue

Saint Paul Mudsteppers Monthly @ White Squirrel

Driftless Revelers @ White Squirrel

Thursday, February 22

KYM, Spaceport, and Burlesque by Local Luminaries @ Amsterdam

Society of Chemists @ Berlin

Wisconsin Brass Quintet @ Cedar Cultural Center

Dedicated Enemy, Speakeazie, Another Night @ Cloudland

Leslie Ball and Gary Rue of Rue Nouveau @ Crooners

The Southside Aces @ Crooners

Kathleen Johnson Presents: Stevie Wonder’s “Hotter Than July” @ Dakota

The Roasters @ Eagles 34

LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34

Karaoke With On-Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34

Jon Batiste @ First Avenue

"Snapped" Live Band Open Mic @ Green Room

LAAMAR with HALEY, Peter Miller, and The Nunnery @ Hook and Ladder

Feeding Leroy with Katey Bellville & Those SOB's @ Icehouse

Winter Song @ KJ's Hideaway

Drums of Navarone @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Medium Zach @ Modist Brewing

Osmo Vänskä Returns @ Orchestra Hall

February Music & Mindfulness @ Orchestra Hall

The Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs @ Palmer's

BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet @ Parkway

CUTE February Fling: Michaelangelo’s Birthday Edition @ ROK Music Lounge—And a happy birthday to music writer Michaelangelo Matos, who'll celebrate by sharing the breadth and depth of his musical taste with us tonight.

13 Howell, Robert Wilkinson @ Schooner Tavern

Prize Horse (Album Release) with Downward, killusonline and Giallo @ 7th St Entry—Racket contributor Austin Gerth celebrated this Minneapolis trio’s “emo-indebted, fatalistic melancholy” and “glacial, metal-adjacent” sound upon the release of their 2022 debut, Welder, and those hyphenates let you know how close Prize Horse edges toward genres without quite leaping into them. Gerth also called them “heavy shoegaze,” though, and if the shoegaze fits, etc. Their second album, Under Sound, opens with the intimate squeak of fingers on guitar strings, and its arpeggios leading to unresolved progressions, hypnotic lull of regulated drum patterns, and the contrast between Jake Beitel's plainspoken vocals and the band’s moody low-end rumble is all very wintry in its way. Excellent lineup downhill too, including Oklahoma shoegazers Downward and two great local bands: rap-rockers killusonline and the absolutely ferocious Giallo, whose frontman I once saw hurl a crutch halfway across the Uptown VFW.

Minneapolis Songwriter Round: DC Leonhardt, Emma Jane, Bean, Chelsea Clark @ 331 Club

Monique Smaz with Adam Brandt and Hailey James @ Turf Club

Unearthed Sessions @ Underground Music Cafe

In Solid Air @ White Rock Lounge

May Klug and Alone-a @ White Squirrel

Friday, February 23

Sweet Lady @ Acadia

Wifisfuneral @ Amsterdam

Billy Johnson and Friends @ Aster Cafe

High and Mighty @ Bunkers

Twain with Chuckie Duke @ Caydence Records & Coffee

Gao Hong & Ignacio Monteverde @ Cedar Cultural Center

Neo Neos, Smart Shoppers. Spit Takes, Unattractive Giant Monster @ Cloudland

Dan Cavanagh and Dave Hagedorn @ Crooners

Jimmy Martin and Drew Jansen @ Crooners

Maggie's Afterglow: Maud Hixson and Rick Carlson @ Crooners

Joyann Parker Band @ Dakota

Lovecraft, Imaginary Numbers @ Driftwood

Grim Lot, Valors, Rat Castle Jazz Ensemble @ Eagles 34

Miss Shannon's 4th Friday Sock Hop with Kinda Fonda Wanda @ Eagles 34

Skizzy Mars with brake and MoonLander @ Fine Line

Hot in Herre ⏤ 2000s Dance Party @ First Avenue

Goon Tribune (Album Release) with Xina, Room3 @ Green Room

Henry Cluney with Virgin Whores and New Rocket Union @ Hook and Ladder

Mango Jam @ Hook and Ladder

Mike Munson Duo @ Icehouse

Jake La Botz @ Icehouse

Brad Bellows and Dave Graf @ Jazz Central

George Harrison and Tommy Bentz Birthday Show @ KJ's Hideaway

Monica Austin with Matt Graunke & The Crow River Rebellion @ KJ's Hideaway

Hesh, Prosecute @ The Loft

The Maxx Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Osmo Vänskä Returns @ Orchestra Hall

Jamecia Bennett and Friends @ Ordway

Peter Hayward, Everyday Trebles, and The Symptones @ Palmer's

Missing Life, Hey, ILY , Haze Gazer @ Pilllar Forum

WAAR PARTY, King Ceaser, Ashes from Stone @ ROK Music Lounge

Jiggs Lee Invasion @ Schooner Tavern

Provoker with Riki and MüLLET @ 7th St Entry

29 Wolves @ Terminal Bar

ahem, Dot Operator, Pure Wool, allergen @ 331 Club

Pert Near Sandstone with Sicard Hollow and Said In Stone @ Turf Club

Ira Wolf & Michael Gay @ Underground Music Venue

Soul Train Night @ Uptown VFW

The Collaboratory 4th Fridays @ White Squirrel

Friday I'm in Love Dance Party @ Zhora Darling

Saturday, February 24

Sassafrass @ Acadia

EVERNORTH & XAETO, featuring Corsair, Fatal Fall(IA), & DRUIID @ Amsterdam

The High 48’s Bluegrass Brunch @ Aster Cafe

Kraig Jarret Johnson and Friends @ Aster Cafe

R Factor @ Bunkers

Kylie Weber @ Caydence Records & Coffee

Products Band, Che Arthur, Diamond Lake @ Cloudland

Lush Country @ Crooners

A Brazilian Evening with Choro Borealis @ Crooners

Born To Run: A Celebration Of The Music Of Bruce Springsteen @ Crooners

Maggie's Afterglow: Maud Hixson and Rick Carlson @ Crooners

Kenny Garnett @ Dakota

The Long Honeymoon, the Beatnik Brothers @ Driftwood

Lulu & the Shoe, Ditch Pigeon, A Sunken Ship Irony, and the Daily Norm @ Dusty's

Drey DK, Mild Manner, Admiral Fox, SetSun. Benefit for She Rock, She Rock @ Eagles 34

Nectarous, Grieving Pines, and Sweet Lady @ Eagles 34

The Devil Wears Prada and Fit for a King @ Fillmore

Days Before Jazba with DJ NIKX @ Fine Line

Cold War Kids with Joe P @ First Avenue

Good Night Moon @ Green Room

Cornbread Harris @ Icehouse

Stardust (Album Release) with Goatroper + Clare Doyle @ Icehouse

Iron Chops with Jon Wood @ Jazz Central

Winter Jazz Festival @ KJ's Hideaway/Park Square Theatre—Last year Racket took a long look at the state of Minnesota music festivals, and determined that they’re vanishing (though the Minnesota Yacht Club Festival has since appeared and Basilica Block Party has promised a resurrection). In our story, the St. Paul Jazz Fest emerged as the feel-good success amid a bleak festival landscape, and this ticketed winter installment should hold over jazz fans until the free main event hits Mears Park this June, as it has every year since 1999. Fiery Havana-launched pianist/composer Jorge Luis Pacheco will handle headlining duties Saturday at Park Square Theater, where he’ll be preceded by Abinnet Berhanu's Washington, D.C.-based, Ethiopian-inspired ensemble Ahndenet አንድነት.—Jay Boller

Sammy Virji @ The Loft

High & Mighty @ Minnesota Music Cafe

DJ Kwey @ Modist Brewing

Dropkick Murphys with Pennywise and The Scratch @ Myth Live

Jazzba @ Northrop

Osmo Vänskä Returns @ Orchestra Hall

Sebastian Bach with Aortic Fire @ Palace Theatre

Dragnet, The Silverteens, and The Unnamed @ Palmer's

The Dark Horse Revue: The Music of George Harrison @ Parkway

Serpents of Serenity, J CYN, Virginias Basement, Harrison Gordon @ Pilllar Forum

happy.hardcore: PANDEMONIUM.GFY @ ROK Music Lounge

Jimmi and the Band of Souls @ Schooner Tavern

Militarie Gun with Pool Kids, Spiritual Cramp and Spaced @ 7th St Entry—Last month, Militarie Gun took a surprise turn into softer territory on their EP, Life Under the Sun. With assistance from guests Bully, Mannequin Pussy, and Manchester Orchestra, this Los Angeles hardcore five-piece ruminatively recast four ragers from their well-received 2023 LP Under the Gun, and tacked on an acoustic take on NOFX’s “Oops, I OD’d” as a melancholy capper. Live, however, expect singer Ian Shelton to return to full-throated form and the band to rock with the precision and aim their name suggests. While their album’s lead track, “Do It Faster,” might have you expecting speed freaks, Militarie Gun is more measured and anthemic than that, given to displays of empathy like “My Friends Are Having a Hard Time” and boasts like “Never Fucked Up Once.”

Catfish Segall, Keirnan Tollefson Serious Fraud Office @ Terminal Bar

Dog Gamn, The Controversial New Skinny Pill @ 331 Club

Pert Near Sandstone with Dead Horses and Danny Frank & The Smoky Gold @ Turf Club

Decadence @ Uptown VFW

Maddie Zahm @ Varsity

Sabot, Kalot, Chain of Hatred, Gross Motor Skills @ White Rock Lounge

Derecho @ White Rock Lounge

Tender Comrade with Wish Wash @ White Squirrel

Saturday Is Instrumental with Big Trouble @ White Squirrel

Joe & the Mechanics with Alex Tulp, Elour @ White Squirrel

DUG, Murf, Cache, Cult Sequence @ Zhora Darling