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
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
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
Wednesday, February 21
MN Songwriter Showcase @ Aster Cafe
Maggie's Wednesday: Linda Peterson @ Crooners
Vittorio & the Bridges, Sidewalk Diamonds @ Driftwood
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
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
Wisconsin Brass Quintet @ Cedar Cultural Center
Dedicated Enemy, Speakeazie, Another Night @ Cloudland
Leslie Ball and Gary Rue of Rue Nouveau @ Crooners
Kathleen Johnson Presents: Stevie Wonder’s “Hotter Than July” @ Dakota
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Karaoke With On-Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
"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
Drums of Navarone @ Minnesota Music Cafe
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
Billy Johnson and Friends @ Aster Cafe
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
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
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
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
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
The Collaboratory 4th Fridays @ White Squirrel
Friday I'm in Love Dance Party @ Zhora Darling
Saturday, February 24
EVERNORTH & XAETO, featuring Corsair, Fatal Fall(IA), & DRUIID @ Amsterdam
The High 48’s Bluegrass Brunch @ Aster Cafe
Kraig Jarret Johnson and Friends @ Aster Cafe
Kylie Weber @ Caydence Records & Coffee
Products Band, Che Arthur, Diamond Lake @ Cloudland
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
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
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
High & Mighty @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Dropkick Murphys with Pennywise and The Scratch @ Myth Live
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
Sabot, Kalot, Chain of Hatred, Gross Motor Skills @ 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
Sunday, February 25
ericdoa with bixby @ Amsterdam
Swing Brunch with Patty & the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
A Tribute to Mahalia Jackson @ Capri Theater
Adi Yeshaya Jazz Orchestra Featuring Jennifer Grimm @ Crooners
Phine Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
The Prize Fighter Inferno with carobae @ Fine Line
Silversun Pickups with Hello Mary @ First Avenue
Greg Grease + Vie Boheme @ Icehouse
Burning Blue Rain with Joyann Parker Duo @ KJ's Hideaway
Korngold, Villa-Lobos and Janáček @ Orchestra Hall
Cantus and Candian Brass @ Ordway
Church of Cornbread @ Palmer's
Black Widows Greatest Open Mic Ever @ Palmer's
The Steel Wheels with Griffin William Sherry @ Parkway
Charmer and Saturdays At Your Place with Liquid Mike and Lapdogs @ 7th St Entry
The Real Chuck NORAD @ 331 Club
Go Ahead And Die with Bodybox @ Turf Club
Hostile Harmony @ White Rock Lounge
St. Paul Songwriter Rounds @ White Squirrel
Monday, February 26
Call it Anything Vinyl DJ Night with Sam Cassidy and James Taylor @ Berlin
Purple Funk Metropolis & Room3 @ Dakota
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
Municipal Waste with Ghoul, Necrot and Dead Heat @ Fine Line
Auto-Tune Karaoke @ Mortimer’s
Watch Party: Movies and DJs @ Palmer's
The Neo Neos, Outcry, The Blood Shot, The Reverend Poky Bunge, Closet Alpha Males @ Pilllar Forum
Me Like Bees with d'Lakes and Poolboy @ 7th St Entry
Matt Arthur Contraption @ 331 Club
The Dans: Dan Newton, Dan Lowinger with Joe Savage, Tom Schaefer, Nick Salisbury @ White Squirrel
