Once again, I did not get to a single fish fry this Lent. I'm wasting my life.
Tuesday, April 4
International Reggae Allstars @ Bunkers
Victor Wooten & The Wooten Brothers @ Dakota
St. Dominic’s Trio @ Driftwood
- Lil Wayne @ Fillmore—It’s incredible to think that Lil Wayne is still only 40 years old. The New Orleans MC got his start as a teen in the '90s, achieved Best Rapper Alive status by the ‘00s, and has been chasing his own (often space-alien odd, sometimes sneakily trailblazing) artistic indulgences ever since, health and legal problems be damned. Oh yeah, he also was pardoned by President Trump, thus securing his place in U.S. presidential history. Securing local Weezy appearances has proven much trickier; between 2015 and 2017, Wayne was a no show for three different dates. Odds are possibly improved for this show, considering it kicks off the 28-city "Welcome to Carter Tour,” which’ll have the real-life Dwayne Carter Jr. spitting bars from his voluminous discography at smaller clubs. When he’s fully committed, Wayne can still summon the generational talent that solidified him as one of the all-time greats.
Moonchild with Austin Antoine @ Fine Line
The 4ontheFloor with Mike Munson @ Icehouse
The Murder Capital with Pet Fox @ 7th St. Entry
April Conspiracy Series featuring The Infernos, Alexander Craig @ 331 Club
Worker's Playtime, Doug Otto & Hilary Thavis @ 331 Club
Trevor McSpadden & Mary Cutrufello @ White Squirrel
PSYPL (Tuesday Residency) with Briefly Gorgeous, Ginny and the Fizz @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, April 5
MN Songwriter Showcase hosted by Nick Hensley @ Aster Cafe
Maggie's Wednesdays: Linda Peterson @ Crooners
Immanuel Wilkins Quartet @ Dakota
Art Beagle Back Up Band, Bradley Hoffman Bader @ Driftwood
Maygen & the Birdwatcher, Stillhouse Junkies, Friend Dog @ Icehouse
Model/Actriz with Brutus VIII @ 7th St Entry
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Scottie Miller @ 331 Club
Bar Dance featuring Trailer Trash with Pleasure Horse Duo and Dylan Hicks @ Turf Club
Toivan Quartet with Bryan Murray Trio @ White Squirrel
Thursday, April 6
Rachel Grae with Allie McIntosh @ Amsterdam
Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunkers
Joyann Parker Presents Acoustic Gospel Roots @ Crooners
Mick Sterling Presents the Music of the Band @ Crooners
The Famous Volcanoes, Sargasso @ Driftwood
Candlelight: Sci-Fi and Fantasy Film Scores @ Granada
CHACKO LUV, MüLLET, Dog Gamm, & Poison Ivy @ Hook & Ladder
Red Hot Django Peppers @ KJ's Hideaway
Wheelwright with Future Crib @ 7th St Entry
- John Mellencamp @ State TheatreThe cigarettes have taken their toll on the ol' fella's voice, but the Indiana man of the people soldiers on. His 2022 Bruce-abetted Strictly a One-Eyed Jack was a bleak as the day's headlines; a new album in the works, Orpheus Descending, doesn't exactly sound like a pick-me-up. At this three-night theater stand, you'll get the hits you came to hear—including the one about how life is all downhill from 16, a reminder that even when his big hooks and drummer Kenny Aronoff were getting him on the radio, John was never exactly a sunny guy.
Northeast Invitational @ 331 Club
BlurCurve (EP Release) with VIN, Calgary Winters and M.A.Y. @ Turf Club
Shady Babies @ Underground Music Cafe
DL4 presents A Tribute to Merle Haggard featuring Trevor McSpadden @ White Squirrel
Friday, April 7
Spencer Sutherland with Dylan Conrique and Cole Wilder @ Amsterdam
The Stanley Kipper Project with special guest Lightnin Joe Peterson @ Aster Cafe
- Black Belt Eagle Scout, Claire Glass, and Adobo @ Cedar Cultural Center—Mid-Covid, Portland indie-rock multi-instrumentalist Katherine Paul visited the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, her ancestral lands, and came away with the inspiration for her third album, The Land, The Water, The Sky. Capturing such an experience in language is always tricky: Whether simple and descriptive (“Gray and white salmon swim upstream”) or verging on the mystical (“Trying to see inside myself/Wanting to rip inside my body/Like a demon”) the lyrics grow mesmerizing as delivered by Paul’s hazy soprano. And the guitars, rising from a subdued strum to exploratory solo lines, add to the dreamlike quality of the album.
Sue Orfield & Joan Hutton @ Crooners
Mick Sterling Presents the Music of the Band @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Judi Vinar @ Crooners
The Soul Trustees, the Cellar Kings @ Driftwood
Two Sides of Tina Schlieske @ Dakota
Marauda Presents Rage Room @ Fillmore
The Heavy Heavy with Sun June @ Fine Line
Unknown Mortal Orchestra with Seafoam Walls @ First Avenue
The Confused (Album Release) @ Green Room
Derecho, Wain McFarlane's Dreadlock Cowboy, Placaters @ Hook and Ladder
Annie and the Bang Bang, Porcupine @ Hook and Ladder
Lamar (Single Release), Akie Bermiss, Molly Dean @ Icehouse
Houston + Poster Children @ Icehouse
Joyann Parker Band @ KJ’s Hideaway
City Country Collective Presents Redwing Blackbird, Phantom Fields, and Tyler Haag @ Mortimers
Will Joseph Cook with DBMK @ 7th St Entry
- John Mellencamp @ State Theatre—SEE THURSDAY'S LISTINGS
Luke Enyeart, Nina Luna. Preston Gunderson @ 331 Club
BLVCKBVRN, LOW, OB @ The Treasury
- Tommy Stinson with Ruby Stinson @ Turf Club The road life is hard on a musician—former Replacement/former Gun 'n' Rose Stinson was originally scheduled to hit St. Paul on this tour in December, but he had to cancel on account of hip surgery. Opening is his daughter, who usually just goes by Ruby and whose moody pop is plenty different from her dad's music.
Haute Dish Dance Party with DJ Shannon Blowtorch, Michael Todd Grey, & TaliaKnight @ Uptown VFW
The Matt Arthur Contraption w. Nikki & the Ruemates @ White Squirrel
Saturday, April 8
Brett Young with Morgan Evans + Ashley Cooke @ Armory
Kathleen Johnson Presents: Eagles and Troubadours Fly Closest to the Sun @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Geoff Johnson @ Crooners
Two Sides of Tina Schlieske @ Dakota
Fab Hackmaster, Chicky Rooster @ Driftwood
KPOP Night with DJ R(e)L, K-Move, Locomotive Dance Crew @ Fine Line
Tennis with Kate Bollinger @ First Avenue
GRRRL SCOUT: April Queer Dance Party @ Hook and Ladder
Gypsy Mania Hot Club @ Icehouse
Sopko/Dosh/Long Play Van Halen's 1984 with Damage Controller @ Icehouse
Debbie Briggs Vintage Jazz @ KJ’s Hideaway
Take That Back @ KJ's Hideaway
YDG X ARTIX! X CELO @ The Loft
Suffering Hour, Noctambulist, Sunless @ Mortimer's
Avey Tare with Good Doom @ 7th St Entry
- John Mellencamp @ State Theatre—SEE THURSDAY'S LISTINGS
- Future and Friends @ Target Center—No mistaking it: We are in the era of post-peak Future. The Atlanta rapper can no longer summon the blend of vulnerability and malice that made him the most fascinating popular MC for a few years in the middle of the past decade. He’s been gliding on trap autopilot for a while now; on his 2022 hit album, I Never Liked You, his codeine-soaked groan hits all the right lazily hedonistic Auto-Tuned notes and the 808 hi-hats titter in familiar patterns, but the magic is gone. Still, Future has a past, and this is the biggest rap show of the season because his setlists have been digging into that classic period, as well as the few worthy hits that followed. Now’s your chance to chant “Percocets, molly, Percocets” in a roomful of fans possessed by the same narcotic glee as you and shout “Same! Damn! Time!” at the same damn time as Nayvadius himself. Besides, he’s accompanied by some noteworthy “friends”: Don Toliver, G Herbo, Mariah the Scientist, and Dess Dior.
Babie Eyes, Mik Cool @ 331 Club
Voltage Controller Vol. 16: Phil Dumka, Fluidic @ 331 Club
Bongzilla with Northern Hammer and Haze Gazer @ Turf Club
Dan Krzykowski @ White Squirrel
Battery Eyes w. Closetalker, Total Gaze @ White Squirrel
Sunday, April 9
Swing Brunch with Patty & the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
The Way Back Yard Boys with Jess Smith @ Aster Cafe
Easter Joy: Gwen Matthews and Robert Robinson @ Crooners
Easter Brunch with Ginger Commodore & T. Mychael Rambo @ Dakota
Phine Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood
Old Gods of Appalachia @ Fitzgerald Theater
Red Hot Django Peppers @ Icehouse
Shayfer James with Sarah and the Safe Word @ 7th St. Entry
St. Paul Songwriter Rounds @ White Squirrel
Monday, April 10
Monday Jazz with Noah Ophoven-Baldwin @ Icehouse
Auto-Tune Karaoke @ Mortimer’s
Begonia with Sumer @ 7th St Entry
The Roe Family Singers @ 331 Club
