Lotta good stuff here. What are you—yes, you—looking forward to?
Tuesday, August 12
Chloe Kimes with Molly Brandt @ Amsterdam
International Reggae Allstars @ Bunker’s
North Star Chorus & Parade of Quartets @ Como Lakeside Pavillion
Sophia Shorai & Tommy Barbarella @ Dakota
St. Dominic’s Trio @ Driftwood
Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Dalima Kapten with Fend and Matthew Smith @ Eagles 34
- Tiny Tuesdays with Grande Bazongas, Zoe Grigsby, Ghostmade, Cellophane Stomachache, To Be Named, Thing @ Eagles 34—Ever go to a gig and think, “This band is cool but I really only want to hear maybe three songs from them.” Don’t feel guilty! I think that all the time! Well, Tiny Tuesdays, which features brief experimental sets on the second Tuesday of every month at the Eagles Club, may just be for you. Organizers have posted some helpful guidelines here, including this disclaimer: “Even if you aren’t that into a set it’ll be done in like 10 minutes.”
LeagueAires @ Father Hennepin Park
Cedar Avenue Big Band @ Jazz Central
Joan Griffith, Skarlett Woods, and Gabriela Sweet @ Metronome Brewery
Pig’s Eye Jass Band @ Minnehaha Bandstand
Nova Jazz Orchestra @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Irish Trad Session @ Padraig’s Brewing
Finick with Lexie Modica and Gossamer @ Pilllar Forum
Delilah Bon with Surly Grrly @ 7th St Entry
August Conspiracy Series featuring Laura Hugo, Suzy Plays Guitar @ 331 Club
Worker’s Playtime with Steve Brantseg @ 331 Club
ELOUR (Tuesday Residency) with Jason Shannon, M.A.Y. @ White Squirrel
Official Claire and Products Band @ Zhora Darling
Wednesday, August 13
Devin Wolf & Mike Vitale @ Aster Cafe
The Cherry Pit Presents: Bible Study Open Jam @ Berlin
The Burroughs @ Cedar Cultural Center
Ethan Iverson Trio with Anthony Cox and Kevin Washington @ Crooners
Miss Shannon’s Swing Night @ Eagles 34
- Erykah Badu and The Alchemist present Abi and Alan @ Fillmore—It’s understandable if you’d given up on ever hearing new music from Erykah Badu. Since her last full-length album, 2010’s New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh), pretty much all we’ve heard from her was But You Caint Use My Phone, an odd conceptual mixtape that riffed off “Hotline Bling” to argue that cell phones were killing the bees, and that was back in 2015. If you’d given up on keeping track of the Alchemist, that’s understandable too: The producer averages three releases per year, and he’s already got Life Is Beautiful (with Larry June and 2 Chainz) and Alfredo 2 (with Freddie Gibbs) under his belt this year. So I’m suspecting he was the instigator of Abi & Alan, the Badu/Alchemist joint due out at the end of the month. They’ve debuted one song as a duo, “Next to You,” which is not as mind-expanding as Badu can be but is lowkey hooky as per Alchemist’s speciality. Ms. Badu in concert is always a treat, with free-associative tangents as invigorating as her grooves—when she passed through the Armory in 2021 she had the crowd chanting “Leave other people’s bitches alone” along with her, and it felt like a message of positivity.—Keith Harris
Starlight Vinyl Night: MAKR Spins the Classic @ Icehouse
Tony Ortiz and the Guns of Soul @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Ray Bonneville @ Landmark Center
Pat Donohue & Friends @ Midway Saloon
Big Woods Brass @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Poison Ivy & The People, Emerson Island, Drug League, Mortiholics @ Mortimers
Mike Wolter & Friends @ Palmer’s
Christine Hoberg with Superior Siren and the Penny Peaches @ Pilllar Forum
Thomas Sticha @ Schooner Tavern
ELLISE with Ella Red @ 7th St Entry
The Plate, Paul Thomas Flynn, Kade Elmer, Phil Dumka @ 331 Club
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Don Scott and Roseanne Licciardi @ 331 Club
DAMAG3 & Friends @ Underground Music
Paul Bergen & Friends @ White Squirrel
Lord Jeremy with Enemies with Ira Haze & The Straze, Woodzen @ White Squirrel
- Tate McRae @ Xcel Energy Center—There are two basic paths to pop stardom for the ladies these days. One is to brim with smarts and personality, à la Olivia or Sabrina. The other is to cultivate an obliging blankness in the service of big catchy hooks, like TikTok dancer turned TikTok-dancer-who-sings Addison Rae, with whom this Canadian dancer-who-also-sings should (probably) not be confused. Oh her latest, So Close to What, McRae seems stuck between gears. She wants to declare her prerogatives, and the frustrated “Purple Lace Bra,” about what it takes to get her man to listen to her, is a high point. But often her pouty delivery sets a course for ominous but gets detoured to anonymous, and song doctors Ava Allen and Julia Michaels should know better than to rhyme "car" and "real far" in 2025. While we're on the subject of lyrics: “Daddy went to law school and could have been an architect” remains one of the most baffling song-openers of the year.
Dalima Kapten, Despondent, & Agony in the Living Room @ Zhora Darling
Thursday, August 14
Blacklighter/King Caesar/Hellseher @ Acadia
ARSENIC KITCHEN, Ghostmade Cellophane, Closed City Terror, M.A.Y. @ Amsterdam
Jenna Graves & the Loons @ Aster Cafe
Toby Ramaswamy/DeCarlo Jackson/Robert Lehmann/Evan Slack @ Berlin
Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunker’s
Two Peace Suite @ The Commons
Cafe Accordion Orchestra @ Crooners
A Tribute to Bill Evans with the Phil Aaron Trio @ Crooners
Divas Through the Decades @ Crooners
House of Music, Haters Club @ Driftwood
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Collectiva: Women’s/Non-Binary Jam @ 56 Brewing
Snapped Live Band Open Mic @ Green Room
Gently Gently, MoneyBones, & Dani Erin (Duo) @ Hook and Ladder
Yam Haus, The Thirsty River, Hayley E Rydell @ Mears Park
Transition Moments: The Calvin Caron Group @ Metronome Brewery
North Star Original Revue @ Midway Saloon
Argyle Street Trio @ Midway Saloon
Kung Fu Hippies @ Minnehaha Bandstand
Rooms on Fire @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Gigi V’Allure & Cowboy John @ Minnesota Music Cafe
The Front Porch Swingin’ Liquor Pigs @ Palmer’s
American Bootleg @ Park Tavern
We Weren't Invited with Kind Eyes and Porcupine @ Pilllar Forum
Lucid Lazer Takeover @ Red Sea
Edie Rae Band, Wilkinson James @ Schooner Tavern
Sacred Earth 2025 @ Minnesota River Valley Sanctuary and Retreat
Smile Empty Soul with Gust Autumn Academy @ Studio B
Jeremy Messersmith @ Surly Brewing
Joshua David and the Midwestern Bells with St. Rangers, Close to Toast @ 331 Club
Keith Wallen with Levels and BlurCurve @ Turf Club
J-RAA, Professor Fresh, SKippy Stone, & sebbyrotten @ Underground Music
- Sound for Silents @ Walker Art Center—Well here’s a fine excuse to sprawl out upon the Walker hillside (officially known as the Wurtele Upper Garden) on a fine summer evening—not that you really need one. This year Philip Harder, who made the insightful documentary Cue the Strings—A Film About Low, will be culling the museum’s Walker’s Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection for a selection of images. Brooding country artist Matt Arthur, who was set to provide the original soundtrack, had a stroke in June and is still on the mend. Arthur’s soundtrack will still be heard, however, with folks like Dave Pirner, Channy Leaneagh, Tim O’Reagan, Lady Midnight, Brian Tighe, and Alison LaBonne pitching in to make it happen. Let’s hope it doesn’t rain again this year, though the Walker’s McGuire Theater serves as a fine alternative venue.—Keith Harris
Dowser with Nathan Walker @ White Squirrel
ValleyKil with Creechers, the Lavender Project @ White Squirrel
OVRFWRD, Tre Spiritus, & Until the New System @ Zhora Darling
Friday, August 15
Record Prophets/Ruby Blu/ Woolly Mack @ Acadia
- The Flaming Lips & Modest Mouse @ Armory—To paraphrase Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne, do you realize that this sort of double-headline bill is classic rock now and someday (sooner than you realize!) everyone you know will die?? Formed in 1983, the Lips have nimbly subgenre-hopped throughout their discography, but for the past couple decades they've become best known as an over-the-top festival circus act—confetti cannons, human hamster balls, dancing mascots. The freaky Okies know how to throw a party. Modest Mouse have been at it since 1993, and they’ve since produced a couple all-time rock albums (1997’s The Lonesome Crowded West, 2000’s The Moon & Antarctica). The Pacific Northwest indie-rock lifers have also endured several foundational lineup shifts: Founding drummer Jeremiah Green died in 2022 and founding bassist Eric Judy split in 2012, so it’s more or less the Isaac Brock show these days. Brock, he of semi-recent conspiratorial inclinations, remains one of the most engaging frontmen out there.—Jay Boller
Jennifer Marie (Album Release) with Josh Cleveland @ Aster Cafe
DJ D-Mil & Russ Parrish & The Lone Oaks @ Boardwalk
The Good, the Bad, and the Funky @ Bunker’s
Local Dope $#%T @ Can Can Wonderland
Monica LaPlante, Monsoon, Oyster World @ Cloudland
Harmony Across Generations: Timeless Musical Duets @ Crooners
Yazmin & Beat Zero ft. Havana Quartet and Prudence Johnson @ Crooners
32Headshots with Next Chapter and System 13 @ Day Block Brewing
Dream Addict, Snow Removal Blues @ Driftwood
Meghan Kriedler & Isabella Dawis, Isla Anderson @ 50th & France
Mayhem Brat⏤A Charli + Gaga Dance Party starring Bosco @ First Avenue
- She's Green (EP Release) with Mother Soki, Bugsy and Lana Leone @ Fine Line—On the new EP from She’s Green, Chrysalis, the local dream-pop revisionists’ sound, well, crystalizes, with guitarists Lucas Raines and Liam Armstrong generating an ever more shimmering force field that shields Zofia Smith’s delicate vocals. After this gig, they'll hit the road, opening for Blondshell and Slow Pulp. It's a great top-to-bottom lineup too: If you don't know Mother Soki, her "Rivet Gun" has been making the TikTok rounds, prompting Elle Goulding to ask "What is this sorcery?" and YouTube user emogod4605 to declare “I feel like I’m majestically photosynthesising or whatever.”
Marvelous (Single Release) with 26 Bats, Amglyn & Ada, and Thomas Abban @ Green Room
Hipshake MPLS @ Hook and Ladder
From the Southside with Love @ Icehouse
Joe Hartnett Quartet @ Jazz Central
And Then There Were 8 @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Luci with Bernzikial @ The Loft
Flywheel @ Mainstreet Bar & Grill
Will Aldrich Quartet @ Metronome Brewery
Hunker’d Down Blues Band @ Minnehaha Bandstand
Funktion Junction @ Minnesota Music Cafe
The Harbor @ Padraig’s Brewing
The Scarlet Goodbye, Faith Boblett, The Heavy Sixers, and The TH3 @ Palmer’s
Bambi Alexandra Band with the Suicide Horns @ Schooner Tavern
Jake Minch with Hana Bryanne @ 7th St Entry
$uicideboy$ @ Somerset Amphitheater
Blueprint, Carnage the Executioner, Righteous Emcee @ Squirrel Haus Arts
Jib Kidder, Free Music, Lyn Corelle, Sishir Bommakanti @ This & That
Debbie’s 65th Birthday: Mortiholics, the Sex Rays, Big Salt @ 331 Club
Summer Ween @ Time Traveler’s Public House
The Riffin' Trio (EP Release) with Aby Wolf, and Beemer @ Turf Club
Michael Gay, Zach Bryson, & Marina Madden @ Underground Music
Girls Rock n Roll Retreat: Showcase Concerts @ Uptown VFW
ECHOBASS Infinity: Night Ryder, Jo Jo, Athereal Rose, Nuzumi, Zenos @ Uptown VFW
Sam Graber Band @ White Squirrel
Ancient Waves @ White Squirrel
Conzemius (EP Release) with Nina Luna & Oftener @ Zhora Darling
Saturday, August 16
Taste Of Vervain, Unfit, Nyhilist, Noxious, & Iminacloset @ Amsterdam
Bill Chadwick with Johanna Mathews @ Aster Cafe
- On the One @ Bloomington Central Station Park—As its funky name suggests, this first-time Bloomington festival showcases local Black music—a welcome focus, given how much alt-rock, indie, and Americana is on offer elsewhere. Headliner Nur-D handily flips an online diss of his weight into a boast on the title track to his latest, Chunkadelic, and the rapper also discusses the incidents that led to him publicly cutting ties with First Avenue in December 2023. (Long story short: Nur-D says he was booked to share the stage with an abuser, and was ghosted by the venue when he scheduled a meeting with its reps.) True to his pledge, he hasn’t been playing First Ave venues since, but that hasn’t slowed him down: You’ve had plenty of opportunities to see him this summer, as he’s hit just about every summer fest of note. Notable local acts Nunnabove, SoulFlower, Fanaka Nation, and more will also perform.—Keith Harris
J. Bell & the LSB Trio @ Carbone’s
Pan-Handlers and Dennis Curley @ Cedar Cultural Center
Planer, Sunnbather, Pyrrhic Victories @ Cloudland
Mischke, Malone, Michael, & Chris @ Como Lakeside Pavillion
Maud Hixson and Rick Carlson @ Crooners
Dragnet, Seafoam Green Tangerine @ Driftwood
The Bill Patten Trio @ Dusty’s
askSERPENT, Viator, liver king, and SWIM @ Eagles 34
LGBTQ Women’s Dance @ Eagles 34
Bad Idea, The Slow Death, Burn Circle, American Muscle @ Eagles 34
L.A. Buckner & BiG HOMiE with Ozone Creations and BAKKWOODDRIFT @ Fine Line
Human Body, Puppy Mill @ Flying V
Magenta Vice, Phlox Carolina, May + The Ladies @ Hook and Ladder
No Limits the B Sides Band @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Slang Dogs x Blurrd Vzn with ACYAN @ The Loft
Whiskey Stone @ Mainstreet Bar & Grill
Manny, Jenny Matrix, Kyrie Nova, the Defiant @ Memory Lanes
Bob Frey & the Adaptors @ Metronome Brewery
Music After MNUFC @ Midway Saloon
Jaybee & the Routine @ Minnesota Music Cafe
DJ Espada @ Mystic Lake Casino
A Luan Ensemble @ Padraig’s Brewing
- WTF Fest @ Palmer’s—In this instance, "WTF" stands for “women, trans, and femmes,” ‘cause this is a benefit for Twin Cities Trans Mutual Aid. A worthy cause, and also a showcase for plenty of bands I’ve said nice things about in this space before: ¿WATCHES?, Spit Takes, Doll Chaser, and Boobless. They’ll be playing out on the patio; when night falls (and it’s happening a little earlier every day, isn’t it?) the action moves indoors with Selfish Teammate, Agora Bomb 1, and Crypt ID.
We’ve Got You Covered 3 @ Parkway
- MIRAC Benefit with Virginia's Basement, Avatareden, Wingbeaver, Weekong Weekend, and Glitterpit @ Pilllar Forum—The Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee has its collective hands full these days, what with the full-scale federal assault on anyone not born in this country, as well as plenty of people who were. While the Twin Cities has lots of worthy groups that work with immigrants, this truly grassroots nonprofit deserves a special nod, and this benefit doubles as a good excuse to expose yourself to the yowling emo of Virginia's Basement, whose March album, Dearly, is as tuneful as it is heartfelt. Well, almost as tuneful—it's really heartfelt. Also on hand are Latin psych-rockers Avatareden from NYC, who kick up one hell of a groove.
Hot Pastrami @ Schooner Tavern
Chutes and Tommy Oeffling with Kate Malanaphy @ 7th St Entry
The Untimely, Hellion @ Studio B
Rebecca Lake Fritz, ThePullover, emma moy @ 331 Club
Tommy Goodroad, Harlow, and Thomas Sticha @ Turf Club
- Uptown Porchfest @ Uptown—Who needs a stage when you have a porch? That’s the can-do attitude of Porchfest, a neighborhood happening where musicians take to lawns, patios, and porches for a day of chill jam sessions you can watch from the comfort of a lawn, sidewalk, or apartment window. Acts run the gamut from shoegaze to R&B to "electric accordion ensemble,” and this installment will be in Uptown, an area rich in musical talent even if it is sometimes a little short on small- or mid-sized concert venues (shoutout to the Green Room, Granada, and the Uptown Theater for changing that).—Jessica Armbruster
Sunday, August 17
Patty and the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
Kathleen Johnson @ Aster House
Ted Olsen & Friends: Michael Cain Trio @ Berlin
Cedar Cypher @ Cedar Cultural Center
Como Pops Ensemble @ Como Lakeside Pavillion
1st Sousa Band @ Como Lakeside Pavillon
Erin & Jay Cabaret Perform the Music of Carole King @ Crooners
Spinning Wheel Trilogy @ Crooners
Phine & Friends, Shotgun Ragtime Band @ Driftwood
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
Big Blue Moon, Big Strong Calvin, Caron Group @ Eagles 34
DayFunk: Day Time House Music Party - Fortune! @ Eat Street Crossing
Dessa with Mermaid @ Fine Line
Night Shift Dance Party @ Icehouse
Two Sundays Big Band @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Drums of Navarone @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Church of Cornbread @ Palmer’s
Helen, Blankslate, Crush Scene and M.A.Y. @ Palmer’s
Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Bobby Rush @ Pantages Theatre
Koo Koo @ Sociable Cider Werks
Mary K and the Realistix with Scott Allen & the List, the Long Honeymoon @ White Squirrel
Karaoke with Ally @ White Squirrel
- Nine Inch Nails @ Xcel Energy Center—This is a relatively slow summer for arena shows—maybe all the boomers who keep threatening to retire finally have? Pick up the slack, youngsters! Trent Reznor, at 60, is no kid himself; he’s aged into a grand old man of alt-rock. (Who would have thought it, back when he was unleashing a barrage of “fucks” for MTV to bleep.) Every few years he takes some time away from his day job as a soundtrack composer to allow adults to seek comfort in nostalgia for their miserable youth. I haven’t seen him/them live in a quarter-century, but as an admiring non-fan let me just say his bombast was made for sports arenas.—Keith Harris
Monday, August 18
Shady Oaks, Tarantula Bill, Greentop @ Amsterdam
Saints of Swing Big Band @ Como Lakeside Pavillion
Demitri Rallis Improv Night @ Driftwood
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
Steve Clarke ‘n’ Band @ Eagles 34
Square Dancing @ Eagles 34
Other Country Ensemble @ Eagles 34
The Don and Friends Band @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Uh Uh Uh, (X:)1zTyR, Visa カード, Serotinous @ Memory Lanes
MN Hard Bop Collective @ Metronome Brewery
Blues Jam with Moses Oakland @ Midway Saloon
Cowaoke with DJ Ben Moooker @ Palmer’s
Fiona Hayes with Kristyn Leigh, Oceanographer, and Sylvia Dieken @ Pilllar Forum
Hermitage Green with Friend Dog @ 7th St Entry
- Kurt Russell's Muscles with Spiderlily, Queen Jeanne @ White Squirrel—Dunno much about Kurt Russell's Muscles, but good band name. Also, my niece saw The Thing for the first time this summer and reports of Russell: "He's hot."—Keith Harris
