It can't be, but it is—the fair starts on Thursday, which is way too soon. So from now till Labor Day, there'll be a bit of a lull in the clubs as everyone's attention turns to Falcon Heights. Though as you'll see below, there's plenty to keep the fair-averse entertained as well.
Tuesday, August 19
Simple Plan, Bowling for Soup, 3OH3!, LOLO @ Armory
International Reggae Allstars @ Bunker’s
Harmonic Relief Show Choir @ Como Park Pavillion
St. Dominic’s Trio @ Driftwood
Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Jim Bird @ Father Hennepin Park
Blimey, Kym & The Kick, Two Weeks Past Never, & the Amores @ Green Room
Explosion Big Band @ Jazz Central
Nolen Sellwood @ Minnehaha Bandstand
River City Jazz Orchestra @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Grooves ft. DJ Jen-E @ Mortimer’s
Old Timey Music Session @ Padraig’s
Serf Revolt with Customers and the Dirty Pretty @ Pilllar Forum
Gregory Alan Isakov with Ocie Elliott @ Surly Brewing Festival Field
Ditch Pigeon & Friends @ Terminal Bar
August Conspiracy Series featuring Laura Hugo, Clayton Ryan, Obsidian James @ 331 Club
Worker’s Playtime with Sarah Morris and Doyle Turner @ 331 Club
Harper/Shakewell @ Varsity Theater
The New Havoline Supremes @ White Squirrel
- ELOUR (Tuesday Residency) with Obery, J.EM @ White Squirrel—Powerhouse vocalist Elizabeth Ghandour pronounces the name of the band she came up with by smooshing her own names together “allure,” and that band’s debut full-length, Blood Running, had plenty. Start with what I called the “lustful second-guessing” of lead single “Fade” (“When I get to know you/Will the feeling fade?”) back in 2023, when the album was released. This White Squirrel residency is a good opportunity to find out what Elour has been up to in the time since.—Keith Harris
Moony, Boy Bandicoot, & Caleb Dee @ Zhora Darling
Wednesday, August 20
Circle Circle with Junior Choir, Secret Lakes, & Pageant Dress @ Amsterdam
Coheed and Cambria, Taking Back Sunday, Foxing @ Armory
The Bryan Murray Trio @ Barely Brothers
deVon Russell Gray & PCP with El Niño Indigo @ Berlin
1 Mic, 1 Cable, 30 Minutes @ Carbone’s
Ukrainian Village Band @ Cedar Cultural Center
Minnesota State Band @ Como Park Pavillion
Erin Schwab & Emily Villano @ Crooners
Kitchen Patrol & Joe @ Day Block Brewing
Tommy Knox, Griffin, Wilson Parc @ Driftwood
Miss Shannon’s Swing Night @ Eagles 34
Lettuce with BALTHVS @ First Avenue
Open Mic with Neal Dimick @ Ginkgo Coffee
A Night in the Parlor @ Icehouse
Consolation Champ @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Pat Donohue & Friends @ Midway Saloon
Karaoke Blast with Chazz Reed @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Cole Diamond Presents Whiskey Wednesdays @ Palmer’s
Swamp Poppas @ Schooner Tavern
Joel Sunny with Katie Lynne Sharbaugh @ 7th St Entry
- Lil Wayne @ Target Center—“I ain’t gettin’ younger, but I’m gettin’ better,” Wayne raps on his latest, The Carter VI, and he’s half-right there. His peak undeniably behind him, Weezy’s not about to tax his weed-strained lungs by running victory laps, and I get why an exasperated Paul A. Thompson slammed the new joint in Pitchfork (“It would be a disaster if any of it mattered"). Overstuffed with guest spots (Jelly Roll groaning with ersatz grit, Andrea Bocelli bestowing ersatz class, and Bono bellowing ersatz Coldplay), the album bottoms out not with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s cornball production on “Peanuts 2 N Elephant," which is at least silly, but with “Island Holiday,” on which Tunechi croaks out an extended Weezer hook. And yet, even if you’re disinclined to give the benefit of the doubt to a jerk who thinks it’s cute to cozy up to Trump, the lil guy still tosses out lines like “LIfe a bitch/I’m about to make her your ex” so offhandedly you gotta appreciate how little he cares about this shit. Anyway, this show is about “celebrating 20+ years of Carter classics,” which means the tracks he cut back when his genius was indisputable and which he somehow still retains the breath control to pull off. Despite his rep for canceling Minnesota shows, he’s gotten more profesh as he’s said goodbye to his 30s. Then again, he did bail on a show in Toronto last week due to appendix surgery complications.—Keith Harris
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Mark Cameron Band @ 331 Club
MX LONELY with Linus & Million Point Million @ Underground Music
St. Paul Mudsteppers @ White Squirrel
Severio Mancieri with Kris Karr, Luke Hendrickson @ White Squirrel
*SPLASH!*, Poor Lemuel, Kaleb & the Nightingale Band @ Zhora Darling
Thursday, August 21
Jessie Street Band @ Aster Cafe
- State Fair: Rachel Platten, Church of Cash, Davina and the Vagabonds, MPLS the Band @ Bandshell—Trigger warning: You may just hear "Fight Song" tonight while making your way to the Ag Building. Steel yourself accordingly.—Keith Harris
- Jake Baldwin & Tommy Boynton (Double Album Release) @ Berlin—Well, I guess Wednesday is jazz night 'round here this week. Trumpeter Baldwin continues to refine his sound on his latest Vanishing Point, balancing melody and texture to good effect and ending on a dusky “You Are My Sunshine.” Boynton’s latest, Tommy Tunes II Too Casual, is indeed casual—a set of warmly sung standards recorded with two mics in his apartment.—Keith Harris
Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunker’s
Yalla Drum + Coyle Center Youth Summer Drumming @ Cedar Cultural Center
Absolutely Yours, Embahn, Dusty Forever @ Cloudland
Dirty Shorts Brass Band @ The Commons
Pan Handlers Steel Drum Band @ Como Park Pavillion
- Sophia Kickhofel Quartet @ Crooners—You know when you go back home for a visit, you scramble around to see as many many of your friends as you can before you have to leave? Well Kickhofel, a Minnesotan saxophonist studying at Julliard, is doing something like that before she heads back to school. This week, she’ll be playing Crooners, Berlin, Jazz Central, Metronome Brewery, and Volstead’s. That’s just about every jazz club in the Twin Cities; check her out and you’ll understand why each of them made space for her on its calendar.—Keith Harris
David Huckfelt & Annie Humphrey with Jeremy Ylvisaker @ Crooners
Elvis Costello Pub Rock Night, Kyle Gray Young @ Driftwood
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
WURK with JOJO Green and Sunshine and the Nightwalkers @ Hook and Ladder
Acoustic Thursdays @ Mainstreet Bar & Grill
Prior Lake Brass @ Minnehaha Bandstand
Dark Click with Curtiss A @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Young Relics @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Riddim Driven Encore with DJ I Roach and Friends @ Palmer’s
Cats & Crickets with Joe Bartel @ Pilllar Forum
International Reggae All Stars @ Rice Park
2428, Rodents @ Schooner Tavern
Airship Caravan, Matcha Fever, Twin Citizen, and Labrador Wild @ 7th St Entry
State Fair: Old Dominion with Yam Haus @ State Fair Grandstand
Cross Pollination: The Gentlemen’s Anti-Temperance League @ 331 Club
Youth Code with King Yosef, Street Sects, and Insula Iscariot @ Turf Club
MAGnify Live @ Underground Music
Letdown with Youthyear, Luchiano @ Uptown VFW
The Jayhawks with Two Harbors @ Utepils Brewing
Devaney & Friends @ White Squirrel
Thomas Sticha @ White Squirrel
Friday, August 22
Big Wiz/Mike the Martyr @ Acadia
Qrrrky, CrownShy, Vice Chair, & Couch Potato Massacre @ Amsterdam
Thomas Abban & Mathias Saint John @ Aster Cafe
State Fair: Rachel Platten, Church of Cash, Davina and the Vagabonds, MPLS the Band @ Bandshell
Liberian Flag Day Celebration @ Bazemnt Lounge
Dean Magraw + Suwal Singh @ Berlin
- Sophia Kickhofel Quartet @ Berlin—See Thursday's listings.
The Dick Von Dyke Show @ Black Hart
DJ D-Mil and Maiden Dixie @ Boardwalk
Strictly R&B: 2000s Throwback Party @ Cabooze
The Boot RNB, Hellcat, Sparrowhawk @ Cloudland
Dorothy Doring and Rick Carlson @ Crooners
Preservation Hall to Bourbon Street @ Crooners
Love TKO: A Tribute to Teddy Pendergrass @ Crooners
Bowdizz, Crowfather, Slum Chronic, High Elevation @ Day Block Brewing
The Dissenters, Bosky @ Driftwood
Lucas McCade, Pith, Take the Weekend, Lil Pingus, and Lil Peenguin @ Eagles 34
Sandpaper, True Green, Real Numbers @ Eagles 34
Laamar, Finick @ 50th and France
VivPiston + Millennial Falcon @ 56 Brewing
BabyTron with ShittyBoyz @ First Avenue
Out 4 Blood with Hallux, Oath, Body, Splendid @ Flying V
Wub Club Vol. 3: The Experiment Ft. CØNTRA @ Green Room
Trans-scDance @ Hook and Ladder
Tangoso @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
R-Factor @ Mainstreet Bar & Grill
Lili Horizon @ Minnehaha Bandstand
Ray Covington @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Whyteshadows featuring Sally and Julie @ Myth Live
Ian George & the Knee Pockets + Kiernan @ Palmer’s
Sugarcoat with Crush Card and Grim Lot @ Pilllar Forum
Baile Maluca: Roiju, Kema, & V-Stalker @ Red Sea
Just Luv, Inc. @ Schooner Tavern
Jason Dea West & the Siskiyou Crest with Pine & Fire @ 7th St Entry
State Fair: Meghan Trainor with Ellis @ State Fair Grandstand
Thousand Below with Aviana, True North, and Dreamwake @ Studio B
Queen Jeanne, Damn Phibian, Red Maker @ Terminal Bar
Tom Lieberman & Tim Sparks @ 318 Cafe
Ghosting Merit, Robyn Jamner, A Sunken Ship Irony @ 331 Club
Eleganza! Extravaganza ft. the Williamson Brothers @ Turf Club
Emily and the Butterflies and Rachel Is Kozi @ Underground Music
Mill City Hot Club @ Volstead’s
The Mary Cutrufello Band @ White Squirrel
No Antics with Glitterpit, Hello Blue @ White Squirrel
- Benson Boone @ Xcel Energy Center—I knew this former Mormon (is there such a thing?) was a mixed-use menace the moment I heard “Beautiful Things” weirdly modulate from saccharine ballad to arena fist-pumper mid-track. And yet, even after watching more than one backflip compilation, I underestimated how aggressively Boone wants you to want him. On his latest, the 10-track love bomb American Heart, he reminds me of a dog who gets so excited for a treat he performs every trick you taught him at once. Vocally, he draws on an arsenal of familiar sobs and wails whose original sources I’m too childless to be able to pinpoint exactly; lyrically, he tends to pine over the “you” who got away (“Did that fancy college art school let you in?” he asks one old flame) while inventing memories that inexperienced teens imagine themselves someday having after their first breakup. “My love’s gonna feel like…/ Moonbeam ice cream/Taking off your blue jeans,” he promises on “Mystical Magical,” which was supposed to be his next big hit. It wasn’t. Welcome proof that even the widest-eyed teens get leery when you come on too strong.
Pure Pressure: Girl Blunt, Dazzle, Stain, & Deadbeatdaad @ Zhora Darling
Saturday, August 23
Hot Flash Dance: For Divas of a Certain Age @ Amsterdam
Doug Little & Havana Highlife @ Berlin
Queenie Von Curves @ Black Hart
DJ Ys and Good for Gary @ Boardwalk
Blue Driver, Spiderlily, Critterthing, Manny @ Can Can Wonderland
Blush, Sunshy, Dad Bod @ Cloudland
Beer Choir @ Como Park Pavillion
Dorothy Doring and Rick Carlson @ Crooners
Dead Days of Summer @ Day Block Brewing
- Warehouse District Live Block Party @ Downtown Minneapolis—Is Warehouse District Live… cool? The much-maligned opportunity to hang out with Council Member Michael Rainville and a lot of cops has transformed into a real electronic music mini-fest for this weekend. Carl Craig is a bona fide techno legend; for nearly four decades now he’s expanded upon the Detroit blueprint set by pioneers like Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson in the ’80s. Headliner Ayybo is a tech-house up-and-comer. In addition, here will be other festy accoutrements, including a vintage market, food trucks, and “lots more activations!” (Exclamation point in the original.) Cool?—Keith Harris
Caribou Gone, Bring Your Mom @ Driftwood
- Field Hospitals (Record Release) with Superfloor and Dallas Orbiter @ Eagles 34—“A new Field Hospitals record?” asked a certain critic who enjoyed their March release. “That was quick!” Then he—ah, let’s drop the gimmick, then I learned that the newish group had belatedly secured physical copies of that same EP, Ethel Green, that he’d already enjoyed. Well, who’s complaining? Field Hospitals emerge with their sound fully intact: The EP’s six songs are always peppy, occasionally moody, with guitars alternately jangly and choppy. And if you do demand new material, well, their latest single, “In the Corner,” released earlier this month, would fit in just fine on Ethel Green as track seven.—Keith Harris
Worm Grunter, Red Lovely, Brandon Jordahl @ Eagles 34
Minneapolis Artist Battle @ Flying V
Bayroom 360 Experience @ Green Room
- Maren Morris with Miya Folick @ Hinkley Amphitheater—Morris coulda been a country star if Nashville had cared. Instead she went pop on her own, retaining just as much downhomishness as she felt appropriate—which is a little less with each outing. After her public scuffle with transphobic jackasses Jason and Britney Aldean (leading Tucker Carlson to dub her a "Lunatic Country Music Person"), I suspect her split with the country establishment is permanent; it’s tempting to hear the breakup songs on her latest, Dreamsicle, as directed not at any fella but at the country biz. Then again, Morris also divorced Ryan Hurd last year, so maybe he’s the target of ”You packed your toothbrush and Seinfeld seasons… My place looked exactly the same” and “Lemonade” (no matter how much squeezin’ she does, she’s never sweet enough for you). In either case, “Bed No Breakfast” (about booting a one-night stand) suggests she won’t be settling down with anyone, or any genre, any time soon.—Keith Harris
Lighter Co., Modern Joey, Pullstring @ Hook and Ladder
Al Subola (Album Release) with the Saddle Sores @ Hook and Ladder
In Motion: I Have Nowhere to Wear This @ Icehouse
- Sophia Kickhofel Quartet @ Jazz Central—See Thursday's listings.
Necessary Diversion @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Riot Ten with Tynan & Hexxa @ The Loft
Let Er Rip @ Mainstreet Bar & Grill
Pretty Pretty Please @ Midway Saloon
High & Mighty @ Minnesota Music Cafe
SPCO: Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos with Richard Egarr @ Ordway
Peony Park (Record Release) with Joan of Profile and the Havana Sleeve @ Palmer’s
State Fair: Jonah Marais, Ken Valdes, Steve Soleka @ Schilling Amphitheater
State Fair: The Belfast Cowboys, PanAtics, Jack Brass Band @ Summit State at the Bazaar
Charley Crockett @ Surly Brewing Festival Field
Bethany Larson and the Bee’s Knees, Andy Ulseth @ 331 Club
Killer High Life, Green, Agora Bomb, Sonic Sea Turtles @ The Time Traveler’s Public House
Mustangs at the Island @ Treasure Island
FRND CRCL, Linus, Tightwire @ Underground Music
BIG LOVE IV: Centrific, M. Goalen, Jocko 69 @ Uptown VFW
Jazz on the Prairie Band @ Water Works
Dogpile with Cowboy Thoughts, Lone Rock Bride @ White Squirrel
The Flying T with the Danger Pins @ White Squirrel
Broken Wrist Records Show @ White Squirrel
- Careful Gaze, Bouquet, Cheap Bouquet, & Internet Dating @ Zhora Darling—Yes, there is a band called Bouquet AND a band called Cheap Bouquet on this bill, unless the folks at Zhora have misled me.—Keith Harris
Sunday, August 24
Boy in the Rose Garden, Oceanographer, Tarias & the Sound, Lexie Modica @ Amsterdam
Patty and the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
The Plattes McDonough Project @ Aster Cafe
Joe Strachan Group & Aby Wolf @ Berlin
South Side Big Band @ Como Park Pavillon
Good News Big Band @ Como Park Pavillion
The Big 70s Singalong @ Crooners
Javier Santiago & Room3 @ Dakota
Phine & Friends, Shotgun Ragtime Band @ Driftwood
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
ATTACK ATTACK! with Savage Hands and Versus Me @ Fine Line
Crush Scene, Holly and the Lions, Gated Community @ Green Room
ABBAsolutely Fab @ Hewing Rooftop
Night Shift Dance Party @ Icehouse
Wren + Wilde @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Cabin Fever @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Twin Cities Reed Quartet @ Metronome Brewery
Minimort: Producer’s Showcase @ Mortimer’s
Blasting All The Classics II: Ballad of Leslie Anne @ Palmer’s
Church of Cornbread @ Palmer’s
West Bank Social Club @ Palmer’s
- Strings Attached @ Parkway—MVO Crewtets is a 16-piece string group consisting of members of the Mississippi Valley Orchestra, and tonight, their playing will adorn the songs of Molly Brandt, Jillian Rae, the Twins of Franklin, and token male Mark Mallman. Personally, I’d love to hear Brandt go countrypolitan and Mallman go “Kashmir.”—Keith Harris
Nightosphere with Killusonline, Interlay, and Virga @ Pilllar Forum
State Fair: Jonah Marais, Ken Valdes, Steve Soleka @ Schilling Amphitheater
State Fair: Melissa Etheridge and Indigo Girls @ State Fair Grandstand
State Fair: The Belfast Cowboys, PanAtics, Jack Brass Band @ Summit State at the Bazaar
The Real Chuck NORAD @ 331 Club
Mike Munson @ 331 Club
Sonic Sea Turtles, Milk Krayt, Weeklong Weekend @ Underground Music
- Sophia Kickhofel Open Jam @ Volstead’s—See Thursday's listings.
Jonah Paul with Lars Carlson Trio, Isaac Paulsrud @ White Squirrel
Agony In the Living Room with Iodine, Velvet Ghoul @ White Squirrel
The Grieving Pines with Cain & Co @ White Squirrel
Ramson, Billy the Shoe, & Guest Rooms @ Zhora Darling
Monday, August 25
- State Fair: Los Lobos, The 34th Infantry Division “Red Bull” Band, Rosie Flores, Talking Dreads @ Bandshell—Mexican-American roots-rockers Los Lobos blasted out of East L.A. in the ’80s with a soulful Chicano-rock sound that made lots of the heartland rockers then in vogue sound kinda wimpy and strained. Rather than resign themselves to being “that ‘La Bamba’ band” after a fluke Richie Valens cover landed them on the pop charts, they swerved into more experimental ventures in the ’90s with producer Tchad Blake. (Think of them as progenitors of Wilco in that way.) It wasn’t quite like old times when they returned to straight-up rocking in the ’00s, so it was heartening that their 2021 album, Native Sons, which collected covers of Los Angeles bands from the ’60s and ’70s such as Buffalo Springfield and War, had a bit of the old spark. But albums hardly tell the full story of Los Lobos. They’re a live band. And tonight, they’re a free live band—take advantage of that.—Keith Harris
Saints of Swing Big Band @ Como Park Pavillon
Demetri Rallis Improv Night @ Driftwood
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
Honey Please @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Weald, Northern Hammer, Hellseher, Massive Green @ Memory Lanes
- Sophia Kickhofel Quartet @ Metronome Brewery—See Thursday's listings.
Blues Jam with Moses Oakland @ Midway Saloon
Cowaoke with Ben Moooker @ Palmer’s
Jared Justen with the Daily Norm, and Peter Lochner @ Pilllar Forum
Metal Monday @ Schooner Tavern
State Fair: Jaybee and the Routine, Intoxicats, Hank Thunander Band @ Summit Stage at the Bazaar
State Fair: Poppa Bear Norton, Gary Rue’s Magic Carpet Ride, Cole Diamond @ Schilling Amphitheater
