Ice Spice with Cash Cobain + RIOTUSA @ Armory—She redefined rap slang during one of the more celebrated come ups in recent memory, but after a string of unenthusiastically received singles Ice Spice’s stock seems poised to devalue faster than JD Vance’s. Her long overdue album debut Y2K! has been met with what Wikipedia might euphemize as “an uneven reception,” and, as usual, the backlash is overstated. Her work is slight (the “bonus” version of the new album clocks in at just 25 minutes) but such is pop in the age of TikTok, where the distinction between a sound clip and a hit is blurred if not obliterated. Her brattiness is intact—I wish she wouldn’t rhyme about “poopy,” but “Think you the shit, bitch? You not even the fart” is just the right level of juvenile, and producer RIOTUSA remains one of the most ingenious beatmakers working the line between rap and pop.

Kenji Lee's Fortune Teller Trio @ Berlin

Dylan Salfer @ Bunker's

Sing United @ The Commons

Feeling Groovy: Simon & Garfunkel Tribute with a Twist @ Crooners

The Summer Social - Crohn's & Colitis Foundation Event @ Crooners

Scottie Miller Trio @ Dakota

Miss Shannon's Swing Night @ Eagles 34

The Bad Companions @ Eagles 34

Ohgeesy with 310babii and Yung Chowder @ Fine Line

Buckethead @ First Avenue

Dweezil Zappa @ Fitzgerald Theater

Nina Luna, Clayton Ryan, Venus Yevu @ Green Room

Sugaray Raymond (Album Release) @ Hook and Ladder

The Pan-Handlers Steel Drum Band @ Lake Harriet Bandshell

Brass Messengers @ Loring Park

School of Rock @ Marjorie McNeely Conservatory

Dave Dvorak, Wren and Wilde, the Daily Norm @ Metronome

Why Worry (CD Release) @ Minnesota Music Cafe

The Ineffable Residency of Josh & Ivy @ Mortimer's

boysinthegarden @ Pilllar Forum

Connor McRae Trio @ Schooner Tavern

The Palms with future.exboyfriend @ 7th St Entry

(Hed) P.E. with Simon Says @ Studio B

Galleon @ Terminal Bar

Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Clint Hoover & Tom Mason @ 331 Club

Baby Grant Johnson, Matt Caflisch @ 331 Club

Paul Bergen & Friends @ White Squirrel

High Fashion Wigs with Wedding Brawlers @ White Squirrel

Jamie Quinn, Mathias Saint John, Laura Hugo @ Zhora Darling

Thursday, August 15

Cooler Heads @ Acadia

Nectarous, The Knotties, & The Grieving Pines @ Amsterdam

Koe Wetzel with Kolby Cooper + Kat Hasty @ Armory

Kenny Reichert Quartet @ Berlin

Jaybee & the Routine @ Bunker's

Cardiel, Raygun Youth, Daisycutter @ Cloudland

Niney Salem Trio @ The Commons

Cafe Accordion Orchestra with Pat Donohue @ Crooners

Our House: Tribute to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young @ Crooners

Velvet and Satin – Great Jazz Vocal Duets @ Crooners

Albert Lee & Jeremy Clyde @ Dakota

Second Hand Dan with Cowboy Quartet @ Day Block Brewing

DxLr @ The Commons

LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34

Karaoke With On-Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34

Colde @ Fillmore

Smif-N-Wessun with Juice Lord and Muja Messiah @ Fine Line

Pantera @ First Avenue

Raretripp, Vartam, Tweeba, Qula, VonBoi @ The Garage

TayTay Dance Party @ Granada

Snapped: Live Band Open Mic @ Green Room

Gently Gently (Album Release) @ Hook and Ladder

Luke Callen & Clare Doyle @ Icehouse

Flamin' Oh's with Pullstring @ Mears Park

Fr/end @ Minnehaha Bandstand

Dark Click Featuring Curtiss A @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Mary Elias's Young Relics @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Admiral Fox, Zaq Baker, Bakermiller Pink @ Mortimer's

48 Hour Band Contestival SIGN UP Party plus Wet Denim, Butter Boys, Lifestyle Shakes, and Devohn Bland @ Palmer's—What's a "contestival"? Well, from what I read on the Palmer's site, it's like a populist spin on First Ave's Rock Lottery. Instead of drafting established musicians into bands, Palmer's will assign any interested musician who signs up into a group. Then comes the hard part: Your new band has to play a set on Saturday. If you're not in a rush to get cooking with your bandmates, stick around for solid lineup of Palmer's regulars.

Trio Carioca @ Papa Legba Lounge

The High Kings @ Parkway Theater

The Other Ol' Blue Eyes @ Peavey Plaza

1947 @ Pilllar Forum

Hot Pastrami!, Deadly Cyclamates @ Schooner Tavern

Robert Jon & The Wreck with The Makeouts @ 7th St Entry

Lazerbeak & Friends @ Surly Brewing

Cross Pollination: Knife Emoji, Paper Chain @ 331 Club

RVSHVD with Anderson Daniels @ Turf Club

Stunt Horse Drama, Jenny Matrix, and Love Scare @ Underground Music Venue

Sound of Silents 2024 @ Walker Art Center—The practice of screening silent films with new original scores performed live has really taken off in recent years, with groups like Dreamland Faces and the Poor Nobodys turning a trip to the movies into a multimedia event. And each summer, the Walker offers its own spin on the practice, allowing musicians to select silent films from the Walker’s Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection to interpret musically. This year composer deVon Russell Gray presents a work called in the year of the parable, performed by an ensemble that includes local notables Ariadne Greif, Davu Seru, Nathan Hanson, and Andrew Broder. There will also be a hillside sound installation from James Everest and a DJ set from Sarah White.

Devaney & Friends with Third Seven & Railroad Island @ White Squirrel

Friday, August 16

Live for Tomorrow @ Acadia

Pop Punk Princess feat. DJs Dimitry Killstorm & Hot Topic Fan Club. Hosted by Nadi (of Gully Boys) @ Amsterdam

Cyber City Disco with DJ Afro, TML, Daisy Hex @ Beast Barbecue

Matthew Bennett / Steve Pikal @ Berlin

deVon Russell Gray / Mary Prescott / Erik Fratzke @ Berlin

Dan Ristrom & the Big Throwdown @ Bunkers

Pee Wee Dread @ Can Can Wonderland

Cut Rate Clones, Dingus, and My Kid Banana @ Can Can Wonderland

Andrea Swensson's Deeper Blues with Cornbread Harris, Jimmy Jam, & Friends @ Cedar Cultural Center—One of Racket’s most anticipated books of the summer hits shelves this week, and you can celebrate its launch at the Cedar. In Deeper Blues: The Life, Songs, and Salvation of Cornbread Harris, journalist Andrea Swensson takes you deep inside the life of a Minnesota music legend. Swensson spent two years interviewing Harris, going to his shows, and, incredibly, helping to arrange a reunion between him and his estranged son James Harris III (a.k.a. Jimmy Jam), who will appear alongside the author and subject of the book at this event in Cedar-Riverside. Want to read an excerpt from Deeper Blues? You’re in luck: We shared one of its chapters last month.—Em Cassel

Songs From The French Quarter @ Crooners

The R Factor @ Crooners

Maggie's Afterglow: Charmin Michelle and Rick Carlson @ Crooners

Charanga Tropical @ Dakota

Swingin' on a Star @ Eagles 34

King Caesar, Waar Party, and Red Vinter @ Eagles 34

The Dollys, Gabriella Geer, Robert Wilkinson @ 50th & France

Santigold with Troy Baker Sound @ First Avenue—No one who listened past the playful swoops and sing-song tunes on Spirituals, beyond the melodic bass lines and Caribbean lilt, all camouflaging the darkness of its lyrics, should have been too surprised when Santi White canceled her 2022 tour. From “My Horror,” for instance: “Think I got a, a hole in my head/I think all the numbness finally sank in/It's making my head decay.” It speaks worlds of White’s instincts as an artist (not to mention her psychological self-awareness) that throughout the album she marshals her musical ingenuity as a defense against her depression rather than sulking about it. Like the lady says, “You'll rise back up if you just shake.” And apparently she shook all she needed to and she’s risen back up.

Munson Hicks @ The Freehouse

HIGHQ Music Festival @ The Garage

Ghost Wagon @ Ginkgo Coffee

Scotty Keever @ Granada

VIN, Xaeto, The Faith Hills Have Eyes, Evernoir @ Green Room

John Németh + The Claudettes @ Hook and Ladder

Hipshaker MPLS @ Hook and Ladder

Pete Whitman Quintet feat. Dr. Joseph Jefferson @ Jazz Central

The Zillionaires @ Lake Harriet Bandshell

YDG, Steller @ The Loft

The Jack Schabert Quartet @ Metronome Brewing

Quantum Mechanics @ Minnehaha Bandstand

Johnny O'Neil @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Crystal Sky 2024 @ Minnesota River Valley Sanctuary

Los Huracanes del Norte y Los Recoditos @ Myth Live

Charley Crockett with Kelsey Waldon @ Palace Theatre

Sweet Pea, Big Delicious, True Lust, Pure Shifter, and The Cameras @ Palmer's

Graham Nash @ Pantages Theatre

Jack Botts @ Pilllar Forum

Badfish, the Ries Brothers @ Pryes Brewing—Pryes opened the doors to its Mississippi-adjacent taproom in 2017, and they’ve been slingin’ beers and pizzas on one of the best taproom-patio combos in the city ever since. But this’ll be the inaugural year for the Pryes Summer Music Festival, a standout two-day affair. On Friday, that means tunes from New England-based Sublime tribute band Badfish and folk/blues/funk from Florida’s Ries Brothers (that’s pronounced “rees”). Lotus will be jamming on Saturday, along with Dizgo from Indiana and local funk rockers Mikel Wright and the Wrongs.—Em Cassel

Just Luv Inc @ Schooner Tavern

Silver Warehouse with OISTER BOY, Odd Prospect and yybaker @ 7th St Entry

Downlink X Dieselboy @ Studio B

Dogpile, Francis Emil Johnson, Vlad Messing @ 331 Club

Mad Caddies with The Iron Roses @ Turf Club

Yung JB + Friends @ Underground Music Venue

Fruit Snacks @ Uptown VFW

Metallica @ U.S. Bank Stadium

R&B Only @ Varsity Theater

Tiny Daggers @ White Squirrel

The New Standards @ Woman's Club of Minneapolis

The Silent Treatment, Mad Mojo Jett, Night Jobs @ Zhora Darling

Saturday, August 17

Bronte Fall @ Acadia

Visceral Reaction, Apothic, Monolith, & Silva @ Amsterdam

Lovehouse + Honeymoon Madness @ Aster Cafe

Tim Sparks & Ben Abrahamson @ Berlin

Michael Cain Trio @ Berlin

The Good the Bad & the Funky @ Bunkers

Chee @ Cabooze

Psychodelic, Gorrified, Mortura @ Caydence Records & Coffee

TIMES LIKE THIS with Doug Anderson & Lori Dokken @ Crooners

Country Roads: Dennis Curley Sings the Music of John Denver @ Crooners

Maggie's Afterglow: Charmin Michelle with Rick Carlson @ Crooners

Nachito Herrera @ Dakota

The Bill Patten Trio @ Dusty's

Obchod Na Korze, Brendan Wells, Blood Bong, Sick Eagle @ Eagles 34

All Women's Dance with DJ Mary Schenk! @ Eagles 34

House of Dance @ Fillmore

Fresch Fest 2024 ft. Gully Boys, Mike Kota, XINA, IVERS, and Honeybutter @ Fine Line

Club XCX @ First Avenue

Jim Hanvelt @ Gambit Brewing

Stoney Point, Crystal Void, Odorless Colorless, Syfn @ The Garage

Heiruspecs @ James J. Hill House—Heiruspecs are a St. Paul institution, a live rap band that emerged from Central High in the ’90s and, though now retired, reunites regularly to remind us why we miss them. Now in its second year, their block party is on its way to becoming an institution as well. This year the ‘Specs share the bill with rapper Greg Grease, jazzy indie band Rabeca, and Cutthroat DJs. Barrel Theory Beer Company will provide the intoxicants, and other food and drink will be available for purchase.

J Streitz and the Long Odds with The Union Suites & Eli Gardiner @ Hook and Ladder

Hookstock '24 @ Hook and Ladder

Ozone Creations presents: AFRODISIA @ Icehouse

Joe Savage @ Jazz Central

Fat Chance Jug Band @ Lake Harriet Bandshell

Lednek, Mr. Nice Guy, subsuka, supa! @ The Loft

C-Kan with Neto Peña, Yoss Bones, Toser One @ The Lyric

Jaybee & the Routine @ Minnesota Music Cafe

DJ Hayes @ Modist Brewing

Dress Up and Get Down @ Modist Brewing

The Assortment with DJ Michael Grey @ Mortimer's

Shredding Flannel @ Padraigs Brewing

Wild Colonial Bhoys @ Padraigs Brewing

48 Hour Band Contestival, hosted by Luc Parker! @ Palmer's—See Thursday's listings.

Old School and New School Family Affair @ Papa Legba Lounge

Torment, Taste of Vervain, Unfit, Glad to be Dead @ Pilllar Forum

Lotus, Dizgo, Mikel Wright & the Wrongs @ Pryes Brewing—See Friday's listings.

Enigma: Kema, Moreitt, Akko @ Red Sea

Jack Knife & the Sharps @ Schooner Tavern

Together Pangea with Liily and ahem @ 7th St Entry

Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, and Rancid @ Target Field—Fun fact: Green Day and Rancid were buddies in Berkeley, California’s George Bush-era Gilman Street punk scene. Both acts, and I say this from live-viewing experience, continue to rock live. The Pumpkins surely have plenty of fan crossover, yet their bloated alt-rock and contentious frontman feel cut from a different cloth; Billy Corgan chose his band’s new guitarist, Kiki Wong, from a pool of 10,000+ applicants earlier this year. Green Day and Rancid’s lineups remain almost entirely unchanged, and the former group will be playing two of their classics—1994’s Dookie and 2004’s American Idiot—in their entirety. Opening are super fun all-girl punk band the Linda Lindas.—Jay Boller

Polar Red, Lost Evidence, XLCR, Halfway Down @ Terminal Bar

Jeff Ray and the Stakes @ 331 Club

Haunt and Savage Master @ 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. 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 (shout out to the Green Room, Granada, and the Uptown Theater for changing that). Find a porch to enjoy via this map.

DJ Hayes Presents Shake @ Uptown VFW

Bastardane and OTTTO @ Varsity Theater

John Swardson, Hildur Hoglind @ White Squirrel

Pop Wagner & the Tavern Trio @ White Squirrel

Lone Rock Bride with Luke Bascom & The End @ White Squirrel