Willi Carlisle with Pop Wagner @ Turf Club—Damn straight we lefties could use some real battle songs, and on his latest album, Critterland, Carlisle is happy to oblige. “A queer and a Communist” ready to enlist “in the war that's ragin' between the haves and have-nots,” as he puts it on the title track, this folkie looks the contemporary world dead in the eye and refuses to blink, though he might occasionally give a wink and a smile. There’s real darkness here—a friend’s suicide letter that “used too many long words” and baffled the cops, the self-medicated look at mortality “When the Pills Wear Off,” and the seven-minute closer “The Money Grows on Trees,” a true crime ballad about peddling weed with police protection. But there’s hope too: If Carlisle’s ambivalent about the death of his father (“It’s still sad when bad men die”), he looks back on his humble ancestors and declares, “I won’t waste a single moment of the work that brought me here.” Me either, Willi.

Worker’s Playtime: Craig & Edie @ 331 Club

February Conspiracy Series featuring Robin Kyle, Nate Wittenberg, Ben Hoganson @ 331 Club

Madonna @ Xcel Energy Center—Admirably if perhaps futilely, Madonna has long refused to become an oldies act. Her tours have stressed her relevance, which is of course questionable, and her artistic vitality, which really isn’t—anyone who released Madame X would have reason to be proud and an understandable desire to perform that music live. So the Celebration Tour is her long-delayed victory lap, glancing back over her shoulder at what she’s accomplished over the past (gosh) 40 years, even if, like most pop stars, the commercial and artistic peaks are frontloaded. As if to remind us she might not be around forever, a serious bacterial infection delayed this tour (this show was originally scheduled for last July). And as dotty or problematic she might seem to online puriteens, she remains incomparable, if only because we’ve quite simply never seen what a 65-year-old dance-pop superstar can do.

DL4 @ White Squirrel

Los Pinches Güeys (Tuesday Residency) with McVicker, Jeremy & The Lords Of The Universe @ White Squirrel

Karaoke @ Zhora Darling

Wednesday, February 14

Wain McFarlane @ Acadia

Joe Strachan Quartet @ Berlin

Dylan Salfer @ Bunkers

Sweethearts' Show @ Crooners

Sophia Shorai & Tommy Barbarella @ Dakota

The Bad Companions! @ Eagles 34

Miss Shannon's Swing Night @ Eagles 34

Sarah Jarosz with The Ballroom Thieves @ Fine Line

Indigo De Souza with Truth Club @ First Avenue

Stablemates @ Icehouse

Garden Street Band with America y los Sentimientos @ KJ's Hideaway

Smiling Cowboys Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Willow Waters with Hemma and Nikki Grossman @ Palmer's

Descend: Valentine's Darkwave Night @ Rok Music Lounge

Connor McRae Trio @ Schooner Tavern

Kxllswxtch and Fat Nick with Kamiyada+ @ 7th St Entry

Vader @ Studio B

Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Kismet Rendezvous @ 331 Club

Gigi Amal @ 331 Club

I Love Lucy ⏤ Kiss the Tiger Pays Tribute to Lucinda Williams with Marty & Alex @ Turf Club

Molly Maher & Her Disbelievers @ White Squirrel

Driftless Revelers @ White Squirrel

Thursday, February 15

The Icicles @ Berlin

Talisk with The Trials of Cato @ Cedar Cultural Center

No Encore, Powerdam, Small Animal Hospital, Loss Leader @ Cloudland

Kathleen Johnson’s Kat Band Project @ Crooners

The Acme Jazz Company @ Crooners

Rachael & Vilray @ Dakota

Zoe Says Go, The Cellar Kings @ Driftwood

The Roasters @ Eagles 34

LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34

Karaoke With On-Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34

"Snapped" Live Band Open Mic @ Green Room

Joseph Huber with Placaters @ Hook and Ladder

E-rotic: Heartbeats & High Tempos with Ariesfirebomb, Yhante, and SYM1 @ Hook and Ladder

Preston Gunderson with Laura Hugo @ Icehouse

The Prizefighters @ KJ's Hideaway

Michael Gay, Marques Morel, and Emmy Woods @ Palmer's

Silent Thunder Dubstep Pop Up @ ROK Music Lounge

Mubbla Buggs @ Schooner Tavern

Tkay Maidza with Kwey @ 7th St Entry—The dancey Zimbabwean-born Australian Tkay Maidza has been releasing music for over a decade now, always seeming to be verge of a bigger audience. That she's never quite broken through is good news for you, because you can still check her out at the Entry. And maybe it's good news for her music too—on her 2023 album Sweet Justice, she sounds more relaxed, more at home with her beats, and sings with more personable subtlety.

Cross Pollination: Awful Offal @ 331 Club

Billy Allen + The Pollies with Turn Turn Turn and The Dead Century @ Turf Club

A Sunken Ship Irony with Cap'n Seabeard @ Underground Music Cafe

Terrorize the Midwest @ White Rock Lounge

Devaney & Friends with The International Treasures, Paul Bergen @ White Squirrel

Alonzo with Royce, Willem Dafoe Fan Club @ White Squirrel

Friday, February 16

Red Lenses @ Acadia

Eric Bellinger with Zae France @ Amsterdam

Subtronics Night 1 @ Armory

The Weeping Covenant + Cassandra Johnson @ Aster Cafe

Atlantis Quartet @ Berlin—Guitarist Zacc Harris helps break the new North Loop jazz club in by recording a live album over two nights this weekend. The quartet is rounded out by Brandon Wozniak on tenor sax and a rhythm section of Chris Bates and Pete Hennig.

No Limits: The B Sides @ Bunkers

Strongly Disagree, Psychedelic, Tuff Little Mutt @ Caydence Records & Coffee

Vacant, War//Plague, Minus Pig, Ice Everlasting @ Cloudland

Spencer Bradley and His Trustees @ Crooners

Erin Schwab and Jay Fuchs @ Crooners

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

MMEA All-State Jazz Band with Scotty Barnhart @ Dakota

Glycerin Tears, Gently, Gently @ Driftwood

True Green (Album Release), with Ahem and LYSS @ Eagles 34—With True Green, novelist Dan Hornsby makes terrific lyric-drunk indie rock, lo-fi and unrushed, with shaky guitars supporting sturdy melodies. My favorite track on My Lost Decade starts "I grew up strong and plucky/On a wolf farm in Kentucky/We shot and skinned and stuffed them/For businessmen and Russians." Ahem will be releasing their first new music in quite a spell this year, and I'm guessing we'll get a bit of a preview here.

Andy Frasco & The U.N. with Melt @ Fine Line

All That ‘90s Party Presents 1994-2004 @ First Avenue

Pete Hoffman @ Granada

Clare Doyle, She Haws, DJ Rhinestoned, Howdy Partner Dance @ Hook and Ladder

Jeremy Ylvisaker + Patrick Horigan @ Icehouse

Jake La Botz @ Icehouse

Ben Link @ Jazz Central

The Jorgensens @ KJ's Hideaway

The Samuel John Band @ KJ's Hideaway

BrunchBeatz x Dack Janiels @ The Loft

The Park Cafe @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Ashes Swing @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Haydn’s Salomon Symphony @ Ordway

Dilly Dally Alley, D'Funk & The Grease Monkeys, and Pandelion @ Palmer's

New Confusion, Headwar, Mold, Ode to Autumn @ Pilllar Forum

Taylor's Version @ ROK Music Lounge

Kinda Kinky @ Schooner Tavern

Frost Children with Another Heaven, Unstable Shapes, Upright Forms, Radiator Girl @ 7th St Entry

The Crimson Boys, Blood Cookie, Grudd Wallace @ 331 Club

Matthew Sweet with Abe Partridge @ Turf Club

Names Without Numbers @ Underground Music Venue

BIZARRE Dance Party @ Uptown VFW

Night Lovell @ Varsity Theater

Greg Volker and the River @ White Rock Lounge

Prgrphs with Surrounded By Water, Lavalier (Remix EP Release) @ White Squirrel

Enrique Iglesias, Pitbull, Ricky Martin @ Xcel Energy Center—Three sexy men. One sexy hockey arena.

Saturday, February 17

Tonal Whiplash @ Acadia

Thumpasaurus with JAMESG @ Amsterdam

Subtronics Night 2 @ Armory

The High 48’s Bluegrass Brunch @ Aster Cafe

A Piano in Every Home with Dark Bunny @ Aster Cafe

Atlantis Quartet @ Berlin—See Friday's listings.

Dan Ristrom & The Big Throwdown @ Bunkers

Pöng Flower @ Caydence Records & Coffee

Tae & the Neighborly with Beneath Green @ Cedar Cultural Center

The Silent Treatment, Tiny Daggers, Deadly Cyclamates @ Cloudland

Jana Anderson: My Funny Valentine @ Crooners

Nicholas David @ Crooners

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

Bruce A. Henry Presents “Watch That Star” @ Dakota

Interceptor, Good Trouble @ Driftwood

The Bill Patten Trio @ Dusty's

All Women's Valentine Dance @ Eagles 34

Manias, The Favorite Things, Brass Elephant, Middle States @ Eagles 34

Y’all presents Cowboys & Angels @ Fine Line

Afterglow — Dreamland @ Granada

Ozone Creations, Tristan Price @ Green Room

Gothess Presents Madonna Tribute @ Hook and Ladder

The Dollys @ Icehouse

The Avant Garde Presents: The Vibeout Suite @ Icehouse

Levi Schwartzberg @ Jazz Central

Gypsy Mania Hot Club Quartet @ KJ's Hideaway

Space Monkey Madia and Leslie Vincent @ KJ's Hideaway

Oliverse with J Phelpz and Klown @ The Loft

Jaybee & the Routine @ Minnesota Music Cafe

DJ Kwey @ Modist Brewing

The Assortment Feat. Michael Grey @ Mortimer's

Los Acosta @ Myth Live

MMEA All-State Choral Concert @ Orchestra Hall

MMEA All-State Instrumental Concert @ Orchestra Hall

Lunar New Year with the Minnesota Orchestra @ Orchestra Hall

Haydn’s Salomon Symphony @ Ordway

Whiskey Rock and Roll Club, Josh Sky, and Threads Electric @ Palmer's

NEIL! Martin Zellar's Tribute to Neil Diamond @ Parkway

Fuzz Lung @ Pilllar Forum

Jay Walter & the Rectifiers @ Schooner Tavern

Christy Costello with Screamin' Cyn Cyn & The Pons, Scrunchies, and Citric Dummies @ 7th St Entry—Christy Costello is a team player. Though she's fronted high profile local bands Ouija Radio and Pink Mink, somehow From the Dark, released last month, is her first solo album. I hate to say something corny like "It was worth the wait!" but, well, it was. Costello's songs crunch with the ballroom stomp of the early U.K. punks, and occasionally feature some postpunk sax, à la the Psychedelic Furs, who she covers. And she's supported by a top-to-bottom great lineup tonight. Show up early and spend the night.

Como Sapiens, Ausgang City @ Terminal Bar

Voltage Controller @ 331 Club

Goodbye Mordecai, Super Flasher, Lifestyle Shakes @ 331 Club

OISTER BOY’s 2nd Annual Pajama Party ft. Scam Likely, OISTER BOY, Killed By Kiwis, and Basketball Divorce Court @ Turf Club

Lostronauts, Earth to Clark, and Cruz Control @ Underground Music Venue

Dre Day 2024 @ Uptown VFW

Club '90s Presents 2000s Night @ Varsity

Learning Curve Records Showcase @ White Rock Lounge

The Gated Community & The Beavers @ White Squirrel

Pop Wagner Tavern Trio @ White Squirrel

Altruit & Friends with Andy Fargo, Kiisu, nectar, Wild Dyl & a Sharpened Whisper @ White Squirrel