With some exceptions, I'm not a big fest guy, and I'm not especially intrigued by this year's Minnesota Yacht Club lineup. I'm still not even sure what a Yacht Club is. So I've highlighted some of what I'm looking forward to this week instead.
Tuesday, July 14
Greatest Jam on Earth @ Blues Saloon
Brilliant Colors Jazz Trio @ Bryant Square Park
International Reggae Allstars @ Bunker’s
Mr. Phylzzz, In Lieu, Unstable Shapes @ Cloudland
James Hunter Six, McKinley James @ Dakota
Fridley City Band @ Dock & Paddle
St. Dominic’s Trio @ Driftwood Char Bar
Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
- Tiny Tuesdays @ Eagles 34—Ever wished that a band’s set was shorter? Well, there's no shame in that, and the Eagles' monthly Tiny Tuesdays feature is for you. Five performers (Will Fraser, Life Skills, Aeris and the Piggies, Annie Schultz, and Sandpaper, this go round) are allotted 12 minutes each. That's a solid hour of music, leaning on the experimental side, and that's plenty for a Tuesday.—Keith Harris
10 Minute Recess @ Father Hennepin Park
Paper Beast, Society Green, Terravision, Locked Out @ Green Room
The Riffin’ Trio @ Indeed Brewing
Cedar Avenue Big Band @ Jazz Central
Wayne Fisher and David Crittenden, Dan Schwartz & Nick Salisbury @ Metronome Brewery
Comes a Time @ Minnehaha Bandstand
Nova Jazz Orchestra @ Minnesota Music Cafe
John Mellencamp @ Mystic Lake Amphitheater
Lex Leto, Jane Marie Rogers, purity olympics, Blood, Bath, and Beyond @ Pilllar Forum
Artist Showcase @ Sociable Cider Werks
Lyle Lovett and His Small Large Band @ State Theatre
July Conspiracy Series featuring Paul Lawrence Clay Fulton @ 331 Club
Worker’s Playtime with Doug Collins @ 331 Club
Kneeland & Moreno, Bees & the Knees, Daniel Johannes @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, July 15
Ben Cosgrove with Liz Draper/Crystal Myselajek, Chris Hepola (Rainfields) @ Berlin
The Cherry Pit Open Jam @ Berlin
1 Mic, 1 Cable, 30 Minutes @ Carbone’s
Summer Deep Listening @ Cedar Cultural Center
The Zillionaires @ The Commons
J-Mo on the Beat & the J-Lighters @ Como Park Conservatory
Steven “Pops” Pelletier @ Crooners
James Hunter Six, McKinley James @ Dakota
Capri Big Band @ Dock & Paddle
Access Otherwise, Mantown, Matt Sowell @ Driftwood Char Bar
The Twin Cities Ceili Band @ Dubliner Pub
Miss Shannon Presents Monday Club @ Eagles 34
- Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets @ Fine Line—At 77, pub-pop wiseguy Nick Lowe doesn’t seem to be slowing down, not when it comes to touring at least. He is writing fewer songs, however (or at least recording fewer). Indoor Safari from 2024 was his first album in over a decade, and he samples a bit of it live. But don't worry, you'll get your “Cruel to Be Kind,” as well as other oldies.—Keith Harris
Vanessa Lively (Album Release) with Mother Banjo & Sadie Gustafson-Zook @ Icehouse
Star of the North Band @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Pat Donahue and Friends @ Midway Saloon
Karaoke Blast With Chazz @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Igor & the Red Elvises, the Black Widows @ Mortimer’s
Bonder, Garden Glow, Something Wonderful @ Pilllar Forum
Swamp Poppas @ Schooner Tavern
The Body, Big Brave, Scaphe @ 7th St Entry
The Cottonwood Shivers, QUAERY, Petits Mirages @ 331 Club
Harold’s House Party on KFAI Poppa John and the Poppetts @ 331 Club
Pearl & the Oysters, Nelson Devereaux @ Turf Club
St. Paul Mudsteppers @ White Squirrel
Lords of the Universe, Greyhaim @ White Squirrel
Conan, Melpomene, Body @ Zhora Darling
Thursday, July 16
Konkrete Jungle Takeover @ Abi’s
Cowpokes on the Queer Frontier @ Amsterdam
David Huckfelt’s Mystery Lights @ Animales
Larkspur Trio + Reed5 @ Arts on Lafond
The Larry McDonough Quintet @ Aster Cafe
Hired Goons with DJ Sean McPherson @ Berlin
Caribou Gone @ Bryant Square Park
Jaybee & the Routine @ Bunker’s
Olive Klug, Ducksmithson, Anni XO @ Cedar Cultural Center
Ryan Traster, We Are the Willows, Pink Nightmare @ Cloudland
Zach and Kieran’s Dynamic Duos of the 1960s @ Crooners
The ACME Jazz Company with Arne Fogel @ Crooners
Bob! The Music of Dylan @ Crooners
Southside Aces (Album Release) @ Dakota
House of Music Band Camp, the Rockin’ Iguanas @ Driftwood Char Bar
Mary Cutrufello @ Dubliner Pub
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Advance Base, Moontype, Walker Rider @ Eagles 34
Wavves, Bass Drum of Death, Worlds Worst @ Fine Line
- Snapz Live Band Open Mic @ Green Room—St. Paul rap mainstay Juice Lord turned me on to this regular event a few weeks back, comparing it to the hallowed open mic that Kevin Washington and Desdamona hosted at the Blue Nile in the ’00s. I don’t know that it’s quite there yet (hey, it’s my job to restrain expectations), but I got a lively evening of entertainment when I checked it out. Performers included a towering, smartly dressed gentleman named Six Five (named for his height) doing reggae, a woman playing harp while a man sang “Sound of Silence,” and plenty of expressively executed soul and R&B. The band is incredibly quick on the uptake (they learned one guy’s original song on the fly) and Maya Marchelle is a welcoming host, making this an ideal soft opening for your weekend. Show up by 7 p.m. if you want to be on the list, as there’s plenty of competition.—Keith Harris
Dirty P’s Thirsty 3rd Thursday Night @ Hook and Ladder
International Reggae All Stars @ Hopkins Downtown Park
Twin Cities Summit: Opening Night Faculty Concert @ Icehouse
DJs Off the Dock @ Indeed Brewing
Acoustic Thursdays @ Mainstreet Bar
Zoe Grigsby (EP Release), Zola @ Metronome Brewery
Dark Click With Curtiss A @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Lakeside Big Band @ Minnehaha Bandstand
The Scarlet Goodbye, High on Stress @ Mears Park
Creed @ Mystic Lake Amphitheater
Beethoven Triple Concerto @ Orchestra Hall
Mubbla Buggs, Rodents @ Schooner Tavern
- Wax and DJ Hoppa, K.A.A.N. @ 7th St Entry—The rap underground is bustling with talented journeymen. One of them, the L.A. rapper Wax teamed up with DJ Hoppa for a playful throwback rap record, Highway Hotel, laced with lyrics like, “My podiatrist and your proctologist? Same guy.” With a nimble gallop of a delivery, Maryland-born, L.A.-based K.A.A.N. is even better. He's been kicking around for close to two decades, but he really found his footing on the 2024 album Kaancepts. "Nobody in rap says shit anymore, like, they just mumble,” he raps. And before you can even groan “Oh, great, one of those guys,” he adds a self-deprecating if not entirely accurate "including myself."—Keith Harris
- Girl Tones @ Surly Brewing—Did you know 89.3 the Current has been hosting a free Happy Hours concert series at local breweries and cideries all across this damn state? Freakin’ Hiss Golden Messenger performed last month! Jeez… makes ya wonder what else ya don’t know. [Ed. note: You’d know if you read our weekly Concert Calendar.] Now armed with this potentially new knowledge, you can hit up the next installment: sisterly duo Girl Tones, who are coming all the way from Kentucky to apply their classical music training to rock ‘n’ roll. “While the White Stripes—their most obvious comparison—were about controlled energy, Girl Tones are proudly imperfect,” Rolling Stone once raved. Upcoming Happy Hours gigs include Michigander at Utepils Brewing in Minneapolis, Tofusmell at Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota, and Alex Lambert at Castle Danger Brewery in Two Harbors.—Jay Boller
Cross Pollination: Knife Emoji, Astronomy Town @ 331 Cafe
New Fashioned Honky Tonk @ Turf Club
Adjust the Sails @ Underground Music
The Envies, Muun Bato, Shrimp Olympics @ White Squirrel
Spirit of the Bear, the Weekend Run Club, Callback, Of the Orchard @ Zhora Darling
Friday, July 17
Brunch, North by North, Clovers Daughter @ Amsterdam
Tumbling Daisies Trio @ Animales
The New Entangled Particles @ Aster Cafe
Robert Lehmann & Toby Ramaswamy @ Berlin
A Tribute to Grant Green @ Berlin
DJ Buster Baxter/DJ Greenery @ Berlin
Vivian Hayes & the Hi-Praise @ Blues Saloon
The Good, the Bad, & the Funky @ Bunker’s
Fanoos Ensemble @ Cedar Cultural Center
Johnny Dynamite and the Bloodsuckers, Laura Larson, Magenta Vice @ Cloudland
Vicky Mountain and Ted Godbout @ Crooners
The Modern Era, Oister Boy, Dave’s Manual, Astro Brat @ Day Block Brewing
Freezerburn, the Tells @ Driftwood Char Bar
Wayward, Jeff Narlock, Straight & Curly @ Dual Citizen
Irish Music Session @ Dubliner Pub
Battery Eyes Showcase @ Eagles 34
Rion, Liam Halloran @ 50th & France
Miss Jackson If You’re Nasty ⏤ Janet Jackson Dance Night @ First Avenue
Girls Rock and Roll Retreat Showcase @ Granada
Jon Pardi @ Grand Casino Hinckley
- Minnesota Yacht Club @ Harriet Island—If you want to go the day Geese play this is the day that you go. You also get the great Lucy Dacus, solid local openers Yam Haus and Porch Light, and, uh, after a few beers it'll maybe be fun to sing "I wanna push you around/Well, I will, well, I will" with Matchbox Twenty, who are closing their sets with "Don't You (Forget About Me)" these days for some reason.—Keith Harris
Chastity Brown, Barbara Cohen, Jacqueline Ultan, Jeremy Ylvisaker @ Hook and Ladder
Hipshaker MPLS @ Hook and Ladder
Sean Hayes, Bathtub Cig @ Icehouse
Rare Form Band @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Wicked Garden @ Mainstreet Bar
Target Spots @ Minnehaha Bandstand
TK & the TKOs @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Beethoven Triple Concerto @ Orchestra Hall
Clawhammer Mike and the Old-Time Barnstormers @ Padraigs
Sarah Hester Ross @ Parkway Theater
Headtriiip with Tanah Bornguesser @ Pilllar Forum
Mechanix: Ben Soundscape & Collette Warren @ Red Sea
.ford, Gilligan Moss @ 7th St Entry
The Ike Reilly Impersonation, the Squirez, Unfinished Products @ Terminal Bar
Waking Hours, Yes We Are, Kat and the Kodachromes @ 331 Club
Man Man, Death Valley Girls @ Turf Club
idobi Radio Summer School, Honey Revenge @ Uptown Theater
FERAL CULT - The Final Feral: THEOLOGY, EVE, ZENOS, AJ, FERAL FATHER @ Uptown VFW
Semisonic, Humbird @ Varsity Theater
Greentop, Jonny Darko, Anything You Want @ Zhora Darling
Saturday, July 18
Death of the Heron, Anxiety Society, Greenvale Manitou, Sweetland @ Acadia
Clean Plate Club (EP Release) @ Amsterdam
Sarah Morris and the Sometimes Guys @ Animales
Zoe Says Go, Meriem LeClair @ Aster Cafe
J-Mo on the Beat & the J-Lighters @ Bear Cave
Worldwide Discotheque @ Black Hart
Strictly R&B: Summer Cookout @ Cabooze
- Makin’ Out, TV Star, Sandpaper @ Cloudland—Big Makin' Out fan here. As I said of their excellent Living in a Glass House last year, "From the frantic strum and shuffle of guitar-bass-drums to [Caitlin] Angelica’s full-throated vocals, the rawness here never feels self-conscious." Tonight they're joined by Seattle indie-poppers and Products Band side project Sandpaper, who'll play a longer and likely louder set than they will at Tiny Tuesdays (see above).
Maud Hixson and Rick Carlson @ Crooners
The Jack Schabert Jazz Orchestra @ Crooners
Dilly Dally Alley, Grim Lot, Safety Knife @ Day Block Brewing
Pogo Ballet @ Driftwood Char Bar
Fever Dreamer, Crypt I.D., the Staboteurs @ Dusty’s
Matt Parkins Smorgasbord @ Eagles 34
SOS: The Recession Pop Party @ Fine Line
Pareidolia, Weeklong Weekend, Gauze, Ice Climbers @ Flying V
KP Presents Bayroom: Baywatch @ Green Room
Minnesota Yacht Club @ Harriet Island
Eleni Mandell, Mike Gunther @ Hook and Ladder
Urgent Emergent Performance Art Series, Volume Seven: Reppin’ the Crew! @ Icehouse
Trench Size Trio @ Jazz Central
Minneapolis Pops @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Rolling Stoners @ Mainstreet Bar
Noise Against Humanity @ Memory Lanes
The Roxxy Hall Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Beethoven Triple Concerto @ Orchestra Hall
Rich Mattson & the Northstars, Cindy Lawson @ Schooner Tavern
Cas Haley, Reed Grimm, Jon Wayne @ 7th St Entry
Speed Riders, Cowboy Thoughts, Black Diet @ 331 Club
Drivin N Cryin, Laid Back Country Picker @ Turf Club
Surrounded by Water, The Color of Cyan, PRGRPHS, Trellis @ Underground Music
Welcome to Atlanta: A Dirty South Dance Party with Manny Duke and DJ Smoothblendz @ Uptown VFW
Heartbreakers @ Varsity Theater
Lucinda Williams Tribute Show @ White Squirrel
Billy Johnson @ White Squirrel
37 Houses, Do Not Crush, Immortal Alcoholics @ White Squirrel
Dorio, Little Lizard, Controversial New "Skinny Pill," May + the Ladies @ Zhora Darling
Sunday, July 19
Patty and the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
- Curated by Aida Shahghasemi: Niloofar Sohi, Niyayesh Shababi, Niloufar Shiri @ Berlin—Shahghasemi is a Minneapolis singer-songwriter of Iranian descent with a pretty deep resume—she’s toured with Iron & Wine and sung with Glen Hansard. For three nights this July, however, she’s showcasing her own fascinating music, sung in Farsi with her voice often electronically modulated. On the first installment last Sunday, which I’m glad to have caught, she performed two beguiling sets on bass along with saxophonist Christopher Rochester and pianist Kavyesh Kaviraj. For tonight’s version, she’ll be joined by Niloofar Sohi on viola, Niyayesh Shababi on guitar, and Niloufar Shiri on kamancheh. And next Sunday promises “contemporary minimal Iranian music accompanied by riffs and rhythms,” with guitarists Jeremy and Max Ylvisaker and drummer Joey Hays joining in.—Keith Harris
Communion: Season 20:08 @ Cabooze
Aurora Do Samba @ Cedar Cultural Center
Vaz, New Confusion, 1055 @ Cloudland
Dorothy Doring and Dale Alexander @ Crooners
Let Me Off Uptown: The Music of Anita O’Day @ Crooners
The Very Best of Elton John and Billy Joel @ Crooners
Benefit Concert with Tim Turner @ Day Block Brewing
Phine & Friends, Shotgun Ragtime Band @ Driftwood Char Bar
Sunday Trad Session @ Dubliner Pub
The Beavers, Megan B @ Dusty’s
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
Flyleaf, Lacey Sturm @ Fillmore
Killer Queen—A Tribute to Queen @ Fitzgerald Theater
Minnesota Yacht Club @ Harriet Island
The Dan Israel Band @ Hewing Hotel
Light ‘Em Up: The Bong Show @ Hook and Ladder
JazzWire Twin Cities Summer—Finale Concert @ Icehouse
Obi Original and the Black Atlantics @ Icehouse
Minnesota Freedom Jazz @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Minneapolis Pops @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Dan Navarro & Andrew Crowley @ Metronome Brewery
- Carla Thomas with Take Me to the River All-Stars Memphis Soul Revue @ Parkway Theater—Best known for teenage hits like "Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes)" and her later Otis Redding duets, the 83-year-old Thomas has become the keeper of the flame for the old school Memphis soul her papa Rufus helped establish. For this celebration of Stax Records, she’s joined by the Hi Rhythm Section, which still contains a few of the musicians who backed Al Green on his greatest hits, including Archie "Hubie" Turner on piano and the two surviving Hodges brothers, Charles on organ and Leroy on bass. Sadly, their third brother, guitarist Teenie, isn’t around anymore, and neither is drummer Howard Grimes. That’s why these shows matter, after all: The legends don’t live forever.—Keith Harris
Church of Cornbread @ Schooner Tavern
Mike Love, SensaMotion @ 7th St Entry
Ded, Dropout Kings, Vrsty @ Studio B
Billy Allen + the Pollies, Maria and the Coins @ Turf Club
Sidewalk Diamonds, Leslie Rich and the Rocket Soul Choir, John Magnuson @ White Squirrel
Karaoke with Ally @ White Squirrel
Monday, July 20
Massive Mondays Reggae @ Cabooze
Club Day Monday Cabaret @ Crooners
Tim Sparks and Tom Lieberman @ Dakota
Nova Contemporary Jazz Orchestra @ Dock & Paddle
Fleshpots of Egypt @ Dubliner Pub
L.A.’s Monday Nights @ Icehouse
Nova Contemporary Jazz Orchestra @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Paisley Fields, Redwing Blackbird, Chokecherry, Lone Sum @ Memory Lanes
Take That Back @ Metronome Brewery
Blues Jam with Moses Oakland @ Midway Saloon
Minnesota Music Jam @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Sleeping Dogs Lie, Savage Moods, Black Market Mothership @ Pilllar Forum
Kevian Kraemer, Jackson Marshall @ 7th St Entry
Open Mic @ Sociable Cider Werks
