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Old School Legends and New Local Music in This Week’s Complete Concert Calendar: September 17-23

Pretty much all the music you can catch in the Twin Cities this week.

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The Furious Five, Papa Mbye

Read these listings carefully to learn a fascinating anecdote about myself and Blues Traveler's John Popper FROM THE '80s.

Tuesday, September 17

Byte Night @ Acadia

Liana Flores with Juliana Chahayed @ Amsterdam

International Reggae All-Stars @ Bunker's

Pork Soda @ Dark Horse

Haley Reinhart @ Dakota

St. Dominic's Trio @ Driftwood

Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34

Mother Mother @ Fillmore

Ziggy Alberts with Garrett Kato @ Fine Line

Flack, Duck Bomb, The Violet Press, Galleon, Chameleon @ The Garage

Fairy Boat, Samuel Wilbur, Bryn Battani @ Green Room

Explosion Big Band @ Jazz Central

River City Jazz Orchestra @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Groove with DJ Jen-E @ Mortimer's

Greg Zelek @ Northrop

Keane with Everything Everything @ Palace Theatre

New Band Night @ Palmer's

SimpleGifts featuring Billy McLaughlin @ Parkway

theyself @ Peavey Plaza

Abby Holliday with Brother Bird and lily blue @ 7th St Entry

Artist Showcase @ Sociable Cider Werks

Industrial Strength with DJ Sin @ Terminal Bar

  • Charly Bliss with Raffaella @ Turf ClubThis Brooklyn indie act emerged in 2017 with a sugary blast of rockers, matured and got synthy in 2019, and on last month’s anticipated Forever, Charly Bliss went pop. (Bonus local angle: Jake Luppen of Hippo Campus helped on the production side.) The results are uneven—for the first time, Eva Hendricks’s clever, heartfelt wordplay is diluted by co-writers—but the band’s “bubblegrunge” still crushes, this time with Top 40-winking catchiness. Bangers include “I Don’t Know Anything,” a behind-the-scenes vent of industry frustrations, and “Back There Now,” an exhilarating kiss-off to young love.—Jay Boller

September Conspiracy Series featuring Triple Fiddle, Maura Dunst @ 331 Club

Wednesday, September 18

The Grieving Pines @ Acadia

MN Songwriter Showcase @ Aster Cafe

Shadowlands feat. S. Carey & John Raymond @ Berlin

Dylan Salfer @ Bunker's

Twine @ Cabooze

Vasen with the Northern Fiddlers Bloc @ Cedar Cultural Center

Connie Evingson @ Crooners

Marquis Hill @ Dakota

Caswyn Moon and Faith Kelly @ Day Block Brewing

Kitchen Patrol and Joe @ Day Block Brewing

Lena and the Lovekills @ Eagles 34

Miss Shannon's Swing Night @ Eagles 34

David Kushner @ Fillmore

Mon Rovîa with Tish Melton @ Fine Line

The California Honeydrops @ First Avenue

Open Mic with Host Neil Dimick @ Ginkgo Coffee

JCS @ JCS: Creative Collaborations @ Jazz Central

Mayfair 3 with Monica Louise @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Elour & Mortiholics (September Residency) @ Mortimer's

Greg Zelek @ Northrop

Remi Wolf with Lava La Rue @ Palace Theatre

Cole Diamond @ Palmer's

Swamp Poppas @ Schooner Tavern

GEL with MSPAINT, Destiny Bond and The Mall @ 7th St Entry

Deicide, Krisiun, Inferi, and Cloak @ Studio B

Breakers' Paradise @ Terminal Bar

Sam Burchfield & The Scoundrels @ Turf Club

Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Tom Feldman @ 331 Club

Knife Emoji, The What-have-yous @ 331 Club

Sweet Spine with Lake Drive @ Underground Music Venue

Sepultura @ Uptown Theater

St. Paul Mudsteppers @ White Squirrel

East Lake Jazz Workshop @ White Squirrel

Thursday, September 19

Nekrogoblikon with Enterprise Earth and Dead Icarus @ Amsterdam

Conan Gray with Maisie Peters @ Armory

Leighton Tuenge Trio (Album Release) @ Berlin

Jaybee & the Routine @ Bunker's

Sunless, Mares of Thrace, Murf @ Cloudland

Wayne Anthony @ Crooners

RIVER: The Music of Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon @ Crooners

Andrew Belle @ Dakota

Not Your Baby with Ciidesfeld and Basement Heroes @ Day Block Brewing

LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34

Karaoke With On-Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34

BC Collective @ Eagles 34

Zheani with Buttress and ZAND @ Fine Line

Hippo Campus with Lutalo @ First Avenue

Snapped Live Band Open Mic @ Green Room

The Sex Rays, Mad Mojo Jett, & Jazz Outlaws @ Hook and Ladder

The New Standards with Lamaar @ Mears Park

Colby Kent & Zander @ Metronome Brewing

Mary Elias's Young Relics @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Dead Star Nation Presents The Forest @ Mortimer's

Riddim Driven with DJ I Roach @ Palmer's

Andy Shauf with Hayden Pedigo @ Parkway

Katia Cardenas Combo @ Peavey Plaza

Lifestyle Shakes, Pleasure Cube, Gwen @ Pilllar Forum

Mubbla Buggs, the Rodents @ Schooner Tavern

Under the Rug with Basic Printer @ 7th St Entry

Matthew Caws of Nada Surf @ Surly Brewing

The Gentlemen’s Anti-Temperance League @ 331 Club

Cover Me ⏤ A Bruce Springsteen Sing-Along @ Turf Club

Synth Night @ Underground Music Venue

Cuppa UKG @ Uptown VFW

Devaney & Friends with Katy Vernon, Art Vandalay @ White Squirrel

Friday, September 20

DJ Cam Jones @ Acadia

Julie's Bones @ Acadia

Huron John and DBMK @ Amsterdam

AirLands + The Nunnery @ Aster Cafe

Cyber City Disco - Dana Kazuko, Echo, Phriz Da Beatz @ Beast Barbecue

Steve Pikal / Mary Louise Knutson @ Berlin

Sophia Shorei Quintet @ Berlin

GB Leighton @ Bunker's

Oceanographer, Sir Valentine @ Caydence Records & Coffee

Carsie Blanton with Matt the Electrician @ Cedar Cultural Center

Forest Ray, James Eugene Russell, Mary Cutrufello @ Cloudland

Paradox @ Conga Latin Bistro

Keri Noble @ Crooners

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

R Factor @ Crooners

Afro-Cuban All Stars @ Dakota

The Bishops, Umbrella Bed, Goodbye Mordecai @ Eagles 34

Swingin' on a Star @ Eagles 34

The Teardowns, FINICK @ 50th & France

Badflower @ Fillmore

Eric Hutchinson with Dan Rodriguez @ Fine Line

sapphic factory: queer joy party @ First Avenue

After Arizona, Cilician Gates, Duck Bomb, Empathy @ The Garage

Camo & Krooked + Mefjus @ Granada

Claudia Schmidt and Sally Rogers @ Ginkgo Coffee

  • Papa Mbye (EP Release) with Huhroon, Sumana, Giselle, *67 @ Green RoomA Papa Mbye track is an ever-changing thing. Rare is the song on his new EP Parcelles 16 (named for his uncle’s address back in Senegal) that finishes where it began, rhythmically or melodically. Which isn’t to say the West African-born, Minneapolis bred musician rambles—whether guitars follow fluid lines or chonk out the funk, whether electronic noises swell from below or articulate themselves as replicas of fuzzed out thumb-pianos, the sounds progress, evolve, make themselves known. At the center is Papa’s own voice, serrated and filtered, making demands like “Kiss me where it hurts/You could make it better” and pondering the concept of home on the climactic closing track, “Senegambia.”

Honey Island Swamp Band with TWINE @ Hook and Ladder

Hipshaker MPLS @ Hook and Ladder

What's Going On - A Tribute to the Life & Music of Marvin Gaye @ Icehouse

The Freier Department @ Jazz Central

Kloud @ The Loft

Funktion Junction @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Gothess @ Mortimer's

Starset Immersion: The Final Chapter @ Myth Live

Greg Zelek @ Northrop

Søndergård, Lim, and Rachmaninoff @ Orchestra Hall

Shredding Flannel @ Padraigs

Sand County, Voulouse, and Jack Klatt @ Palmer's

Daniel Villarreal with Matt Jennings @ Parkway

Annie & the Bang Bang, Dan Israel Band @ Schooner Tavern

BLK ODYSSY with Asha Imuno and Benji. @ 7th St Entry

Dr. Oliver Tree @ Skyway Theatre

Grand Lilac, Dot.Operator, Val Son @ 331 Club

Scream and Soulside with In Lieu @ Turf Club

FERAL DANCE: Theology, OPTNS, Evilynda, Dustn Haze @ Uptown VFW

Brat Rave @ Varsity

Big Salt with Elour, The 99ers @ White Squirrel

The Rosies, Babe Haven, Ice Climber, When the Dust Settles @ Zhora Darling

Saturday, September 21

Honey Please @ Acadia

Two Another @ Amsterdam

Pump: UKG Series @ Artery MPLS

Devin Wolf @ Aster Cafe

Daddy Issues: Two-Year Anniversary @ Beast Barbecue

Joan Hutton Trio @ Berlin

Zacc Harris Group @ Berlin

Queer Cumbia Dance Party @ Black Hart

The Good, the Bad, & the Funky @ Bunker's

Megan Hamilton @ Cabooze

Irish Diplomacy @ Can Can Wonderland

Kyrie Nova & the Defiant, Bloom or Bust, Admiral Fox, Littleton @ Caydence Records & Coffee

Great Lake Swimmers, Luke Callen @ Cedar Cultural Center

Wolf Blood, Feast of Lanterns, Lykoi Fel @ Cloudland

Joe Pulice @ Crooners

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

Maud Hixson @ Crooners

L.A. Buckner & Big Homie and Brandon Commodore's NRG @ Crooners

Crash Test Dummies @ Dakota

Blocktober '24 @ Dual Citizen

The Bill Patten Trio @ Dusty's

Pearl Parkway, Nice and Blue, Thomas Richey @ Eagles 34

  • The Front Bottoms @ FillmoreThe emo revival boom of the '10s didn’t produce a better or more poorly named band than New Jersey’s the Front Bottoms. Supercharged by Brian Sella's preternatural lyricism, the group arrived almost fully formed with a string of albums from 2011 through 2014 that young rock fans no doubt consider all-time classics. (Talon of the Hawk is a true emo masterpiece.) Advanced middle age wasn’t kind to the Front Bottoms, who despite always ripping live suffered from discography duds, but we’re happy to report that last year’s You Are Who You Hang Out With is a natural-sounding return to form; Sella can still turn a phrase with the best of 'em, and the acoustic-punk arrangements aren’t striving for any middle-of-the-road radio rock space, to the extent that market exists anymore.—Jay Boller
  • M. Ward with Leslie Stephens @ Fine LineA fine indie singer-songwriter who has rewarded if not demanded attention over the years, Ward has courteously given us a chance to catch up with him with For Beginners: The Best of M. Ward. These aren’t necessarily the songs I’d have chosen (where’s “Primitive Girl”?) but if you only know Ward for his famous friends (he was the him alongside Zooey Deschanel in She & Him and a participant in Conor Oberst and Jim Jones’s indie Wilburys project Monsters of Folk) it’s a good starting point. He consistently displays a fragility that never flaunts its sensitivity, singing with a brightness that keeps him clear of despair. The compilation adds to his oeuvre a version of Godley and Creme’s “Cry” that doesn’t quite stand along his reimagining of Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” (or his “Oh Lonesome Me,” which didn’t make the cut), but his setlist doesn’t stick solely to the best-of. In fact, he apparently played Buddy Holly’s “Rave On” twice in one night on a recent date.

Spud City Singers @ Gambit Brewing

King Swank, Playboy Sho-Tee (a.k.a Sixx Figga Sho), BozeMøntana, DJ Devario @ The Garage

Jon Wayne And The Pain, Feed The Dog @ Green Room

InMotion: Monochrome @ Icehouse

Nancy Bierma: The Music of Keith Jarrett @ Jazz Central

Emalkay @ The Loft

Leprous, Earthside, Fight the Fight @ The Lyric

Dean Magraw and Davu Seru @ Metronome Brewing

Jaybee & the Routine @ Minnesota Music Cafe

DJ Alexis Rose @ Modist Brewing

Movements, Turnover, Queen of Jeans @ Myth Live

Greg Zelek @ Northrop

Søndergård, Lim, and Rachmaninoff @ Orchestra Hall

Art Beagle Back Up Band @ Padraigs

Fireseek Equinox ft. Academy Order, Count Spookula, Cult Sequence, LOUM, Autumn @ Palmer's

We're Not That Old: Nur-D, Alex Frecon, The Symptones, Linus @ Pilllar Forum

  • Powderhorn Porchfest @ Powderhorn—True south Minneapolitans know PorchFest rocks—they don’t need no blurb telling ‘em as much. But for the uninitiated, this annual Powderhorn hootenanny is, in fact, a hoot, featuring exactly what’s promised in the name: live tunes from 13 genre-spanning local bands performing from three honest-to-god porches along 17th Avenue. There’ll be food vendors galore (Taqueria el Patron, Eggroll Queen, KCM Eggrolls, Vang Express, and more), and not one, not three, but two beer gardens situated outside of Reverie Cafe + Bar. You just can’t beat drinking outside during early fall, folks. Click here to see the full lineup of local music acts, which includes talented multi-hyphenate headliner Tufawon.—Jay Boller

Jack Knife & the Sharps @ Schooner Tavern

A.A. Williams @ 7th St Entry

Sidequest, Charlie Wonder, Z @ Studio B

Surlyfest 2024 @ Surly Brewing

Hans Zimmer Live @ Target Center

Landfill Harmonic @ Terminal Bar

The Crimson Boys, Tomboyy, Super Flasher @ 331 Club

A Sunken Ship Irony, Ditch Pigeon, Faux Pseudo @ 331 Club

Sleeping With Sirens @ Uptown Theater

Crimes Against Ravers Pop Up @ Uptown VFW

The White Buffalo + Shawn James @ Varsity

Ysilik, Cymothoa, Sons of Bliss @ White Rock Lounge

Pop Wagner & the Tavern Trio @ White Squirrel

Briefcase with Stone Arch Rivals, Soft Topics @ White Squirrel

Blood Tower, Gates of Dawn, & Blood Sigil @ Zhora Darling

Sunday, September 22

Lord of the Lost @ Amsterdam

Swing Brunch with Patty & the Buttons @ Aster Cafe

  • Andrew Broder & PEOPLE (feat. Kinfu & Britt Robson) @ BerlinDoes anyone in the Twin Cities music community have better taste than Andrew Broder? Sure, his projects are often great, but he's just as vital as a catalyst, bringing together unexpected collaborators, and this monthlong Berlin residency will showcase that gift. Most unexpected collaborator of all? Sports/music writer Britt Robson, who will talk hoops with Broder and then make his debut as a DJ on September 22.

Dr. Mambo's Combo @ Bunker's

Singing Tony Sunday @ Cabooze

Marimba Matt @ Can Can Wonderland

Debashish Bhattacharya Trio with Matthew Rahaim @ Cedar Cultural Center

Ryan Picone Quartet @ Crooners

The Four Freshmen @ Crooners

Co-MingL Presents: The Soul of September @ Crooners

Delfeayo Marsalis @ Dakota

Phine Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood

Johnny No Cash @ Eagles 34

Rogue Tango @ Eagles 34

Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34

Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34

Dayfunk: Johnny Fiasco @ Eat Street Crossing

Stone Williams, Yellow Roses, SIX @ The Garage

Miguel Espinoza Fusion + Dave Hagedorn @ Granada

Jaspar Lepak + Kashimana @ Icehouse

NxGen Jazz Series @ Metronome

The Waves @ Metronome

The Assortment with DJ Michael Grey @ Mortimer's

Descendents with The Buzzcocks and Grumpster @ Palace Theatre

Church of Cornbread @ Palmer's

West Bank Social Club @ Palmer's

Donna the Buffalo @ Parkway

Music Jam @ Schooner Tavern

Amelia Moore, Julia Cooper @ 7th St Entry

The Real Chuck Norad @ 331 Club

Gollylagging, Despondent, & Linus @ Underground Music Venue

Marc E. Bassy & Skizzy Mars @ Varsity

Fuzzy Math @ White Squirrel

North Country Singers @ White Squirrel

Karaoke Underground @ White Squirrel

Monday, September 23

Shady Baby's Open Mic @ Acadia

Zulu with killusonline, Identity Crisis, and Riotgrrrldarko @ Amsterdam

Alex Frank Quartet @ Berlin

Global Roots Festival: Fränder and Balkan Paradise Orchestra @ Cedar Cultural Center

Sam Grisman @ Dakota

Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34

World Music Monday @ Eagles 34

The Lemonheads with John David Kent @ Fine Line

Wild Rivers with Lily Meola @ First Avenue

September Mondays with Eli Awada @ Icehouse

MN Hard Bop Collective @ Metronome

Auto-Tune Karaoke @ Mortimer’s

Open Mic @ Terminal Bar

HonkyTonk Ranch @ 331 Club

Roe Family Singers @ 331 Club

The Dans @ White Squirrel

Devil Dodger with Bedpan Bambalam @ White Squirrel

Lori Dokken and Dan Chouinard @ The Woman's Club of Minneapolis

Lost Stars @ Zhora Darling

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