Lots to do and hear, as always, though I'm personally most excited for Pilllar's Rage & Reset, even if spellcheck makes it hard for me to mention them.
Tuesday, March 4
TYR with Aether Realm @ Amsterdam
International Reggae Allstars @ Bunker’s
Rumba Evolution Book Launch/Soukouss Party @ Cedar Cultural Center
- Bobby Commodore @ Dakota—A mainstay of Minneapolis music for decades, the great drummer celebrates his 72nd birthday and, not coincidentally, his retirement from music.
St. Dominic’s Trio @ Driftwood
Bill Simenson Orchestra @ Icehouse
Red Planet @ Metronome Brewery
The Dirty Shorts Brass Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Grooves ft. DJ Jen-E @ Mortimer’s
Driftless Tango Series @ Padraigs
- The Brass Messengers & Brasszilla @ Palmer’s—Nightmare scenario: It’s Fat Tuesday, and you’ve got zero idea where you’ll get sloshed NOLA-style, much less where you’ll hear the brassy tooting that screams Mardi Gras. Palmer’s has you covered. With wonderfully punctuated promo copy, the reliably excellent West Bank institution promises, “These **two brass bands** are going to **create such thunder**, warmth and love for all that attend.” The local bands in question, the Brass Messengers and Brasszilla, will be soundtracking a party that’ll include beads, king cake, and drink specials. As temps creep past 50, you’ll swear Cedar Avenue is Bourbon Street. Elsewhere in locally angled Mardi Gras offerings: The new New Orleans-themed restaurant Lagniappe, which Racket’s Em Cassel enjoyed, is throwing a big ol’ party on Lake Street.
Songbird Series @ Pilllar Forum
Mackenzy Mackay with Savanna Leigh @ 7th St Entry
Artist Showcase @ Sociable Cider Werks
Industrial Strength Night @ Terminal Bar
March Conspiracy Series featuring Venus de Mars, Abby @ 331 Club
Worker’s Playtime: Jeff Ray @ 331 Club
Dreamers’ Circus @ Walker Art Center
The New Havoline Supremes @ White Squirrel
YUHH (Tuesday Residency) with Jake Schultz & Francis Johnson, Neighbor Dog @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, March 5
Shady Babies Open Mic @ Acadia
MN Songwriter Showcase @ Aster Cafe
- Lazerbeak (EP Release), Paul Hecht and the Nunnery @ Berlin—While the Doomtree rap collective has been dormant this decade, its key beatmaker has kept busy with production work on high-profile (and high-quality) local releases like Lady Midnight’s 2023 album Pursuit & The Elusive. His new four-track EP, A Bridge Under The Alley, is an intimate display of range; the wordless vocals, saxophones, and chiming guitar decorating the tracks are too ear-tugging for anyone to mistake these soundscapes as ambient. Expect plenty of rhythmic interplay tonight, as Lazerbeak will be joined tonight by Zack Baltich on percussion. And if you haven’t made it over yet to Berlin, you really should—the tiny, elegant nook has been killing it with its bookings.
Enter the Void @ Can Can Wonderland
Jenny and the Bets @ Driftwood
Miss Shannon’s Swing Night @ Eagles 34
Open Mic with Host Neal Dimick @ Ginkgo Coffee
Marijuana Death Squads @ Icehouse
Smiling Cowboys @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Karaoke Crime Scene @ Palmer’s
Mind Out of Time @ Schooner Tavern
Bosso Poetry Company @ 331 Club
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Kinda Fonda Wanda @ 331 Club
Twain & Esther Rose @ Turf Club
Sonic Sea Turtles, Fragged Out, Cavernous Maw @ Underground Music Venue
Catch Your Breath @ Varsity Theater
Jessie Street Duo @ Waterbury House
The Second Stringers @ White Squirrel
Hunny Bear (Residency) with Fuchsia, Emerson Island @ White Squirrel
Thursday, March 6
This Wild Life with Belmont and Young Culture @ Amsterdam
Russ Parrish & Zander @ Aster Cafe
Nona Invie (Album Release) @ Berlin
Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunker’s
Yesterday’s Numbers, High Tiny Hairs, Institutional Green @ Cloudland
La Vie en Rose: The Edith Piaf Songbook @ Crooners
Sue Scott’s Island of Discarded Women @ Crooners
North Mississippi Allstars & Bobby Rush @ Dakota
B n’ the Spice Cabinet with Hunny Bear and Emerson Island @ Day Block Brewing
House of Music Showcase, Feral Parents @ Driftwood
Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Jack Kays with Remo Drive @ Fine Line
K.Flay with Vienna Vienna @ First Avenue
Snapped Live Band Open Night @ Green Room
Lighter Co. (Residency) with Asparagus, Anna Devine, Porch Knights @ Icehouse
Jackson Peters Trio @ Metronome Brewery
Dirty Lowdown Fools Blues Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Boots and Needles, Sparrow Catcher @ Schooner Tavern
"The Main Ingredient" ft. Muja, Juice Lord, Dom Mooney, Lewiee Blaze @ 7th St Entry
Northeast Invitational @ 331 Club
Bad Weather, Stone Ark, & Polivon @ Underground Music Venue
Suburban Muscle with Linus, Battery Eyes @ White Squirrel
Whores with Facet and Align @ Zhora Darling
Friday, March 7
Cassandra Johnson and Riley Skinner @ Aster Cafe
Tobias Meinhart Quartet @ Berlin
Cindy Lawson, the Unnamed, Muun Bato @ Cloudland
Arne Fogel with Rick Carlson @ Crooners
Erin Schwab Sings Bette Midler with Jay Fuchs @ Crooners
North Mississippi Allstars & Bobby Rush @ Dakota
Video Game Music Night @ Day Block Brewing
Katie and the Upswing @ Eagles 34
Emmy Woods & Laura Hugo @ 56 Brewing
Hazlett with Abby Powledge @ Fine Line
- Morgan Wade @ First Avenue—Don’t let Wade’s album titles—Reckless, Psychopath, and, most recently, Obsessed—lead you to mistake her for some dumbass shit-kicker. Her songs reveal a woman possessed by an intense desire, the sort of gal who tells a lover she’s been longing for on the road, “I might crush your bones with the power I feel running through.” But while Obsessed is true to its title, the new album also has its share of wistful post-breakup reveries, and the borders of romantic and friendly love blur on several of these songs. I wouldn’t say Wade is softening up, though, not when she sings to a lover/pal, “There’s two types of people/We hate’em both.” She’s also a lot craftier than those album titles suggest, as any good country songwriter should be. She’s collaborated with pop A-lister Julia Michaels, and when I saw her at First Ave in 2023, she covered Miley Cyrus and Tom Petty.
Afrobeats to the World @ Green Room
Doinks n’ Dubstep Minneapolis @ Hook and Ladder
DJ Lemony Starlight Vinyl Night @ Icehouse
Ensiferum x Korpiklaani with Trollfest and NiNi @ The Lyric
Obadiah Gamble @ Metronome Brewery
GB Leighton Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Story Night (Album Release) with The Envies + Cowboy Thoughts + Chongo Murdertrout @ Mortimer’s
Søndergård Conducts Mahler Symphony No. 1 @ Orchestra Hall
Cantus & the Swingles @ Ordway
M.A.Y., Sugarcoat, Jezebel Sweet, and BlurCurve (acoustic) @ Palmer’s
Gaelic Storm @ Pantages Theatre
- Rage & Reset: Valeska Suratt, Baumgardner, Haze Gazer, Mommy Log Balls, Whenthedustsettles, New Confusion @ Pilllar Forum—A year ago, the thriving northeast Minneapolis skate shop/coffee shop/music space Pilllar Forum expanded into a vacant office area next door, setting the area aside as a new music venue. A three-day event called Rage & Reset christened that space; this year’s follow-up fest may rage even harder.
Ukrainian Village Band, Soul Trouvere @ Schooner Tavern
Glixen with she's green and Linus @ 7th St Entry
The Vintagers, Cerulean City @ Terminal Bar
The Owl-Eyes, Dave’s Manual, Murder Curious @ 331 Club
- The Glenrustles with the Hobbled @ Turf Club—The great '90s Iron Range rockers celebrate the 30th anniversary of Brood.
Embers Rise, Abbadon's End, Sons of Bliss @ Underground Music Venue
Kitty’s Rave @ Varsity Theater
Scott Walker with Katy Vernon @ White Squirrel
Citron Vision with Unfinished Products, Deer Skin @ White Squirrel
Join the Fight: Rock What You Got @ Woman’s Club
The Color Fred, Holdfast @ Zhora Darling
Saturday, March 8
Inflict, Evernorth, Chrome Coda, Den of Thieves, VIN, & Glad to be Dead @ Amsterdam
Greentop & Walker Rider @ Aster Cafe
Mary Petrich OpenHand Trio @ Berlin
Mary Brewster’s Sparkle @ Black Hart
America Y Los Sentimientos & Curvy X @ Can Can Wonderland
Kris Delmhorst with Rose Cousins @ Cedar Cultural Center
Crush of Souls, Intercourse, Winkie, DJ Dedicated Enemy @ Cloudland
The Birthday Club with Dan Chouinard and Thomasina Petrus @ Crooners
Keri Noble (Album Release) @ Crooners
Dancing With the Celts @ Dakota
The Getupmonkeys, Flaming Doublewide @ Driftwood
Chris Acker, Jack Klatt, Clare Doyle @ Dusty’s
Kim Dracula & Hanabie @ Fillmore
Ashley Cooke with Greylan James @ Fine Line
Josh Meloy with Kenny Feidler @ First Avenue
Late Nite Take Out @ Green Room
California Cover Cavalcade @ Hook and Ladder
Seyi Oyinloye: The "ON3" Tour @ Icehouse
OG Nixin with Chibs @ The Loft
All City D&B @ Konkrete Jungle Minneapolis
The International Treasures @ Metronome Brewery
Morpheus Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
PV$$¥ CNTRL: A dance party by DJ Shannon Blowtorch & Sophia Eris ft Michael Grey @ Mortimer’s
- Johnny Mathis @ Mystic Lake—Just including this here because, damn, Johnny Mathis is still touring?
Søndergård Conducts Mahler Symphony No. 1 @ Orchestra Hall
Jesus Son, Bunny Blood, and Garf @ Palmer’s
- Rage & Reset: Early Eyes, Anita Velveeta, Fend, 12th House Sun, Dad Bod, Malamiko, Jenny Matrix, Thumper @ Pilllar Forum—I don’t mean to slight Friday night's great lineup, but night two of Rage & Reset Saturday offers a damn good answer to “What’s happening in Twin Cities rock right now?”
Hot Pastrami @ Schooner Tavern
DWLLRS with doan @ 7th St Entry
Porcupine, Loki’s Folly, Hot Press @ 331 Club
The Brant Bjork Trio with Magic Castles and Van Glow Light Show @ Turf Club
Matt Nathanson @ Uptown Theater
John Lees 3 with Waterline, Hidden Bastille @ White Squirrel
LOWBOY w. LASALLE, Tarias & The Sound, Vinny Franco & The Love Channel @ White Squirrel
Wanderer, Birth Order, Texture Freq, Baumgardner @ Zhora Darling
Sunday, March 9
Patty and the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
BRAINGIVER & Trever Hagen @ Berlin
Phine & Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
Sunday Salsa Matinee with Charanga Tropical @ Icehouse
Mockturnal @ Metronome Brewery
Bach Society of Minnesota Presents Mozart Requiem @ Ordway
Church of Cornbread @ Palmer’s
West Bank Social Club @ Palmer’s
Consolation Champ + Matt Herzog Band @ Parkway
- Rage & Reset: The Penny Peaches, Emma Jeanne, Finick, Sylvia Dieken, Dawson Sabah Kimyon @ Pilllar Forum—For two nights you raged. Tonight you reset with these singer-songwriters.
Jeff Becker Band, Lexie Modica @ Terminal Bar
Emmy Woods & The Red Pine Ramblers @ 331 Club
?ORI w. MAGICK FLAVOUR STATION, Toadstool, Rocking Rodents @ White Squirrel
Monday, March 10
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
Twin Cities Queer Contra Dancing @ Eagles 34
McLaughlin/Monroe/Mayer @ Parkway
OpenMic Mpls @ Sociable Cider Werks
Roe Family Singers @ 331 Club
Poor Lemuel @ 331 Club
Sunny Sweeney with Cam Pierce @ Turf Club
- Helmet @ Varsity Theater—The alt-rockers will be playing Betty in full, and though I'm a Meantime guy myself, at least they're focused on the right era.
Mumblin’ Drew’s Oldfangled Orchestrators @ White Squirrel
The 8th Ward with Joan Of Profile, Demitrious Rallis @ White Squirrel
