This upcoming weekend is Halloween (observed) for many venues, with lots of tribute band cosplay and other wonderfully spooky nonsense afoot. Hope you're ready.
Tuesday, October 24
Ciemme Birthday Show with Anita Velveeta, Malamiko, Fend, & Gridlick @ Amsterdam
Jennifers Rule the World @ Bryant Lake Bowl
International Reggae All Stars @ Bunkers
The Capri Glee! Choir @ Capri Theater
St. Dominic's Trio @ Driftwood
Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Bullet for My Valentine @ Fillmore
French 79 with Terror Jr @ Fine Line
Tommy Emmanuel, CGP with Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams @ Fitzgerald Theater
Twin Cities Latin Jazz Orchestra @ Jazz Central
Dirty Shorts Brass Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Alcée Chriss III, Organ Recital @ Northrop
IDK with Lute and Tae Supreme @ 7th St Entry
Industrial Strength with DJ Sin @ Terminal Bar
Worker’s Playtime with Jeff Ray @ 331 Club
October Conspiracy Series featuring the Ya Ya Boys @ 331 Club
Bestial Mouths with Rx Cowboy & Burning @ Uptown VFW
Nightly with Knox and Heartbreakers @ Varsity
Hex Cassette @ White Rock Lounge
Two Steppin’ Tuesdays @ White Squirrel
Whispered the Rabbit Tuesday Residency with Ait Ait, Ghost Kitchen @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, October 25
The Dear Hunter with Delta Sleep and All Get Out @ Amsterdam
MN Songwriter Showcase hosted by Nick Hensley @ Aster Cafe
Kacy & Clayton @ Bryant Lake Bowl
Mary Lattimore with Jeremiah Chiu @ Cedar Cultural Center
Maggie's Wednesdays: Mia Dorr @ Crooners
- Fantastic Negrito @ DakotaDuring the pandemic, Xavier Dphrepaulezz learned a remarkable bit of family lore from his father: turns out his seventh-generation grandparents, married in 1750s Virginia, were an enslaved African and a white Scottish indentured servant. As Fantastic Negrito, he made a 40-minute film and a bluesy album centered on that historical relationship, both called White Jesus, Black Problems. This will be the film's premiere, followed by an acoustic performance.
Miss Shannon's Swing Night @ Eagles 34
JMSN with Nicole Miglis and Ghost In The Arena @ Fine Line
Raye with Absolutely @ First Avenue
Living Hour, Nat Harvie, Lana Leone, Sister Species @ Green Room
Keith Harkin with Corey McLean @ Hook and Ladder
Wednesday Acoustic Open Mic @ KJ's Hideaway
Maurice Jacox and the We Still R Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Alcée Chriss III, Organ Recital @ Northrop
Philharmonia Fantastique: the Making of the Orchestra @ Orchestra Hall
KFAI'S Desert Islands Presents "Why Not Wednesdays!" with Parishes & guests @ Palmer's
Eastern River Cooters @ ROK Music Lounge
BZ3 Trio @ Schooner Tavern
Sorcha Richardson with PAPA @ 7th St Entry
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Cooker John Band @ 331 Club
Electric Six and The Surfrajettes @ Turf Club
Shadow Lake and friends @ Underground Music Venue
Don Broco & the Home Team @ Varsity
Nights With Tim @ White Squirrel
Thursday, October 26
Roosevelt with Touch Sensitive @ Amsterdam
The Color Cold + Lori Lofstrom @ Aster Cafe
Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunkers
Little Lizard (Album Release), Butter Boys, Zen Is In, Shrimp Olympics @ Cloudland
The Neighborhood Quartet @ Crooners
Monstrous Melodies Cabaret @ Crooners
Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Red Hot Django Peppers, the Roasters @ Eagles 34
Southall with The Weathered Souls @ Fine Line
Artificial Flowers, A Sunken Ship Irony, Another Night, The OId Smugglers @ Green Room
Gramma's Boyfriend with Gash @ Hook and Ladder
All Hallows Eve Ball with Count Spookula, Mystery Meat, Hurt You, and Ice Climber @ Hook and Ladder
Ben Cook-Feltz (Album Release) with Mary Bue @ Icehouse
Ian George with Beemer @ Icehouse
Riverside Quartet @ Jazz Central
Smiling Cowboys @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Drums of Navarone @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Alcée Chriss III, Organ Recital @ Northrop
Philharmonia Fantastique: the Making of the Orchestra @ Orchestra Hall
The Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs @ Palmer's
Hush Victoria @ ROK Music Lounge
Mubbla Buggs @ Schooner Tavern
Gilla Band with Bambara @ 7th St Entry
The 1975 with Dora Jar @ Target Center
Minneapolis Songwriter Round with Max Markin, Jackson Atkins, Evan Peterson, and Arcola @ 331 Club
BLÜ EYES with Avery Lynch @ Turf Club
The Black Hallows Tour @ Underground Music Venue
Phantom Fields with Tyler Haag @ White Squirrel
Friday, October 27
Addison Grace with Madilyn Mei and Brye @ Amsterdam
The Long Goodbyes with Jon Rodine @ Aster Cafe
New Orleans Suspects with Demitri Rallis & Will Effertz @ Bunkers
The SPCO's Northside Series @ Capri Theater
Darlingside with Field Guide @ Cedar Cultural Center
Park Evans Quintet (Album Release) @ Crooners
Vintage Cruise: Tribute to Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, and James Ingram @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Dorothy Doring and Rick Carlson @ Crooners
The Boxed Winos, Rich Yarges, The Hobbled @ Driftwood
Halloween Sock Hop with Kinda Fonda Wanda! @ Eagles 34
- Flo Milli with Maiya the Don @ FillmoreRap has no shortage of trash-talking women these days, and it can never have enough. This Mobile, Alabama, brat is one of the most wickedly playful of the crop, fluent in every form of insult and boast. She emerged in 2020 with a mixtape that asked the eternal question Ho, Why Is You Here? spouting an assured, unruffleable comic confidence. Naturally, she followed that up this year with an even more pressing question: You Still Here, Ho? She’s pure smack-talk, true to the spirit of the old school if not the letter, and I appreciate that one of her best brags is that she’d wear the same clothes four days in a row. And now the Ho Trilogy is to be completed with her upcoming Fine Ho, Stay.
grentperez with Nep @ Fine Line
- Wheeler Walker Jr. with Channing Wilson @ First AvenueWe could not possibly have predicted that Wheeler Walker Jr. would ever headline First Ave, but those are the strange machinations of the TikTok algorithm for you. For the uninitiated, WWJ trades in raunchy, country send-ups with names like “If My Dick is Up, Why am I Down?“ and “Which One o’ You Queers Gonna Suck My Dick?” They’re a big hit on road trips and at BBQs; I’m especially fond of Walker’s ode to titties, “Drop ‘Em Out.” (But, uh, know your audience: The chorus of “Family Tree,” for example, begins “If I had my druthers, I’d buttfuck both your brothers,” and it doesn’t get less weird from there.) Anyway a handful of Walker’s hits, including “Fucked By a Country Boy” and “She’s a Country Music Fan” (I’ll give you one guess which syllable in “country” he emphasizes), have been big on TikTok of late, and now we get Walker headlining the Mainroom. What a time to be alive.
Cover Band Bash! ft. Sir Psycho, Paralot, and Not Applicable @ The Garage
Bacardi X Trendscenders @ Green Room
Dead-Celebrity Costume Ball: A Visual & Vinyl Music Collaboration @ Hook and Ladder
Black Widows, Goo Goo Mucks, and Spit Takes @ Hook and Ladder
Brian Handeland's BH4 @ Jazz Central
Garden Street Band @ KJ's Hideaway
Kiss N Time @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Get Out: In Concert @ Orchestra Hall
Lady Midnight Record Listening Party @ Palmer's
Hammerhead, Trash Catties, and Vaz @ Palmer's
Legwork 003 @ ROK Music Lounge
- Freak On A Leash Fellowship ⏤ Nu Metal Dance Party @ 7th St EntryForget the corn maze—it’s time to party to Korn, mates. Freak on a Leash Fellowship, which bills itself as the Midwest’s longest-running nu-metal dance party, is back at 7th St. this weekend with a Halloween-themed edition. The folks wearing the best costumes will have the opportunity to win concert tickets, nu-metal apparel, or even cash. That’s really all we have to say here besides “nu-metal rocks,” so please enjoy this tangentially related clip from the criminally underrated, gone-too-soon Comedy Central gem Detroiters.
SlovCzech, Ukrainian Village Band @ Schooner Tavern
Jeff Atchison, Broken Arrows, Betty & the Rubble @ Terminal Bar
Flowerstalks. Greg Volker and The River. Moy Dukksen @ 331 Club
- Ashley McBryde @ Uptown TheaterPlenty of the artists classified as “Americana” (another word, as Todd Snyder jokes, for “unpopular country music”) would have just been called “singer-songwriters” in a less brand-conscious age. But though she expresses herself plenty, McBryde really does have a Music Row knack for structuring a song around a taut conceit—“One Night Standards” may be my favorite country song of this young decade so far. The Arkansas native is no kid—released her first album, Girl Going Nowhere, at 35 in 2018—but she’s been making up for lost time since, with her fourth album, The Devil I Know, out later this week. The new album shows her range: “Cool Little Bars” understands why dives matter, “Light on in the Kitchen” dispenses homespun advice without getting (too) mawkish, “Learned to Lie” blames her wayward day for her cheatin’ heart, and “Made for This” gives her road-tested band a rockin’ workout. As for the title track, it rhymes “bourbon” and “hurtin',” as dang well it should.
GooseBump ‘N’ Grind 90s Halloween Party @ Uptown VFW
New Medicine @ Varsity Theater
The Collaboratory 4th Fridays @ White Squirrel
Queen + Adam Lambert @ Xcel Energy Center
Saturday, October 28
- NATL PARK SRVC (Album Release) with Unturned, Careful Gaze, and Fend @ AmsterdamOK, let's make a deal. I'm going to call NATL PARK SRVC "orchestral pop" and you're going to promise not to be scared off by that term. Whatever negative adjectives that descriptor might call to mind—cluttered, pompous, fussy—Magician, the band's latest album, avoids completely. This is just richly layered, capital-R Romantic pop, with tunes a given but exceeding your expectations. Great stuff.
Lovehouse with Filthy Kittens @ Aster Cafe
New Orleans Suspects with Kung Fu Hippies @ Bunkers
Bob Mould with Jason Narducy @ Cedar Cultural Center
Black Widows, The Sex Rays, The Unnamed, DJ Henry @ Cloudland
Patty Peterson Presents: In The Moment with Brian Ziemniak @ Crooners
Munson-Hicks Party Supplies @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Dorothy Doring and Rich Carlson @ Crooners
Halloween Party: Tribute Bands @ Driftwood
Cult Vibes, Wish Wash, and Toilet Rats @ Dusty's
Din-Din, Good Doom, Tricks, Jaw Knee Vee @ Eagles 34
James Frickle's DJ Event @ Eagles 34
Neil Frances with Real Action @ Fine Line
Flip Phone XXL Halloween starring Crystal Methyd @ First Avenue
Halloween Hootenanny 2023 ft. Damn Phibian, Soulstream @ The Garage
Nightchurch Halloween @ Granada
Jaedyn James, Lady Midnight, Superior Siren, The Foxgloves @ Green Room
The Return of Frankenstein's Funk Machine @ Hook and Ladder
Grrrl Scout: Switchcraft @ Hook and Ladder
Cornbread Harris Ensemble @ Icehouse
Selects Halloween: Studio 54 @ Icehouse
Jennifer Lyn & the Groove Revival @ KJ's Hideaway
Steve Kenny Quintet with Loudmouth Brass @ KJ's Hideaway
Horrorcore Halloween @ The Loft
High & MIghty @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Halloween Costume Party @ Myth Live
MINNIUAX PRESENTS RAGEFUTURE HALLOWEEN! @ Palmer's
Jeremy Messersmith @ The Parkway
Ian Valor, Silver Warehouse,13 Arrows @ Pilllar
Cam Cole with Arthur Buezo @ 7th St Entry
Marko & Thee Mod Garage @ Schooner Tavern
Star Trek Bar Crawl: Fistful of Datas @ 331 Club
- A. Savage with Cha Cha 9 @ Turf ClubSolo albums are typically where songwriters veer away from their band’s sound, get a little more personal than they usually do, or just take the opportunity to work with different musicians. On his second recording under his own name, Several Songs About Fire, Andrew Savage of thoughtful but ferociously engaged indie mix-and-matchers Parquet Courts, does a bit of all three. Significantly, Savage has recently decamped from New York City to live in Europe, a break he addresses somewhat elliptically in songs like “Elvis in the Army,” where he identifies with the King on sojourn in Germany (and with James Joyce exiled in Trieste)—alienation has always been one of Savage’s great lyrical themes. As produced by frequent PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish, this album’s tone is a bit more sedate and ruminative than the PC norm, centering Savage’s forlorn but never defeatist baritone, though the tamed guitars are just as anxious as ever. Why wouldn’t they be?
Transmission Presents “A Stranger Halloween” @ Uptown VFW
Pains and Livid @ White Rock Lounge
Ela with Robert Skoro @ White Squirrel
Joe Hysell & The Ramblin’ Mercenaries @ White Squirrel
Queen + Adam Lambert @ Xcel Energy Center
Sunday, October 29
Daniel Donato's Cosmic Country @ Amsterdam
Swing Brunch with Patty & the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
Bill Giese Trio + Taylor James Donskey @ Aster Cafe
Joyann Parker: The Music of Patsy Cline @ Crooners
Erin, Dane and Jay: Halloween Cabooret @ Crooners
The Bird and Diz Legacy Quintet @ Crooners
Phine Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood
2nd Annual Nancy B. Nordgren Memorial Concert @ Eagles 34
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
FRENSHIP with Bizzy @ Fine Line
Dope Lemon with Franklin Jonas @ First Avenue
KILLUSONLINE, Milly, Rocket, She's Green @ Green Room
Phoenix Flight Student Showcase @ Hook and Ladder
Reformation Dance Night @ Mortimer's
Philharmonia Fantastique: the Making of the Orchestra @ Orchestra Hall
VocalEssence and the St. Olaf Choir @ Orchestral Hall
Church of Cornbread: Cornbread Harris and His Band @ Palmer's
Chris Hepola's House of Fire Band with Bookhouse @ Palmer's
Jeremy Messersmith @ The Parkway
Charlie Cunningham with Ethan Tasch @ 7th St Entry
Becky Kapell and the Fat 6 @ 331 Club
Bob Mould with Jason Narducy @ Turf Club
Halloween Show (All Cover Sets) @ Underground Music Venue
Rachel Bearinger, Vlad Messing, Francis Emil Johnson @ White Squirrel
Baldwin/Harris/Hennig @ White Squirrel
Monday, October 30
Blonde Redhead with Lotalo @ Amsterdam
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
Microviolet and Friends @ Eagles 34
Emo Orchestra ft. Hawthorne Heights @ Fitzgerald Theater
Faye Webster with Upchuck @ First Avenue
Brian Courage with Fire Bell and BC Quartet. @ Icehouse
RiFFs: Jazz and Comedy @ Jazz Central
Auto-Tune Karaoke @ Mortimer’s
Boogie of the Beasts: Jackie Kean, Robot Slide, Count Spookula, Romantic Comedy @ Palmer's
BETWEEN FRIENDS with Blaketheman1000 @ 7th St Entry
The Roe Family Singers @ 331 Club
Matt Arthur Contraption @ 331 Club
Enter the Void Last Monday: Random Band Generator @ White Squirrel
