Plenty of options here for folks out to celebrate their (real or imagined) Irish roots, and plenty of alternatives for folks who ain't as well.
Tuesday, March 11
International Reggae Allstars @ Bunker’s
Jason Anderson, Laura Hugo, Paul Baribeau @ Cloudland
Sarah Morris + Dylan Hicks & Small Screens @ Dakota
St. Dominic’s Trio @ Driftwood
Emily and The Space Butterflies, Finick, Duck Bomb, Flores de Olivio @ Green Room
Cedar Avenue Big Band @ Jazz Central
Joel Shapira, Karl Koopmann, Jackson Peters @ Metronome Brewing
Nova Jazz Orchestra @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Timeless Tuesday X KRSM @ Mortimer’s
The Steel Wheels with Greg Loftus @ Parkway
Artist Showcase @ Sociable Cider Werks
The Gentlemen’s Anti-Temperance League @ 331 Club
Worker’s Playtime with Aaron Kaplan
Ally the Piper @ Underground Music Venue
YUHH (Tuesday Residency) with Quail, In Solid Air @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, March 12
Shady Babies Open Mic @ Acadia
MN Songwriter Showcase @ Aster Cafe
The Cherry Pit Presents Bible Study @ Berlin
- MC Lyte @ Dakota—The Dakota has been booking more legacy hip hop lately, which is a terrific development—middle-aged rap artists deserve an opportunity to perform in settings other than poorly promoted package tours. (I personally promise myself I will catch GZA next time he passes through the Dakota.) MC Lyte is certainly maturing into a solid representative of her era. Released last September, 1 of 1 is Lyte’s first album in nearly a decade, and it offers a taste of what you might expect from tonight’s show: throwback beats and career reminiscences, with skills undiminished.—Keith Harrris
Miss Shannon’s Swing Night @ Eagles 34
- Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy @ First Avenue—It seemed too unlikely to work when gruff character actor Shannon and indie rock veteran Narducy formed an R.E.M. cover band. Or maybe it seemed too unlikely not to work. In either case, they not only drew raves with their initial tour, performing the band’s debut full-length, Murmur, in full, but all four members of R.E.M. shared the stage with them in Athens, Georgia. (I am of course demographically required to consider Murmur one of the greatest albums of all time but also I’m right.) Since I personally believe Reckoning > Fables Of The Reconstruction, I’m a little bummed that Shannon and Narducy leapfrogged past the band’s second album to its third for this tour, but they play an extended second set of miscellaneous R.E.M. songs, so that doesn’t really matter.—Keith Harris
Starlight Vinyl Night: MAKR Spins the Classic @ Icehouse
Marijuana Death Squads @ Icehouse
Minnesota Youth Big Band @ Jazz Central
Big Woods Brass Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Mortiholics Residency @ Mortimer’s
KILLUSONLINE with Oath, fallingwithscissors, and Popstar @ Pilllar Forum
Thomas Sticha @ Schooner Tavern
Orions Belte with Vinyl Williams @ 7th St Entry
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with the Swamp Kings @ 331 Club
Tae & the Neighborly, St. Anthony Mann @ Underground Music Venue
Molly Maher & Her Disbelievers @ White Squirrel
Lords Of The Universe with Thomas Richey, Ego Truck @ White Squirrel
Thursday, March 13
Clayton Ryan & Samantha Grimes @ Aster Cafe
Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunker’s
Colton Warren @ Can Can Wonderland
Jolie Holland with Willows @ Cedar Cultural Center
Dusty Forever, Dot Operator, Big Strong @ Cloudland
Hard Bop Past and Present @ Crooners
Wizard of Oz Singalong @ Crooners
Rosie Daze Band, Giant Valley String Band, Last Pick’d String Band @ Day Block Brewing
Bruce Nygren & the Mumblebuggs, Jazz Outlaws @ Driftwood
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
- Soccer Mommy with Hana Vu @ First Avenue—If you’re anything like us, you could relisten to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, then a surging Democratic presidential candidate, saying “Socca Mummy” over and over again. Well before that political nod, Sophia Allison, still just 27, was at the forefront of mining '90s indie-rock sounds for a new generation of fans. The Swiss-born, Nashville-raised singer-songwriter debuted in 2018 with Clean, an album that cleaned up with an impressive array of year-end list finishes. The crunch, the slack, the sneaky hooks—Allison felt like a Gen Z Malkmus, the Pavement-fronting indie icon for whom she’d later open. Subsequent albums mellowed, veering into darker and shoegazier directions, but last year’s Evergreen is being heralded as an ambitious return to her *Bernie voice* Soccer Mommy roots.—Jay Boller
Snapped Live Band Open Mic @ Green Room
Brent Fuqua & Friends (Album Release) @ Hook and Ladder
Lighter Co. Residency (Volume II) @ Icehouse
Son Reis Project @ Metronome Brewery
Hill of Crosses, Parkers Picnic, Murder Curious @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Erin Keefe Plays Beethoven @ Orchestra Hall
The Front Porch Swingin’ Liquor Pigs @ Palmer’s
Dead by 50 with Ecphosis and Dennis Asher @ Pilllar Forum
Edie Rae Band, the Beavers @ Schooner Tavern
Oliver Hazard with Kahrin @ 7th St Entry
Laura Hugo, Admiral Fox, Emmy Woods @ 331 Club
The Ike Reilly Assassination @ Turf Club
Pullstring, Motherwind, Scorched Waves, Dark Sun @ Underground Music Venue
Billy Johnson @ White Squirrel
The Customers with Edith Head, Modern Wildlife @ White Squirrel
Friday, March 14
Jessica Baio with Ni/Co @ Amsterdam
Nudie Nubies Burlesque @ Black Hart
Tim Sparks & Ben Abrahamson @ Berlin
Grey Beat (Album Release), Night Ryder, Zero, Color in Reverse @ Can Can Wonderland
Yuasa-Exide, the Thirsty Giants, Pleasure Cube @ Cloudland
Katie Gearty with Rick Carlson @ Crooners
Closer to Indigo - A Tribute To the Indigo Girls @ Crooners
St. Paul & the Mpls Funk All-Stars @ Dakota
The Dissenters, Pibon @ Driftwood
Sheli Stein and the Purim Players Present Purim 5785 @ Eagles 34
The Thirsty River @ 56 Brewing
Emei with Haiden Henderson and Ashley Mehta @ Fine Line
JoJo with Emmy Meli @ First Avenue
In Loving Memory, Valeska Suratt, All of God’s Children, Mold, Reticent @ Flying V
Walker Brothers with Gigiat Amal @ GInkgo Coffee
Feed The Dog, Useful Jenkins, Buffalo Galaxy, Heatbox @ Green Room
Ignite, Death By Stereo, The Slow Death, Powerdam @ Hook and Ladder
tanzklub vol. 5. @ Hook and Ladder
Edie Carey & Sarah Sample @ Icehouse
Starlight Vinyl Night Featuring Katie Thornton @ Icehouse
Trish Hurd-Paczkowski @ Jazz Central
Cloverpalooza Birthday Extravaganza @ Mortimer’s
Ancia Saxophone Quartet @ Metronome Brewery
Erin Keefe Plays Beethoven @ Orchestra Hall
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Presents Haydn’s Drum Roll Symphony with Richard Egarr @ Ordway
Peter Hayward, Zander, *Splash!*, and Joe Kelly @ Palmer’s
Jiggs Lee Invasion @ Schooner Tavern
MACSEAL with Carly Cosgrove, buffchick, and Keep For Cheap @ 7th St Entry
Shoot 4 Ya Dreams @ Terminal Bar
Jazz Is Dead ft. Adrian Younge @ Turf Club
Electric Feel: 2000’s Indie Rock & Pop Party @ Uptown VFW
Pretend Friend @ White Squirrel
Saturday, March 15
Teague & the Paddy Wagon @ Aster Cafe
The Abinnet Berhanu Three feat. Godbout & Carpel @ Berlin
Jacob Pavek & Laurels String Quartet @ Berlin
The Good, the Bad, and the Funky @ Bunker’s
Songversations @ Bryant Lake Bowl
Strictly R&B: Where My Girls At @ Cabooze
Called Out Music @ Cedar Cultural Center
Jeffrey Robert Lawson, Ditchweed, Former Crush @ Cloudland
Katie Gearty with Rick Carlson @ Crooners
St. George’s Folly @ Day Block Brewing
The Long Honeymoon, Zipper Merge @ Driftwood
The Bill Patten Trio @ Dusty’s
Andy Frasco & The U.N. with Kris Lager @ Fine Line
Marc Broussard with Kendra Morris @ Fitzgerald Theatre
Burning Blue Rain, Dilly Dally Alley, Vinny Franco, Pierre Lewis @ Green Room
Flatfoot 56 with Something To Do, Loss Leader, & Virgin Whores @ Hook and Ladder
vinyl + vibes vol. 4 @ Hook and Ladder
StoLyette and Jacob Mullis (Double Album Release) with Kiernan @ Icehouse
JC Sanford’s EQ @ Jazz Central
Lil Texas with Yosuf @ The Loft
Jaybee & the Routine @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Trilogy Tribute Fest @ Myth Live
Beloved Beethoven @ Orchestra Hall
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Presents Haydn’s Drum Roll Symphony with Richard Egarr @ Ordway
Release the Craicen @ Padraigs
Greensky Bluegrass @ Palace Theatre
Odds of an Afterthought with Neck Wrung and Unfit @ Pilllar Forum
Chutes with Lana Leone and Mike Kota @ 7th St Entry
Caster Volor with Killing Rapunzel, Trigger Armada, Chad Erickson @ Studio B
Prime & PM, Professor Fresh @ Terminal Bar
Oceanographer, Ghosting Merit, Calla McDermott, CAUSE & CONTROL @ 331 Club
North Country Singers @ White Squirrel
Legacy of Lilith Fair @ Woman’s Club
Stranger Gallery with Lovely Dark & Full Catholic @ Zhora Darlin
Sunday, March 16
The Violet Press, Matcha Fever, Bloodline, & pity party @ Amsterdam
Patty & the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
BRAINGIVER & Channy Leaneagh @ Berlin
Songversations @ Bryant Lake Bowl
Steve Solkela's "Overpopulated" 24 Piece One-Man Band @ Can Can Wonderland
Absolutely Yours, Honeybee, Waking Hours @ Cloudland
STAND! Songs of Struggle, Strength, and Hope @ Crooners
A Miles Davis Tribute with The Solomon Parham Quintet @ Crooners
Phine & Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
Never Miss a Sunday Brunch @ Icehouse
Twin Cities Flamenco Collective @ Icehouse
Ghost Kitchen + Think Date + Chairman Chair & The Chairman + Sapiosexual Moodlight @ Mortimer’s
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Presents Haydn’s Drum Roll Symphony with Richard Egarr @ Ordway
Church of Cornbread @ Palmer’s
West Bank Social Club @ Palmer’s
Ray Bull with Tyler Berrier @ 7th St Entry
The Belfast Cowboys @ Turf Club
The Teskey Brothers @ Uptown Theater
Math Emergency with The Janey Winterbauer Trio, Meanest Genus @ White Squirrel
Karaoke with Ally @ White Squirrel
- Mary J. Blige with Ne-Yo and Mario @ Xcel Energy Center—Today has been the first day of the rest of Mary J. Blige’s life for more than 30 years now. Whether pioneering her soon-to-be-dominant rap/R&B hybrid on What’s the 411? or gliding along to throwback beats on her latest, Gratitude, Blige has consistently pledged herself to overcoming drama, treating herself better, and staying true to her vision of herself. (Though clearly she’s done some backsliding along the way, or she wouldn’t always be recommitting to those goals.) There’s no more human a diva, grasping for the beauty a Whitney or a Bey assumes effortlessly and, when through sheer will she approximates it, retaining that edge of Yonkers grit to remind us who she is. That makes her my kind of diva, and ensures that she’s a treat live, where she flaunts the too-much imperfections of her voice—in fact, the 1998 live album The Tour is where I still go when I want to hear her early hits get roughed up a little.—Keith Harris
Father Paranoia (Album Release), $iah, Visa Card, Uh Uh Uh @ Zhora Darling
Monday, March 17
Erik Fratzke/Nathan Hanson @ Berlin
Ladysmith Black Mambazo @ Dakota
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
Alcest with MONO and Kælan Mikla @ Fine Line
No Limits: The B Side @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Cowaoke with Ben Moooker @ Palmer’s
Beneath Green with Green Line and Matcha Fever @ Pilllar Forum
OpenMic Mpls @ Sociable Cider Werks
Womenfolk Presents @ Emmy Woods
The Belfast Cowboys @ Turf Club
