This summer is simply crammed with live music offerings. Below are a few of the bigger shows to help you plan for the months ahead.
Prince Celebrations
Various Locations
With how maudlin this town’s Prince remembrances have felt, generally speaking, I find myself revisiting an Onion headline published the day after our pint-sized pop supernova died: "Nation Too Sad To Fuck Even Though It’s What Prince Would Have Wanted.” With that stray observation in mind, we present a week’s worth of Purple One parties to mark the 10th anniversary of his death, leading up to what would have been his 68th birthday on Sunday. There’s a lot going on. Ticketed Prince fans have loads of activities in store at Paisley Park beginning Wednesday, but for less committed appreciators there’ll be "community activations" all week at the Renee Good and Alex Pretti memorials, plus visits to George Floyd Square; then, on Wednesday, there’s the official kickoff party at First Avenue with Chaka Khan. Thursday’ll be Prince Night at Target Field, where Twins fans can score sick purple varsity jackets. Friday’s all about the big concert at the Armory featuring, for the first time ever, members of the Revolution and New Power Generation performing together. On Saturday a block party/singalong goes down in downtown Minneapolis for the people, and on Sunday there’ll be Lake Minnetonka boat cruises for the VIP credentialed. We’ve got the whole sprawling itinerary here 4 U. Also relevant to Prince lovers: The People’s Museum for Prince celebrates its grand opening Sunday in north Minneapolis. June 3–7—Jay Boller
Taj Mahal and the Phantom Blues Band
Dakota
Taj has toured so frequently for so long that it’s tempting to take him for granted, but since he just turned 84, well, maybe you shouldn’t. Unlike the white boys who dominated the late ’60s blues revival from which he emerged, the Harlemite born Henry St. Clair Fredericks Jr. never placed virtuosity first. For him, it has always been about the song, and it remains so on his 30th and most recent studio album, Time, whether he’s giving a reggae lilt to the ’20s number “Wild About My Lovin’,” strutting through his own “You Put the Whammy on Me,” or exhuming the lost Bill Withers number “Time.” These numbers will join old Taj standbys like “Farther on Down the Road,” “She Caught the Katy,” and “Corrina” in his setlist, and in each case his performances are as unrushed as a country breeze but sung with urbane smarts. $103.75. 7 p.m. 1010 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis; find more info here. June 4–5—Keith Harris
Caterwaul
Zhora Darling
The noisiest festival in town returns, and this year all three days will take place at Zhora Darling. Big names in 2026 include punk stalwart Mike Watt and his band the Missingmen, Jersey screamo pioneers Rye Coalition, and the brutally mathy Dazzling Killmen. And, of course, plenty of locals are on hand, including Buio Omega, ¿WATCHES?, and Mad Mojo Jett. If that all sounds way too heavy for you, let me point out that even the snivelling pencilneck writing this blurb had a hell of a time last year. This is a special Caterwaul, as co-founder Rainer Fronz will be sitting it out as he recovers from a recent heart transplant—read more about that here. Friday is sold out; $140 for two-day pass. 509 First Ave. NE, Minneapolis; find more info here. June 5–7—Keith Harris
Mavis Staples
Ordway Theater
There are several reasons why Staples, who will turn 87 this summer, remains one of popular music’s finest living song interpreters. Though hardly demure, she was never a belter by the standards of her gospel sisteren, so age hasn’t taken much of a toll on her instrument. And she’s open to a breadth of material: Her 2025 album, Sad and Beautiful World, produced by Brad Cook, featured songs from younger writers like Kevin Morby and Frank Ocean, as well as a title track courtesy of the late Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse. And on top of all that, her history as a voice of the Civil Rights movement still lends a gravitas you can’t fake: Tom Waits’s “Chicago” inevitably suggests the Great Migration when Staples sings it, and when she lets the light get in through Leonard Cohen’s anthemic crack, you might have hope for the arc of the moral universe after all. I mean, could anyone else get away with Curtis Mayfield’s "We Got to Have Peace" these days? With Lucius. $95.41. 7:30 p.m. 345 Washington St., St. Paul; find more info here. June 16–17—Keith Harris
Twin Cities Jazz Fest
Lowertown St. Paul
Last year, I spared the Jazz Fest (and Racket readers) my terrible “free jazz” joke, and you know what that means? It’s back for ‘26, suckers! Ahem. “Free jazz” is a style of music built upon adventurous improvisation that defies melodic and harmonic expectations, and it’s not for everyone. But when it comes to the Twin Cities Jazz Fest, “free jazz” is just jazz that you don’t have to pay to hear—and that’s very much for everyone. Once more this summer Lowertown will be wholly engulfed in jazz for two whole days, and you‘ll be able to wander in and out of 18 area venues, gratis, just digging the sounds. As always, Mears Park remains the center of the action; headlining the main stage there are fusion stars the Yellowjackets and the JazzMN Orchestra with vocalist Michael Mayo. Don’t know much about jazz? Find out what you like—for free. Find times and more info here. June 18–20—Keith Harris
Amyl and the Sniffers
Surly Brewing Festival Field
Amy Taylor is the kind of frontwoman that every punk band unashamed of wanting to succeed dreams about, a live-wire performer with unlimited energy and attitude, and plenty of smarts as well. On their second album, 2021’s Comfort to Me, this Aussie band soared, sounding brawnier than ever as Taylor got brainier. Dismissive when she wanted to be, as on “Don’t Need a Cunt (Like You to Love Me)” (sometimes a parenthetical makes all the difference), she also stretched her worldview on "Capital," averring, "I only just started learning basic politics." Cartoon Darkness, 2024’s followup, is a baby step backwards, as animated and two-dimensional as its title suggests, with Taylor coasting a bit on attitude, but with the band pounding behind her, it still smokes most of the competition. And to show they’re nobody’s purists, the punks have since teamed up with the Grammys’ favorite producer/DJ Fred Again on “You’re on Star.” With Party Dozen. $62.38. 7 p.m. 520 Malcolm Ave. SE, Minneapolis; find more info here. June 20—Keith Harris
Kim Gordon
First Avenue
Always the most Pop (note the upper case) half of Sonic Youth’s core couple, Gordon teamed up in 2019 with producer Justin Raisen for No Home Record, on which she recited scraps of often prosaic poetry over avant-trap beats in that seductively blasé come-off-it come-on of hers. Suddenly she was the most artistically relevant that she’d been since the first George Bush was president. In March, Gordon released her third album with her younger collaborator, Play Me, and it won’t quell anyone’s suspicions that she’s coasting a little now, but at its funniest (and maybe not coincidentally) silliest—the heavy breathing on “Dirty Tech” query “Are you my white collar service worker?” for instance—Gordon’s aging new tricks still sparkle. Does it work live? I happen to think so. With the Fiery Furnaces, who I’m glad to see back in the mix. $44.87. 8 p.m. 701 N. First Ave., Minneapolis; find more info here. June 24—Keith Harris
Taste of Minnesota
Downtown Minneapolis
When Taste of Minnesota rose from the grave in 2023, the free downtown Minneapolis fest brought big (if older) names like Third Eye Blind and Big Boi, followed by Martina McBride and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis ('24) and Ludacris and Joan Jett ('25). This year, depending on your level of cynicism, things are getting more local (nice!) and/or cheaper to book (boo!) with an all-Minnesota lineup featuring synth-poppers Poliça, punk vets Dillinger Four, and indie-folkers Bad Bad Hats on Friday, and, on Saturday, hip-hop standouts Brother Ali, Ant, Dessa, Nur-D, and Sophia Eris, plus rockers Gully Boys. You know the drill for the rest of the fest: fleets of food trucks, dance and aerialist performances, fireworks on the Fourth, and, almost certainly, a speech from the mayor about how back downtown truly is. Free. 4–10 p.m. Fri.; noon to 10 p.m. Sat. Nicollet Mall & Washington Avenue; find more info here. July 3–4—Jay Boller
Bob Dylan
Mystic Lake Amphitheater
What’s left to say about Bob Dylan? Not to totally abdicate my blurbly duties here, but go read books by Greil Marcus or Elijah Wald if you’re seeking profound and/or revealing insights into our greatest living musician, who happens to be from Hibbing, Minnesota. What I can tell you is that the robust community of online Dylan-heads firmly believes that Bob is locked into a nice career groove these days, and having witnessed last year’s Mankato stop of his Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour with my dad, I gotta agree. As always, don’t expect chitchat or much (if any) guitar playing; instead drink in an 85-year-old master at work, an artist reinterpreting his peerless catalog through the lens of loungey jazz to accommodate his current capabilities. And if Bob happens to eschew ‘60s hits in favor of the new stuff? It’s alright, ma: His most recent album, 2020’s Rough & Rowdy Ways, is among his 10 best. $35–$205. 7 p.m. 700 Canterbury Rd., Shakopee; find more info here. July 6—Jay Boller
Craig Finn & Patterson Hood
Fitzgerald Theater
Two perfectly matched songwriters in an ideally intimate setting. Probably the most impressive moment of Finn’s quite impressive new set, Always Been, comes on the closing song, “Shamrock,” which notes the shift from SA to Speedway to show the passage of time—and the guy hasn’t even lived here in decades. Now that’s an eye for detail. If the strugglers on Hold Steady albums always hold out a hope for salvation that’s reflected in the sweep of the music, Finn’s solo albums center on quieter vignettes about similar down-and-outers set to the sympathetic accompaniment of a back-up band inspired by ’70s singer-songwriter rock. Like Finn, Hood is best known for his band output (the Drive-By Truckers) and works solo in a subtler, more miniature scale. His most recent album, 2025’s Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams, begins with a beauty queen dead in a hurricane and climaxes with the promised flight disaster. Lyrics like “Lithium and tranquilizers/Lithium and tranquilizers” and “I was sad before I’s born” establish a mood that not even Katie Crutchfield’s harmonies on one track or Wednesday’s clamor on another can lighten much. I mean, the one where Pat hooks up with Lydia Loveless while spinning Tattoo You is even more of a bummer than the one about suicide. $37–$89. 8 p.m. 10 E. Exchange St., St. Paul; find more info here. July 9—Keith Harris
Horse Lords
Cedar Cultural Center
The jittery Baltimore experimentalists are back, and they’re no longer purely instrumental, as Nina Guo and Evelyn Saylor now contribute abstract vocal sounds to the mix. Adding a bass clarinetist and a trombonist on top of that may be the avant-garde equivalent of tossing a juggler a couple extra chainsaws, yet judging from “Free Galactic Utopia” and “Brain of the Firm," the advance tracks Demand to Be Taken To Heaven Alive! (due June 12), no one has been seriously harmed by this expansion. Opening is Sidi ould Ahmed Zeydan, the Eau Claire-based master of Mauritanian classical music, which he has adapted from traditional lute to microtonally fretted electric guitar. $25/$30. 8 p.m. 416 Cedar Ave., Minneapolis, find more info here. July 11—Keith Harris
Pavement
Palace Theatre
Let me tell ya something about Pavement… no, wait, actually I have nothing to say about Pavement that I didn’t say here. But there are so many touring indie vets out there on the road this summer cashing in on your nostalgia (not that I begrudge them) that I had to mention one of ’em at least. Stephen Malkmus and his pals get the nod over the still un-unretired LCD Soundsystem (ok, I begrudge them a little) and the still sullen Modest Mouse (I can’t shake memories of their dreary 2015 Rock the Garden set). Pavement offer the full-catalog exhumations that bigger-than-cult, smaller-than-mass band reunion should. Hope they get off the road before the enthusiasm wanes. With Nap Eyes. $100–$452. 8 p.m. 17 W. Seventh Place, St. Paul; find more info here. July 21—Keith Harris
Eaux Claires
Carson Park, Eau Claire
“Wake up babe, I got us Dylan tix!” “Oh cool, I really want to check out that new amphitheater!” “Ha, no, I mean Bon Dylan tickets.” Yes, as this long-dormant western Wisconsin gathering swings back into action, festmeister Justin Vernon will be singing his Dylan faves—probably more faithfully than Bob ever does, if that’s a selling point. I respect EC for not trying to bowl you over with big names: There’s no Paul Simon, Wilco, or Chance the Rapper this time around. But Aimee Mann singing Bachelor No. 2 and R&B auteurs Dijon and Daniel Caesar ain’t nothing to sneeze at. And as always with Eaux Claires, the music is only half the fun (OK, maybe 3/4 of the fun). This year the fest will have writers in residence hosting panels and discussions: You can catch locals Katie Ka Vang and Benjamin Percy as well as (relevant to my interests) rock critic Amanda Petrusich and celebrated autofiction novelist Sheila Heti, who was once married to a rock critic. Prices and more info here. July 24–25—Keith Harris
Megan Moroney
Target Center
With Cloud 9 her third brilliant country-pop record in four years, Moroney’s in this for the long haul. Yet again producer Kristian Bush and assorted song doctors tone up the hooks to accentuate that purty catch in her voice just right, and if anything she effervesces more poppily than ever—she’s so infatuated on the title track she’s even fine getting Pepsi when she wants a Coke. Of course she’s even better when she’s heartbroken or pissed: Try “You don't like my short black dress/Well, it's going out tonight/And if it hits a floor, it won't be yours this time,” “What doesn’t kill you calls you six months later,” and a nasty line about ex Riley Green’s veneers. Kacey Musgraves fans who give Moroney a pass ‘cause she’s too Nashville deserve to never know what they’re missing. With JP Saxe and Solon Holt. $118 and up. 7 p.m. 600 N. First Ave., Minneapolis; find more info here. July 25—Keith Harris
Melanie Martinez
Grand Casino Arena
A fun part of this job is guessing which budding pop stars will graduate to arena level and who’ll stall out in the Armory. Despite her rabid following, I’d have expected Martinez and what Em calls her “weird alien baby” schtick to have remained a cult item. But after kicking around for a decade, here she is. Long before weirdos were calling Olivia Rodriguez out for recycling kinderwhore style, Martinez was rocking baby-doll dresses, and throughout her latest album, Hades, she toys with archaic images of femininity like the “good housewife” and the “Disney princess.” I suspect she heard Lana long before she heard Tori, but also suspect she now prefers the elder artist’s less-airbrushed eccentricity. Personally I’m a sucker for “Grudges,” with the lyric “I feel so horny lately/No, like, horns are growing out my face, like/I just wanna burn bridges and kill bitches” and a plea to god to “turn me into a ‘I don't give a single flying fuckity fuck, fuck, fuck’ machine.” Insert nodding Nicholson gif here. $55 and up. 8 p.m. 199 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul; find more info here. July 25—Keith Harris
Kehlani
Armory
I’m gonna put my critical rep on the line here and call “Folded” the best song ever written and sung about meeting your possible ex at the door with his/her/their clothes and seeing if the spark gets rekindled. If nothing else on Kehlani’s newish self-titled album meets that high standard, it’s still their strongest since their 2017 debut, SweetSexySavage. You can tell everyone involved is taking this seriously because the guest list is so long; if anything, there are too many rap features, though most (Weezy, Clipse, Cardi, not Big Sean of course) add a little something. While many of their vibes-first R&B contemporaries place self-esteem before hooks, Kehlani loves a good song—so much so that when Babyface gets a songwriting credit here (on an Usher duet) I can’t help but imagine what a great team they’d make. With Durand Bernarr, Isaia Huron, TheARTI$t, and Waseel. $69 and up. 6:30 p.m. 500 S. Sixth St., Minneapolis; find more info here. August 6—Keith Harris
Big Thief
Surly Brewing Festival Field
The sound of Big Thief’s 2025 album Double Infinity put me off at first because this band’s substance has been so bound up in its style. Bassist Max Oleartchik is gone, and with him, coincidentally or not, that sprung a sense of communal creation that was Big Thief’s hallmark. Then I got over myself, and I could hear that all-encompassing wash of reverb not as an airbrushing of idiosyncrasies but just Adrienne Lenker’s latest way of getting cosmic. Unlike most rock mystics, Lenker never comes off like she’s out to start a cult, which is one reason hers is so devoted. Now 34, she acknowledges her insecurities (“I’m afraid of getting older/That’s what I’ve learned to say,” “I’m happy with you/Why do I need to explain myself”) only to let them wash over her with a radical acceptance that appears also to ensure really good sex. Hand me my robe and point me to the compound, kind sister. “Swallow poison, swallow sugar,” Lenker muses. “Sometimes they taste the same.” Like elderberry wine, as another brilliant contemporary of hers might say. $69.88. 6 p.m. 520 Malcolm Ave. SE, Minneapolis; find more info here. August 15—Keith Harris
Sound for Silents
Walker Art Center
Every August the Walker invites cutting-edge local musicians to ransack the institution’s Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection and create a montage to soundtrack. This year the honor falls to BizhikiI, the trio of Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings, Joe Rainey, and S. Carey. BizhikiI’s 2025 full-length, Unbound, expanded on how Rainey’s breakthrough album, Nineta, melded traditional Indigenous singing with electronic beatcraft. They’ll be joined by omnipresent guitarist Jeremy Ylvisaker, and we can only hope that maybe this year it won’t rain. Free. 7 p.m. 725 Vineland Place, Minneapolis; find more info here. August 20—Keith Harris
My Chemical Romance
Target Field
Despite being very much bought into the early '00s emo boom as a teen, I’d sorta aged out by the time My Chemical Romance became the scene’s biggest stars. It was cool, to me, that Thursday frontman Geoff Rickly discovered the flamboyant New Jersey brooders, but by the time MCR dropped their 2006 rock opera,The Black Parade, I’d moved on to Criterion-tier emo like Bright Eyes. So forgive me for not totally understanding the cultural weight of this band, who since their 2019 reunion have been filling stadiums with fans desperate to re-live their angsty youths. Gerard Way & Co. are in full legacy mode; there hasn’t been a peep about new My Chem LPs since the release of 2010’s Danger Days. That’s sitting just fine with the starved fanbase. “It was pretty damn magical lol” seems to be the reunion-show sentiment, and even some people older than I am enjoyed it. Goddamn Sleater-Kinney opens this Long Live the Black Parade Tour stop at Target Field; country veteran Tim McGraw will take the mound the night before. $32–$363. 7 p.m. 1 Twins Way, Minneapolis; find more info here. August 24—Jay Boller
State Fair Grandstand Shows
State Fair Grandstand
With casinos statewide beefing up their concert offerings, the State Fair has faced a challenge drawing top talent to the ol’ Grandstand. But while this year’s lineup isn’t particularly timely—HARDY is the only contemporary star, unless AJR counts—it does offer the proverbial something for the proverbial everyone. The always brilliant Bonnie Raitt kicks things off, followed by eternal yukster “Weird Al” Yankovic. Maybe the Grandstand’s most anticipated show comes from hometown boys Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis with a tribute to the Minneapolis Sound, while Americana newcomer Sierra Ferrell holds it down for the Current’s “Music-on-a -Stick” show. Which brings us to the oldies acts—and I regret to tell you that TLC, Salt-N-Pepa, and En Vogue very much do count as such. For the oldies oldies, there’s elder crooner Rod Stewart, and then as for the oldies oldies oldies, there’s Tommy James & The Shondells (with Herman's Hermits). Nashville good guy Brad Paisley may not be the hitmaker he once was, but he can nail the “Purple Rain” solo if he so chooses, and Whitney pal CeCe Winans is a class act. All that and a free talent show. 1265 Snelling Ave., Falcon Heights; find more info here. August 27–Sept. 6—Keith Harris
Wu-Tang Clan
Mystic Lake Amphitheater
It’s never a bad idea to read the fine print with these nostalgia tours, especially with such a sprawling crew, but this is the real Wu. Everyone except the late Ol’ Dirty (represented here by his son, named—what else?—Young Dirty Bastard) is along for the ride, even honorary member (or did he get sworn in at some point?) Cappadonna. The tour, dubbed “Wu-Tang Forever: The Final Chamber,” began a full year ago and will still be going strong this fall, and its 30-song set typically includes solo tracks from Meth, Ghost, Rae, and GZA. Sounds like a hell of a victory lap for a hip-hop institution. If you’re looking for a way to end this summer, this show, my friends, sounds like nothing to fuck with. $49 and up. 7:30 p.m. 700 Canterbury Rd., Shakopee; find more info here. September 1—Keith Harris
