Mark Guiliana @ Icehouse—Time Out once said Giuliana is “what happens when you add hard bop drum masters Elvin Jones and Art Blakey to a 1980s Roland 808 drum machine, divide the result by J Dilla and then multiply to the power of Squarepusher,” which might be a tiny overstatement but does indicate the esteem in which this cross-genre drummer is held. Equally comfortable in rock, jazz, or electronic settings, Guiliana has played with St. Vincent, Brad Mehldau, and Meshell Ndegeocello; he may be most broadly known for his work on Blackstar, David Bowie's 2016 final album. His first solo album, Mark, is truly solo—Guiliana plays all the instruments, sliding from the electronic and the acoustic with ease and blurring the boundaries between the two. It should be a treat to see him in this small club setting.—Keith Harris

Dirty Lowdown Fools Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Beethoven Symphony No. 6 @ Orchestra Hall

Throwback Thursdays with DJ Bootsy Ballins @ Palmer’s

Lap with Haze Gazer @ Pilllar Forum

The World’s Forgotten Boys, Cretin Avenue Hoppers @ Schooner Tavern

The Army, The Navy with Aggie Miller @ 7th St Entry

Northeast Invitational @ 331 Club

Once More, Autumn, Green, Oceanographer @ Underground Music Venue

Maoli @ Varsity

Ex-Rodeo with Night of Joy @ White Squirrel

Rabbit by Owl @ White Squirrel

Friday, April 4

Jumbles @ Acadia

Alice Wallace and Leslie Rich @ Aster Cafe

House Proud @ Beast Barbecue

Adam Harder Nussbaum, Ted Olsen, Mike Wolter @ Berlin

Ahmed & the Creators @ Berlin

Jam E.Z. @ Berlin

Alex Rossi @ Bunker’s

SPCO Presents: Northside Series #3 @ Capri

Thrown to the Wolves: Featuring the Wolverines Jazz Trio @ Capri

Basia Bulat with Maia Friedman @ Cedar Cultural Center

Feeling Figures, Bermuda Squares, Answering Machines, Yuasa-Exide @ Cloudland

Katie Gearty with Rick Carlson @ Crooners

Charmin Michelle & T. Mychael Rambo @ Crooners

Erin Schwab and Jay Fuchs @ Crooners

Urban Classic: The Friday Night Soul Revue @ Dakota

Dive Bar Orchestra and American Pleasure Dome @ Driftwood

The Nitty Gritty feat. the Excavators @ Dusty’s

Will Orchard, Spaceport, CB @ Eagles 34

The Tamarack Stylites and the Patrick Adkins Group @ Eagles 34

Franz Ferdinand @ Fillmore

LA LOM with El Marchante @ Fine Line

First Avenue's 55th Anniversary Celebration ft. The Suburbs with Black Widows @ First Avenue

Tamino with plus +.+ @ Fitzgerald Theater

Teenage Bottlerocket with Mest & MakeWar @ Green Room

Belfast Cowboys @ Hook and Ladder

Supermodified (Album Release) with Fret Rattles, Whiskey Rock ‘n’ Roll Club MPLS @ Hook and Ladder

Jake Baldwin Quartet @ Icehouse

Maria and the Coins & Emily Haavik @ Icehouse

Machaki with Sportmode @ The Loft

Bob Dylan @ Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center—What more is there to say about Dylan that we (here, here, and here) or anybody else hasn’t already said? Robert Zimmerman, 83, of Hibbing is simply the best, and this “Rough & Rowdy Ways Tour” stop might be one of your last chances to catch him live. (The 2020 album for which it’s named, his 39th, has no business being so damn good… OK, I guess there is plenty more to say about Dylan!) He's also in Wisconsin—Eau Claire on Saturday, Green Bay on Sunday—through the weekend.—Jay Boller

Davu/Deano/DUO @ Metronome Brewery

Dakota Andersen @ Metronome Brewery

Johnnie Brown Experience @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Beethoven Symphony No. 6 @ Orchestra Hall

Chamber Music in the Hall @ Orchestra Hall

Classic Albums Live: U2's The Joshua Tree @ Ordway

Kid Dakota @ Padraigs

Bright Eyes with Cursive @ Palace Theatre—Longtime Bright Eyes fans, of which I am one, are accustomed to seeing a well-lubricated Conor Oberst onstage. But last year distressing videos emerged of the frontman/bandleader acting especially erratic on tour, slurring and threatening self-harm. In September, “vocal problems” were cited as the Omaha group canceled the year’s remaining dates. (That month’s very solid LP, Five Dice, All Threes, made several references to suicide.) That’s a roundabout way of saying: We’re hoping Oberst is taking better care of himself, because the 45-year-old singer-songwriter is one of his generation’s best. Decades removed from the “Next! Bob! Dylan!” hype that overwhelmed his early career, all the indie-folk troubadour does is release great music, with 2016’s barebones solo album Ruminations and his recent "Companion" series of reimagined Bright Eyes albums serving as particularly stirring examples. Opening are ol’ Omaha emo running buddies Cursive. Speaking of! Bright Eyes and Cursive just released a fun mashup of their respective songs, “Lover I Don’t Have To Love" and "The Recluse," to benefit Oberst's LGBTQ+ nonprofit, the Poison Oak Project, timed to Trans Day of Visibility.—Jay Boller

Skulpture, Orchid Club @ Palmer’s

Keep for Cheap with NATL PARK SRVC and Leisure Hour @ Pilllar Forum

Ratio April 2025 @ Red Sea

New Havoline Supremes @ Schooner Tavern

Marlon Funaki with The Back Alley @ 7th St Entry

O.i., The Dirty Pretty, Derf Revolt @ Terminal Bar

Foley Amundsen Duo, Selfish Teammate, Hot Press, Little Lizard, Pals, Ciao Bello @ 331 Club

Impaler with Dumpster Juice and Extermination Day @ Turf Club

Source with the Vault @ Underground Music Venue

Subhumans, FEA @ Uptown VFW

Mark Ross & the Three-Nineteen @ White Squirrel

King Caesar with In Solid Air, Weald @ White Squirrel

Bestial Mouths, Burning, Autumn, Zwaremachine @ Zhora Darling

Saturday, April 5

Anything You Want @ Acadia

Rebecca Black with Blue Hawaii @ Amsterdam

Warren Zeiders with Tyler Braden @ Armory

Tom Freund @ Aster Cafe

Abebi Stafford/Ian Duerr @ Berlin

Bohemia After Dark: A Tribute to Cannonball and Nat Adderley @ Berlin

McGinnis @ Berlin

Jumpsuit! A Funk and Disco Dance Party @ Black Hart

Dan Ristrom & the Big Throwdown @ Bunker’s

Far Far Away, Powerdam, Sugarcoat @ Can Can Wonderland

Flore Laurentienne with Zack Baltich @ Cedar Cultural Center

Venus de Mars, Surly Grrrly, Despondent, Drey DK @ Cloudland

Tom Hunter @ Crooners

Steeling Dan @ Crooners

Shemekia Copeland @ Dakota

The Dead Century with Valors @ Day Block Brewing

The Dagnabits, the Dieselfitters @ Driftwood

Cassandra Johnson, Katy Tessman, and Lori Lofstrom @ Dusty’s

See/Saw Party @ Eagles #34—Ex-Pitchfork staffer Evan Minsker was a casualty of that site’s brutal 2024 layoffs. But rather than slinking away from music journalism, Minsker started his own publication, See/Saw, which focuses on the garage punk he didn’t always get to cover at his old day job. Based in Menomenie, Wisconsin, See/Saw is the digital equivalent of an old punk zine, bolstered by 21st century adjustments like a podcast. It’s been around for a full year now, and Minsker is coming to the big city to celebrate with the sorts of bands that you’ll read about on See/Saw. The lineup includes Montreal’s Retail Simps, Judy and the Jerks outta Mississippi, Minneapolis’s own Neo Neos, Cincinnati’s Artificial Go, Detroit’s 208, Denver’s Abi Ooze, and the new Twin Cities band Panel. On Friday there’s a pre-party at Cloudland with Feeling Figures (Retail Simps in a different configuration), Chicago’s Answering Machines, and locals Bermuda Squares and Yuasa-Exide. That’s way more than one year’s worth of rock.—Keith Harris

Countess Cabaret with Luann de Lesseps @ Fillmore

Tank and The Bangas with Elliott Skinner and DJ Zeus @ Fine Line

The Hard Quartet with Sharp Pins @ First Avenue

Joy Zimmerman and Ryan Dugan @ Ginkgo Coffee

MAKR AN ERIS, Eric Mayson, Bathtub Cig, Vinny Franco @ Green Room

Fireseek @ Hook and Ladder

The Other Ol’ Blue Eyes @ Icehouse

Celebrating Merle Haggard with Trevor McSpadden, the DL4, and Dusty Heart @ Icehouse

Everett Needleman with Cody Steinmann and Calvin Caron @ Jazz Central

Sodown with Gardella @ The Loft

Here. In My Head.: The Music of Tori Amos @ Metronome Brewery

Corey Medina & Brothers @ Minnesota Music Cafe