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Welcome to the Month I Like to Call ‘Rocktober’ in Your Complete Concert Calendar: Oct. 1-7

Pretty much all the music you can catch in the Twin Cities this week.

Christie Goodwin; YouTube|

Pj Harvey; Juvenile

Wednesday is just unfair. On any normal night, I'd be happy to check out Yard Act, but they're up against PJ Harvey and Juvenile. Save some for the other six days!

Tuesday, October 1

Byte Night @ Acadia

John Vincent III @ Amsterdam

The Family Stone with St. Paul and the Mpls Funk All Stars @ Armory

International Reggae All-Stars @ Bunker's

Maryna Krut with Maja Radovanlija @ Cedar Cultural Center

Jon Miller @ Dark Horse

Yemen Blues @ Dakota

St. Dominic's Trio @ Driftwood

Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34

Ivy Lab with Player Dave, Lake Hills, and Mirror Maze @ Fine Line

Bill Simenson Orchestra @ Jazz Central

Red Planet @ Metronome

Bluewater Kings Showcase @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Grooves with DJ JEN-E @ Mortimer's

Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert @ Orchestra Hall

Palmer's Songwriters Showcase @ Palmer's

Emily Haavik @ Peavey Plaza

Songbird Series @ Pilllar Forum

Divide and Dissolve with Pain Seminar and DIN.DRONE @ 7th St Entry

Artist Showcase @ Sociable Cider Werks

Industrial Strength with DJ Sin @ Terminal Bar

October Conspiracy Theory featuring Ditch Pigeon, Emery Snow & the Flakes, Emmy Woods @ 331 Club

Kaitlin Butts with Angel White @ Turf Club

Wednesday, October 2

Dora Jar @ Amsterdam

MN Songwriter Showcase @ Aster Cafe

The Lee T. Four @ Berlin

Dylan Salfer @ Bunker's

I owe the land a body, When the Dust Settles, x3on3d3n @ Can Can Wonderland

Gao Hong and Ignacio Monteverde @ Cedar Cultural Center

Great Women of Jazz with Judi Vinar @ Crooners

Ipso Facto & Rion @ Dakota

Mill City Caravan @ Driftwood

Southside Aces @ Eagles 34

Miss Shannon's Swing Night @ Eagles 34

COIN @ Fillmore

  • Yard Act with Omni @ Fine Line—Yard Act rock the kind of postpunk that aspires to dance music rather than the kind that flaunts its own rhythmic deconstruction, and I'm happy to report that this Leeds quartet ups the funk quotient on its latest album, Where's My Utopia? The assembled grooves offer an ideal setting for the post-ironic musings of frontman James Smith, whether he's justifying his hustle on "We Make Hits" ("I'm still an anti-C-A-P-I-T-A-L-I-S-T/It just so happens that there's other things I happen to be.") or indulging in a childhood memory as a way of understanding with what it means to be a dad on the seven-minute tale "Blackpool Illuminations" ("I attained perfection with you/So why the fuck was I wondering what wankers would think of album two?").
  • Juvenile and the 400 Degreez Band with Mannie Fresh @ First AvenueIt’s official—you’ve been backing that azz up for 25 years now, grandma. And to celebrate that landmark, the man who first set those backfields in motion will perform with a live band, as he first did a summer ago for NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert. (That is, after he famously rejected the possibility out of hand on Twitter, replying to a fan’s suggestion with “Wtf is a tiny desk 😂and no 😂😂.”) As one of the Hot Boyz alongside Lil Wayne, Juvie helped popularize the jumpy rhythms of beatmaster Mannie Fresh, whose style derived from New Orleans bounce (and who’ll also be performing tonight), and though he never rose to Weezy’s heights as a rhymer, Juvenile still embodies the joyous spirit of early Cash Money Records.

Open Mic with host Neal Dimick @ Ginkgo Coffeehouse

Gully Boys, Jigsaw Youth, Haze Gazer @ Green Room

Smiling Cowboys @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Lazy Scorsese (October Residency) @ Mortimer's

  • PJ Harvey @ Palace TheatreHas Harvey really not played Minneapolis since 2004? In fact, her last show anywhere in Minnesota was at the Zoo in 2009. Her most recent release is the haunting I Inside the Old Year Dying, a musical adaptation of her book-length poem, Orlam, which loiters among the linguistic byways, landscape, and folklore of her native Dorset, England. If that all sounds a bit hermetic coming from a woman whose riffs and belted vocals were once world-conquering stuff, Harvey’s innate ability to communicate with an audience are intact—as ever, her mysteries are intriguing rather than distancing. Elvis even makes his way into this world, through quotes from “Love Me Tender” and “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” I don’t know what it all means, but Harvey does, and that’s what matters. Expect a full career retrospective tonight.

Karaoke Crime Scene @ Palmer's

Radio Joe Old School Soul @ Schooner Tavern

Jonny Darko and LaSalle with Callback and Matcha Fever @ 7th St Entry

The Collection with Mike Mains and Harbor & Home @ Turf Club

Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Erin McCawley & Brad Borg @ 331 Club

Apollo Suns @ Underground Music Venue

The Second Stringers @ White Squirrel

Nicotine Addiction with Emery Snow & The Flakes, 1947 @ White Squirrel

Thursday, October 3

The Rumor, Red lovey, and Topiary Blush @ Acadia

Gradience with MVRROW & Blame The Witness @ Amsterdam

Joel Shapira Quartet (Album Release) @ Berlin

Jaybee & the Routine @ Bunker's

Music from Iconic Jazz Trios @ Crooners

Sue Scott's Island of Discarded Women @ Crooners

Tribute to Duke Ellington featuring Mary Petrich @ Crooners

Musiq Soulchild @ Dakota

Spill @ Driftwood

LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34

Karaoke With On-Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34

Intercourse, Robot Slide, AskSerpent, Gundams @ Eagles 34

Hanson @ Fillmore

Ocie Elliott with Chris Staples @ Fine Line

Hippo Campus with Lutalo @ First Avenue

Snapped Live Band Open Mic @ Green Room

Haley @ Hook and Ladder

Emily Haavik (Album Release) with Haley E Rydell @ Icehouse

Michael Gold Quintet @ Metronome

Lowdown Dirty Fools @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Mary Elias's Young Relics @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Ghosting Merit (Album Release) @ Mortimer's

Sammy Rae & The Friends with Victoria Canal @ Palace Theatre

Throwback Thursdays with DJ Bootsy Ballins @ Palmer's

Eric Julio Carranza @ Peavey Plaza

Selfish Teammake @ Pilllar Forum

13 Howell, Institutional Green @ Schooner Tavern

Mystery Meat, Odd Prospect, jonger, and Lydia @ 7th St Entry

Northeast Invitational @ 331 Club

Marika Hackman with Art School Girlfriend and Hemma @ Turf Club

Frankie and the Witch Fingers @ Underground Music Cafe

Maddie & Tae @ Varsity Theater

Oliver Phibes with Unattractive Giant Monster, Desert X @ White Squirrel

Friday, October 4

Damn Phibian @ Acadia

Slenderbodies with Tim Atlas @ Amsterdam

Songwriters Round with Annie Fitzgerald, Matthew French, & Zachary Scot Johnson @ Aster Cafe

House Proud with Mike Gervais @ Beast Barbecue

Jovon Williams & Marvelous @ Berlin

Julius Rodriguez @ Berlin

Some Shitty Cover Band @ Bunker's

The De'Lindas, Becky Kapell & the Fat 6, Gini Dodds & the Dahlias @ Cabooze

Night Jobs, Rafters, Benjamin Drevlow, Tight Whips @ Cloudland

Honky-Tonk Jump: The Texas Swing Music of Bob Wills @ Crooners

Fresh Vibes: Piano/Vibraphone Jazz Takes On Crossover Classics @ Crooners

From Bebe With Love @ Crooners

Musiq Soulchild @ Dakota

Wurk with Sunshine and the Night Walkers @ Day Block Brewing

Sam Graber Band, the Great Northern @ Driftwood

Twin Cities 7 @ Eagles 34

Mechanix @ Eagles 34

Odie Leigh with Blood Root @ Fine Line

Hot To Go⏤Chappell Roan Tribute Dance Party & Drag Show with DJ Mommy Long Legs @ First Avenue

David Singley @ Ginkgo Coffee

David Cross & Larks' Tongues Band with ten thousand lakes @ Granada

C.L.C. @ Green Room

God Johnson @ Hook and Ladder

  • Molly Brandt (Album Release) with Roe Family Singers and Jest @ Icehouse—Brandt moved up from Iowa just before the pandemic hit, remade herself as a country singer-songwriter, and released an excellent debut, Surrender to the Night, in 2023, that was celebrated by some very important local music tastemakers. Tonight she’ll be celebrating the release of her new album, American Saga; lyrically she’s developed her gifts as a storyteller with political insight, and musically it ranges further, thanks in part to the contributions of guitarist Eric Julio Carranza, while still highlighting Brandt’s capacious down-home voice. Hope that all sounds interesting to you, because I’ll have a feature on Brandt later in the week that I expect you to read.

Urzagaste, Carrothers, Cox, Kogan @ Jazz Central

Emorfik with FROM SJ & TwoPercent @ The Loft

The Jazz Bridge Project Minneapolis @ Metronome

Johnnie Brown @ Minnesota Music Cafe

The Rope (Album Release) @ Mortimer's

Kit Downes with Bill Frisell and Musicians of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra @ Northrop

Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert @ Orchestra Hall

Ms. Dorothy & the Sky's the Limit @ Papa Legba Lounge

24/7 1st Annual Throwdown with Gay Witch Abortion, Dosh, Larry Schaefer Memorial Orchestra, Goulden Balls, and Madame Upola @ Palmer's

Rigby with DJ Luzia Fuchsia, Odd Prospect and Fend @ Pilllar Forum

Ratio @ Red Sea

Jiggs Lee Invasion @ Schooner Tavern

Devon Worley Band with 13 Arrows and Samuel John @ 7th St Entry

Eaglehorse Mountain, Chris Cashin @ 331 Club

Haylee Ann @ Terminal Bar

Pony Bradshaw with Will Stewart @ Turf Club

The Airborne Toxic Event @ Uptown Theater

Sweet Stache @ Uptown VFW

FIDLAR @ Varsity Theater

The Gated Community with Emmy Woods & The Red Pine Ramblers @ White Squirrel

Saturday, October 5

ANOID at the Machine @ Acadia

Homeshake with Freak Heat Wave @ Amsterdam

Billy Johnson's Sideshow @ Aster Cafe

Celebration of Life for Andrea Nelson Hernandez @ Beast Barbecue

The Stylites (Album Release) @ Berlin

Kavyesh Kaviraj & Omar Abdulkarim Present @ Berlin

Jumpsuit: Funk and Disco Dance Party @ Black Hart

Belfast Cowboys @ Bunker's

International Reggae All Stars, Singing Tony @ Cabooze

Larry Wish with Obchod & New Year's Steve @ Can Can Wonderland

Emo Night @ Can Can Wonderland

Tonal Whiplash, The Meshes, Mommy Log Balls @ Caydence Records & Coffee

Robin and Linda Williams with Maya de Vitry @ Cedar Cultural Center

Cloudland Birthday Party @ Cloudland

A Tribute to the Music of Luther Vandross @ Crooners

Erin & Jay Cabaret Present 1969 @ Crooners

Barley Jacks @ Crooners

Musiq Soulchild @ Dakota

They Call Us the Breeze: A JJ Cale Tribute @ Day Block Brewing

Michael Grooves Band, Forever 41, Wisteria @ Driftwood

Prairie Clamor, Oran Delphi, Lyn Corelle, Kenan Serenbetz @ Eagles 34

Hanson @ Fillmore

JP Cooper with Sam Fischer @ Fine Line

Billy Bragg @ First Avenue

Tommy Bentz Band @ Gambit Brewing

Allen W. Brown, Caleb Gampson, Drest @ The Garage

The Royal Opera of Madrid @ Granada

We Are the Willows (Album Release), Lamaar, the Nunnery @ Green Room

Luke LeBlanc with Weeping Covenant @ Hook and Ladder

BPM Beat Battle hosted by Dimitry Killstorm @ Hook and Ladder

Urzagaste, Carrothers, Cox, Kogan @ Jazz Central

Soltan @ The Loft

Big Blue Moon and Russ Kaplan +2 @ Metronome

The Original Westside Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe

DJ Yasmeenah @ Modist Brewing

Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert @ Orchestra Hall

Kid Dakota @ Padraigs

M.A.Y., Warcake, Crash Cuddle, Whiskey RNR Club and San Ardo @ Palmer's

Maurice Jacox & We Still R @ Schooner Tavern

Zolita with Meg Smith @ 7th St Entry

Hatebreed with Carcass, Harm’s Way, and Crypta @ Skyway Theatre

Rocket From the Crypt @ Surly Brewing

BnC Collective / Dream Addict @ Terminal Bar

John Forrest and The Model Citizens, Rhino Shrine, Simple Motions @ 331 Club

Melt with Maris @ Turf Club

  • Rosie Tucker @ Underground Music Cafe—Rosie Tucker can never quite tune out global catastrophe while they go about their daily life—as they sing-song their latest album, Utopia Now, “I hope no one had to piss in a bottle at work to get me the thing I ordered on the internet.” Or maybe you prefer “While Palantir sells us to LAPD/I get jealous when someone I know’s on TV”? Tucker’s tunes whirl about with memorable charm, commitment-shy as they flirt with fixed melodies. And while Tucker has lost some of the buzz they had while recording for Epitaph, an experience they seem understandably not entirely over emotionally, they chirp too pleasantly and write with too much perspective to come across as bitter. Even when they follow up “Unending Bliss,” which they wish upon their foes, with “White Savior Myth,” a petty takedown of an unnamed indie star who “is skinny like a teen and exactly as depressed/And a genius.” 

Mk.gee @ Uptown Theater

Salsa Brava @ Uptown VFW

Yeah Yeah Fine with Ben Lexau @ White Squirrel

Ear Candy Vol. 8 @ White Squirrel

Quietchild w. MilesBlvd, Natanyael, King Swank @ White Squirrel

Background Character, Of the Orchard @ Zhora Darling

Sunday, October 6

  • Air @ State Theatre—These subtle Frenchies will perform their 1998 easy-listening breakthrough Moon Safari in its entirety, offering a time capsule of a moment when many cool people got bored with loud guitars but didn't feel like dancing. And while I actually prefer 2004's spacey, perfectly recorded Talkie Walkie, Moon Safari, equal parts gorgeous and silly, is Air's true testament.

Miss May I @ Amsterdam

Swing Brunch with Patty & the Buttons @ Aster Cafe

Curated by Bassist Liz Draper (feat. Bryan Murray & Davu Seru) @ Berlin

Dr. Mambo's Combo @ Bunker's

Singing Tony Sundays @ Cabooze

Steve Solkela's Overpopulated One-Man Band @ Can Can Wonderland

Monthly Bluegrass Jam @ Caydence Records & Coffee

Natania and Ticket to Brazil @ Crooners

The Big 70s Rewind @ Crooners

Orkestar Bez Ime @ Crooners

Willie Watson with Jack Van Cleaf @ Dakota

Phine Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood

Country Doctors @ Eagles 34

In Solid Air @ Eagles 34

Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34

Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34

The Black Dahlia Murder and Dying Fetus @ Fillmore

Abhi the Nomad with Khary and Harrison Sands @ Fine Line

Music of Fleetwood Mac + More for Kids with Running in the Shadows @ First Avenue

The Royal Opera of Madrid @ Granada

Synastry Sunday @ Green Room

Clem Snide @ Icehouse

Song to the Moon @ Metronome

K102 Secret Show @ Myth Live

Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert @ Orchestra Hall

Ben Folds @ Ordway

Brittany Howard and Michael Kiwanuka with Yasmin Williams @ Palace Theatre

Church of Cornbread @ Palmer's

Larry McDonough Quartet @ Parkway

Eudaemon @ Pilllar Forum

Music Jam @ Schooner Tavern

Mike Viola with L.A. EXES @ 7th St Entry

Corpse Reviver @ 331 Club

Brass Messengers @ 331 Club

Tired Eyes @ Turf Club

  • Coco & Clair Clair @ Varsity TheaterClever gals, these two—one white, one Black, both exploiting Kreayshawn's far-from-neglected shit-talking fashion-victim legacy over beats that float like a G6. They've sweetened up some on album No. 3, Girl, covering CSN's "Our House" without irony and boasting “I'm all about the lovin', you can call me bell hooks,” on "Kate Spade." But before you worry that they've gone soft, they're still haters enough that they call one rival "a floozy" and observe that "the dumb bitch economy is boomin'."

The Sounds of Schmidt @ White Squirrel

Bluedriver with Yuhh, Ditto @ White Squirrel

Monday, October 7

Bright Light Bright Light with Daddy Issues @ Amsterdam

Sally Gates / Steve Hirsh / Daniel Carter (Album Release) @ Berlin

Alessandro Cortini with Aida Shahghasemi, Jeremy & Max Ylvisaker @ Cedar Cultural Center

Southside Aces @ Dakota

Chief Opossum, Honey Tree @ Driftwood

Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34

Steve Clarke 'n Band @ Eagles 34

Vinny Franco & The Love Channel, Fanaka Nation, Kokoukah, Poetic Roots @ Green Room

Jake Baldwin with Jovon Willliams, Dilly Dally Alley @ Icehouse

MN Hard Bop Collective @ Metronome

Auto-Tune Karaoke @ Mortimer’s

Cowaoke with Ben Moooker @ Palmer's

Kate Bollinger with Sharp Pins @ 7th St Entry

Open Mic @ Terminal Bar

Roe Family Singers @ 331 Club

American Aquarium with Abby Hamilton @ Turf Club

Winter Rayne @ White Squirrel

Stardust with John Forrest & The Model Citizens, Nathan McCarthy @ White Squirrel

Lori Dokken & Patti Peterson @ Woman's Club of Minneapolis

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