Several of the shows I wanted to highlight this week are already sold out. Good for them! Bad for you! (Unless you've already got tickets.)
Tuesday, October 17
Shawn James with Evan Bartels @ Amsterdam
- Kevin Gates, BigXThaPlug, and DJ CHOSE @ ArmoryNot long after this Baton Rouge rapper released his fantastic debut Islah in 2016, a felony weapons charge sidelined him. Much of what he released after he became a free man again, including the rat-a-tat “Intro” track that leads off Khaza, his latest, had me worried that time served had excessively hardened a rapper whose great strength was his three-dimensional emotional range. Good news, though: That album showcases the same alternately warm and prickly personality of a committed Muslim with a soulful drawl and a honeyed flow that won so many of us over on Islah. The hooks aren’t as bountiful as they were seven years ago, but whether demonstrating his criminal bona fides or softening up on a track called simply “I’m in Love,” Gates remains a singular rapper. So far this year, he’s re-released two 10-year-old mixtapes, The Luca Brasi Story and Stranger Than Fiction, and a handful of singles, including the firm but not quite arrogant “I Don’t Apologize.”
International Reggae All Stars @ Bunkers
Hawktail with Vasen @ Cedar Cultural Center
Nature Boys, VHS Dust, Mold Wine, Pleasure Cube @ Cloudland
Shaun Johnson Big Band Experience @ Dakota
St. Dominic's Trio @ Driftwood
Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Polyphia with DOMi & JD Beck @ First Avenue
Tommy Emmanuel, CGP with Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams @ Fitzgerald Theater
Kevin Gamble Trio @ Green Room
Mutual Identities + Jesse Whitney + Judith II @ Icehouse
Explosion Big Band @ Jazz Central
River City Jazz Orchestra & Century Big Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Jean-Yves Thibaudet (piano), Lisa Batiashvilli (violin), and Gautier Capuçon (cello) @ Ordway
Jordana and Dev Lemons @ 7th St Entry
Industrial Strength with DJ Sin @ Terminal Bar
Worker’s Playtime with Dan Israel @ 331 Club
October Conspiracy Series featuring the Ya Ya Boys @ 331 Club
Bell Witch with Spirit Possession and Aberration @ Turf Club
Temple of the Fuzz Witch & Friends @ Underground Music Venue
My Kid Banana @ White Rock Lounge
Two Steppin’ Tuesdays feat. Dan Lowinger with Mary Cutrufello, Randy Engelmayer @ White Squirrel
Whispered the Rabbit Tuesday Residency with Viv Piston, Mad Mojo Jett @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, October 18
MN Songwriter Showcase hosted by Nick Hensley @ Aster Cafe
Rami Khalifé @ Cedar Cultural Center
Maggie's Wednesdays: Tom Hunter @ Crooners
Scott Hefte Band @ Driftwood
Senor Blues @ Driftwood
Miss Shannon's Swing Night @ Eagles 34
Wompus, Middle Sattre, Pyrrhic Victories @ Eagles 34
Lena and the Lovekills @ Eagles 34
The Aces with Carol Ades @ Fine Line
Tom Odell with Isabel LaRosa and Jane's Party @ First Avenue
Fever Candlelight Concert @ Granada
Uptown Blues - Cornbread Harris, Kevin Gamble Trio, Burning Blue Rain @ Green Room
Townball + BZ3 Trio @ Icehouse
JCS Creative Collaborations @ Jazz Central
Janelle Burrell Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
The Better Mistakes @ Palmer's
B2B: Dance Church Open Decks @ ROK Music Lounge
Swamp Poppas @ Schooner Tavern
Jervis Campbell with Nathan Colberg @ 7th St Entry
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Tony Cuchetti Band @ 331 Club
Rat Castle Jazz Ensemble, David von Schlegell & The Everything Bagel, and Clare Doyle @ 331 Club
Mudhoney with Hooveriii @ Turf Club
St. Paul Mudsteppers Monthly @ White Squirrel
Thursday, October 19
- Nation of Language with Miss Grit @ AmsterdamI personally like my synthpop a little less tasteful, but I thought some of you might like to know these folks are in town.
Cryote with the Walker Brothers Band @ Aster Cafe
Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunkers
Tommy Goodroad, Brandon Good @ Cloudland
Dan Cavanagh and Dave Hagedorn @ Crooners
Maurice Jacox and We Still R @ Crooners
Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
P. Larkin's Comic Blip @ Eagles 34
Stephen Sanchez with Stephen Day @ First Avenue
Can't Swim + Belmont with House Parties + New View @ The Garage
Fever Candlelight Concert @ Granada
Does Anybody Stay in One Place with XAVEIR, Tristan Price, and Sumer @ Hook and Ladder
Dan Schwartz and Nick Salisbury @ Icehouse
Ian George with Beemer @ Icehouse
Toronzo Cannon with PK Mayo and Dylan Salfer @ KJ's Hideaway
Young Relics @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Jordan Johnston @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Freak Hoe Horror Show @ Mortimer's
Riddim Driven with DJ I Roach and Friends @ Palmer's
Cave Canery @ ROK Music Lounge
Mike Viola with Dusk @ 7th St Entry
Cross Pollination: Awful Offal @ 331 Club
May Erlewine with Packy Lundholm @ Turf Club
The Makeouts + Skatepark @ Underground Music Venue
Devaney & Friends with Martin Devaney, Rich Mattson, the Northstars @ White Squirrel
Friday, October 20
The Mary Wallopers with Sam Shackleton @ Amsterdam
Motionless in White with Knocked Loose, After The Burial, and Alpha Wolf @ Armory
The '70s Magic Sunshine Band @ Bunkers
Brandy Clark with SistaStrings @ Cedar Cultural Center
Dead History, Last Giant, Lovely Dark, Closetalker @ Cloudland
The R Factor: Michael Jackson Family Review @ Crooners
Monstrous Melodies Cabaret @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Judi Vinar and Adi Yeshaya @ Crooners
Team Larry House Band @ Driftwood
Swingin' on a Star @ Eagles 34
Emo Nite with Travis Clark (of We The Kings) @ Fine Line
First Avenue's 50 Years Of Hip-Hop Celebration @ First Avenue
Laufey with Adam Melchor @ Fitzgerald Theater
¡What!, Nemesissy, and Weeklong Weekend @ The Garage
The Federales with Becky Kapell & Goatroper @ Granada
Sovereign: A Body Power Reclamation @ Green Room
The Heavy Sixers, Gini Dodds and the Dahlias, and Ylvisaker @ Hook and Ladder
Mark Mallman + Stranger Gallery @ Hook and Ladder
My Brightest Diamond with Stephen Steinbrink @ Icehouse
Joyann Parker Band @ KJ's Hideaway
Sumo Seven @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Barber Violin Concerto @ Orchestra Hall
Anthony McGill Plays Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto @ Ordway
Chris Cresswell with John Snodgrass and Seth Anderson @ Palmer's
Martin Zellar (Album Release) with Presley Haile @ The Parkway
Beggars, Rag Woman, Northern Hammer @ Pilllar
INFULLMOTION Collective @ ROK Music Lounge
Stop Light Observations with Scalise @ 7th St Entry
5 Cent Reality with East Lakers @ Schooner Tavern
Tim Cheesebrow, Cassandra Cole, Tarius and the Sound @ 331 Club
Tom vs. Thom—Birthday Celebration @ Turf Club
Sad Park, Chapped Lips, & The Cold Casuals @ Underground Music Venue
- Bruce Hornsby @ Uptown Theater—Back when I was touring colleges with my dad in 1986, "The Way It Is" was often the only song you could find on the radio when you were driving through rural parts of Pennsylvania and Ohio. No reason why that should be of interest to you, I guess, but that's what comes to mind when I think of Hornsby.
Hexxa, Neuphorix, Phoenix Fir3, FlexZone, Cyclone Dubz @ Uptown VFW
R&B Only Live @ Varsity Theater
Unstable Shapes, 120 Minutes, Butter Boys @ White Squirrel
Saturday, October 21
By The Thousands with Evernorth, Intercessor, Rot, and Soulkeeper @ Amsterdam
- Lil Uzi Vert @ ArmorySix years ago, with "XO Tour Llif3” and its haunting chorus of “Push me to the edge/All my friends are dead,” Uzi devised a kind of fist-pumping goth-rap that you might classify as this era’s nu-metal. In 2020, with Eternal Atake, the Philly rapper proved they had enough tricks at their command to fill an entire album. But Uzi’s best-selling 2022 follow-up, Pink Tape, is one of those overlong monstrosities that critics politely call “ambitious” before never listening to it again. They cover System of a Down’s “Chop Suey!” They cop a melody from “I’m Blue” in the same year Bebe Rexha scored a hit by doing the same. Their guests include not just Travis Scott and Nicki Minaj but Babymetal and Bring Me the Horizon. Mess that Pink Tape is though, a fair amount of Uzi’s charisma and talent pokes through, and anyway most of its material is meant to be chanted along to in throngs at shows like this one.
Conor Lee (Single Release) with Rachel Bearinger @ Aster Cafe
- Champagne Confetti (Album Release) @ Cedar Cultural CenterAby Wolf always has something going on, and Champagne Confetti is quite a something: “a 12-piece progressive chamber ensemble” that showcases melodies that range from accessible avant-garde to abstract pop, vocal timbres that vary from cool keen to drama club gleam, and settings that spike minimalism with more expansive experimentalism.
Maggie's Afterglow: Judi Vinar and Adi Yeshaya @ Crooners
Stanley Jordan and Jackie Venson @ Dakota
Superior Genetic Party @ Driftwood
The Bill Patten Trio @ Dusty's
Cobra Czar, Ice Everlasting, onlytime, WILBUR @ Eagles 34
The National Parks with Zach Seabaugh @ Fine Line
TV Girl with Monster Rally @ First Avenue
Homecoming Fundraiser feat. Colin Bracewell, Grayson DeWolfe, Tanner Peterson @ The Garage
Skarlett Woods (Album Release) @ Ginkgo Coffee
Leslie's Halloween Extravaganza @ Granada
The Belfast Cowboys @ Hook and Ladder
Abinnet Berhanu Trio @ Icehouse
HighStyleKyle Presents Time and Space Vol. 1 @ Icehouse
Erin McCawley’s Harrison Street Band @ KJ's Hideaway
Jaybee & the Routine @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Dance Like Leekong Xiong @ Myth Live
Barber Violin Concerto @ Orchestra Hall
Anthony McGill Plays Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto @ Ordway
Erik's Iridescent Tent, Eggs on Mars, and Time Room @ Palmer's
Martin Zellar (Album Release) with Presley Haile @ The Parkway
Neighbor Dog, FeeGee, Turquoise, VIN @ Pilllar
Source and Sons of Ra @ ROK Music Lounge
Geese with PACKS @ 7th St Entry
Hurricane Harold's All-Star Revue @ Schooner Tavern
MANIA: The ABBA Tribute @ State Theatre
Joji with Kenny Beats, Savagerealm, Lil Toe (ammo) @ Target Center
Dr. V and the Prescriptions, Dharma Hounds @ Terminal Bar
Tiger Blue (Album Release), The Great Went, Stay At Home Astronaut @ 331 Club
Molly Burch with Christelle Bofale @ Turf Club
Royal Skyyy, ShaVunda Thunda, Atim Opoka @ Underground Music Venue
- Owl City @ Uptown TheaterThis is one of the meanest things I've ever written.
ELnO with Heartless @ Uptown VFW
Peter McPoland @ Varsity Theater
Blame the Witness @ White Rock Lounge
Yonger, Sunset Over Flowers @ White Squirrel
The 241 (Vinyl Release) with Boots & Needles, Jeffery Robert Larson @ White Squirrel
Sunday, October 22
Swing Brunch with Patty & the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
John Magnuson Trio with The Hang Ups (acoustic set)@ Aster Cafe
Le Vent du Nord @ Cedar Cultural Center
Sara Renner Presents: The Winans Songs We Love @ Crooners
I Am Woman: The Music of Helen Reddy @ Crooners
Phine Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
Music of Green Day for Kids with 21st Ave Breakdown @ First Avenue
Annie and the Bang Bang with Turn Turn Turn @ Icehouse
Dr. Jay’s Cabaret Presents: The Big 5 Year Anniversary Show @ KJ's Hideaway
Grupo Frontera with Milla 22 @ Orpheum Theatre
Church of Cornbread: Cornbread Harris and His Band @ Palmer's
Black Widows Open Mic @ Palmer's
Madison McFerrin with XINA @ 7th St Entry
The Real Chuck NORAD @ 331 Club
The Georgia Thunderbolts @ Turf Club
Jockey with Anita Velveeta @ Underground Music Venue
Kaylee Kitzman with Daguerreotypes, Gabe Keller Flores @ White Squirrel
Halloween on Planet Venus with Venus DeMars, The Tender Years, Petals @ White Squirrel
Monday, October 23
- Prudence Johnson & Dan Chouinard: The World According to Randy Newman @ DakotaWith sharp arrangements utilizing Michelle Kinney on cello and Joe Savage on pedal steel, this duo navigates the treacherous shoals of Newman’s unpindownable irony while indulging in very little cabaret cutesiness, even straying into his later material.
15 Minutes of Fame Open Mic @ Driftwood
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
World Music Monday @ Eagles 34
Twin Talk + Alpha Consumer @ Icehouse
RiFFs: Jazz and Comedy @ Jazz Central
Auto-Tune Karaoke @ Mortimer’s
Organ Repertoire Class with Alcée Chriss III @ Northrop
Cowaoke with Ben Moooker @ Palmer's
Erin Rae with She Returns From War @ 7th St Entry
Pop Wagner's Honky Tonk Ranch @ 331 Club
The Roe Family Singers @ 331 Club
Matt Arthur Contraption @ 331 Club
Minka, Dalmatian Club, and Dilly Dally Alley @ Underground Music Venue
