Guitar Band (Album Release) with Fake Accent and Miami Dolphins @ Cedar Cultural Center—On their self-titled album, the SEO-proof Guitar Band live up to their name. They’re a band of eight guitarists: Joey Crane, Mark Engelmann, Erik Fratzke, Toivo Hannigan, Gus Murphy, Toby Ramaswamy, Daisy Swimmer, and Adam Zahller. (There are also two drummers who contribute when needed.) Zahller’s apparently the mastermind/conceptualist, and I'm happy to report that on two tracks, spread over a half hour, they're too committed to detail to zone out completely. Recommended to fans of repetition, amassed guitars, overlaid melodicism, and repetition.

Arne Fogel @ Crooners

JAZZMN Orchestra feat. Morgan James @ Dakota

Giant Valley String Band, Open Mic @ Driftwood

LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34

Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34

Collectiva: Women’s + Non-Binary Jam @ 56 Brewing

Finneas @ Fillmore

3rd Annual Bangers-Only Ball with Poliça and Papa Mbye @ First Avenue

Vinyl Night @ Gambit Brewing

Snapped Live Band Open Mic @ Green Room

Atim Opoka, Queen Drea, Dameun Strange @ Icehouse

Room3 (Single Release) @ Indeed Brewing

Low and Outside @ Metronome

Drums of Navarone @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Deerskin, Linnea Grace, and Casey Gerald @ Palmer’s

CTM Music Collective, Love is Anarchy @ Pilllar Forum

Scott Allen and the List, Mortiholics @ Schooner Tavern

Blockhead with Shrimpnose and Moonlit Mushroom @ 7th St Entry

Teague Alexy @ 331 Club

Highway Heroes ⏤ A Tribute To The Outlaw Poets @ Turf Club

The F* All, The Broken Rule, The Staboteurs @ Underground Music Venue

Lanco @ Varsity

Fuzzy Math @ White Squirrel

Phantom Fields with Better Devils @ White Squirrel

Lakes Area Music Festival: Songs Without Words @ Woman’s Club

Friday, February 28

N3RD4KING @ Acadia

Missio with Layto @ Amsterdam

Jack Cassidy with Pat Donohue & Steven C. Anderson @ Aster Cafe

Housewerk #34 @ Beast Barbecue

All Terrain Vehicle (Zacc Harris/Dave Power/Cody McKinney) @ Berlin

Nona Invie (Album Release) @ Berlin

DJ Sarah Sequoia @ Berlin

2 Dykes Walk Into a Bar @ Black Hart

Some Shitty Cover Band @ Bunker’s

Malamiko, Unstable Shapes, Small Animal Hospital @ Cloudland

YEARBOOK: Class of ’77 • Great Songs from 1973-1977 @ Crooners

Charmin Michelle with Rick Carlson @ Crooners

Heart & Soul: The Music of Huey Lewis and the News @ Crooners

Davina and the Vagabonds @ Dakota

Blue Lake, Gonzo’s Planet @ Driftwood

Miss Shannon’s Sock Hop @ Eagles 34

Up North Rollers Brass Band @ 56 Brewing

Emo Nite with Secondhand Serenade @ Fine Line

O’Keefe Brothers @ Ginkgo Coffee

Latin Nights with Salsa Del Sol, DJ William EL Buenon @ Granada

OMNIRA with Venus De Mars and All The Pretty Horses, Diminished @ Hook and Ladder

Spaceport, Mouthful, full catholic @ Hook and Ladder

Erik Koskinen & Band @ Icehouse

Blew Notes @ Jazz Central

Bach Society Mobile Mini-Concert @ Metronome Brewery

Mill City String Quintet @ Metronome Brewery

The Roxxy Hall Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Søndergård, Mozart and Stravinsky @ Orchestra Hall

Samuel John Duo @ Padraigs

The Swongos, The 99ers, and Silverteens @ Palmer’s

Talisk and Gardiner Brothers @ Pantages Theatre

Wingbeaver with Homunculus Rex, Holyrose, Weeklong Weekend @ Pilllar Forum

Jack Knife & the Sharps @ Schooner Tavern

Nurko with Last Heroes, Synymata, Lost Prince, and Red Comet @ Skyway Theatre

Fink @ 7th St Entry

Duck Bomb, Moon Pail @ Terminal Bar

Talk Soon, Chris Cashin, Car Spiders @ 331 Club

Pert Near Sandstone with Dig Deep and Katey Bellville @ Turf Club

Hope Hook, Pelicant, Solana and the Sunsets @ Underground Music Venue

Fear @ Uptown VFW

Hulvey @ Varsity

The Mary Cutrufello Band @ White Squirrel

Ancient Waves with Threads Electric, Francis Emil Johnson @ White Squirrel

ORISKA, Silva, Dragged Out to Sea, Eudaemon @ Zhora Darling

Saturday, March 1

The Water Sloths @ Acadia

Emily Haavik & Dave Mehling @ Aster Cafe

Sonic Dream @ Berlin

The Neighborhood Quartet @ Berlin

McGinnis @ Berlin

Shoeless Revolution @ Bunker’s

Reventon Reggaeton Party @ Cabooze

Wren & Wilde @ Can Can Wonderland

Silent Halo @ Can Can Wonderland

Jesse Welles @ Cedar Cultural Center

Baby Tyler Band, Joust, Laugh Track, Orchid Club @ Cloudland

Soulful Saxophunk with The Ronny Loew Band @ Crooners

Before He Cheats: A Tribute to Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert @ Crooners

Charmin Michelle with Rick Carlson @ Crooners

Mae Simpson Band @ Dakota

Shave the Neighbor, Slap Hazard @ Driftwood

Sleaze Freaks @ Fine Line

Michael Marcagi with Ashley Kutcher @ First Avenue

Martenitsa Bulgarian Dance Party @ Granada

Nunnabove Presents Red Noise @ Green Room

Barbara Cohen & Little Lizard with Adam & Ava Levy @ Hook and Ladder

Ficshe, Darkling I Listen, Selfish Teammate, and Ori the Ghost @ Hook and Ladder

The Other Ol’ Blue Eyes @ Icehouse

Pete Whitman @ Jazz Central

Dawson Redenius Septet @ Metronome Brewery

Durango Fest @ Myth Live

Søndergård, Mozart and Stravinsky @ Orchestra Hall

SPCO Musician Appreciation Concert @ Ordway

Gently, Gently @ Padraigs

REVO, Snotty Rottens, and Cracked Actor @ Palmer’s

Pink Martini feat. China Forbes @ Pantages Theatre

Chris Hawkey and Michael Shynes featuring DGS @ Parkway

Everett Smithson @ Schooner Tavern

Grace Enger with Jake Minch @ 7th St Entry

Barely Alive with Hvdes @ Skyway Theatre

Them Diagram, Desert Object @ Terminal Bar

Soul Tribe, Sol and the Resonance @ 331 Club

Pert Near Sandstone with Bronwyn Keith-Hynes and Feeding Leroy @ Turf Club

Houndmouth @ Uptown Theater

Soul Train Night @ Uptown VFW

Spaghetti Monette & the Sauce with Cosmoline @ White Squirrel

Jonah Paul @ White Squirrel

Anything You Want with Kat & The Kodachromes @ Zhora Darling

Sunday, March 2

88 Diagrams @ Acadia

Patty and the Buttons @ Aster Cafe

BRAINGIVER & DeCarlo Jackson @ Berlin

Dr. Mambo’s Combo @ Bunker’s

The Bard’s Quartet @ Can Can Wonderland

Monthly Bluegrass Jam @ Caydence Records & Coffee

The Shabby Road Orchestra @ Crooners

Ben Abrahamson @ Crooners

Edwin McCain @ Dakota

Phine & Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood

Country Doctors @ Eagles 34

Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34

Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34

Gavin Adcock @ Fillmore

Thrown with Varials, No Cure, and Heavensgate @ Fine Line

Drew and Ellie Holcomb @ Fitzgerald Theater

Phil Heywood @ Icehouse

MN Hard Bop Collective @ Metronome Brewery

Explore Music and Art with Thomas @ Orchestra Hall

Church of Cornbread @ Palmer’s

West Bank Social Club @ Palmer’s

Pink Martini feat. China Forbes @ Pantages Theatre

Freedy Johnston with Molly Maher @ Parkway—Well, this is getting to be a regular event, isn’t it? Johnston was at the Parkway this same weekend last March, but he’s certainly worth checking out once a year. It's been three decades since Can You Fly set a bar that everyone, maybe even this Kansas-born singer-songwriter himself, knew its maker would never top. And so what? Johnston hasn't released a bad record since then, which is a much rarer feat among rockers than busting out of the gate with the best that you've got. His latest, 2022’s Back on the Road to You, is top tier among the runners up, with lyrics that remain open-ended without being vague and Susanna Hoffs, Aimee Mann, and Susan Cowsill offering up harmonies, just to give you a sense of the craftswomen who appreciate his work. Highlights include "That's Life," an uncle's loving bedtime advice, and "There Goes a Brooklyn Girl" (on her way to work).

Music Jam @ Schooner Tavern

Brennan Wedl with Fend and Matthew Smith and the Menagerie @ 7th St Entry

Brass Messengers @ 331 Club

Corpse Reviver @ 331 Club

CarolFest 2025 @ Uptown VFW

Boots & Needles with Dan Newton & Elizabeth Rowan @ White Squirrel

The Friend Ship @ White Squirrel

Monarch with Eastern River Cooters & Glitter Pit @ White Squirrel