A roundup of otherwise disparate concert news from today and yesterday (some of you Avenged Sevenfold fans may want to alert your mom to the Nickel Creek news):

*Familial bluegrass/folk darlings Nickel Creek are finally getting back together and will play their first local show in seven years May 11 at the State Theatre. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. for $49.50 through Ticketmaster or the theater box office. The group is returning from hiatus to mark its 25th anniversary – remember: the members started playing together when they were ages 8-11! – and will have a new album to boot, "A Dotted Line," dropping April 1. In the interim, they have certainly not been strangers to Twin Cities music lovers, with Sara Watkins becoming a regular guest and even a fill-in host on "A Prairie Home Companion," while Chris Thile and Sean Watkins played the Cedar with their respective groups, Punch Brothers and Works Progress Administration.

* Baltimore area electronic dance ringleader Dan Deacon, who gave an unforgettable impromptu performance in the Walker Art Center's parking garage during last year's Rock the Garden temporary rain-out, will be playing the similarly cavernous Target Center opening for Arcade Fire on March 8. He and Montreal-based experimental DJ Kid Koala were finally announced as the openers for that leg of the Canadian rockers' tour.

*Southern Cali metal kingpins Avenged Sevenfold will once again take over Target Center on April 21 (a Sunday), part of a seven-week spring tour with Texas thrashers Hellyeah as the opener. Tickets go on sale Friday at noon for $27-$51.50 via AXS.com or the arena box office.

*South Carolinan rockers Needtobreathe of "Something Beautiful" fame are pretty well guaranteed a sell-out when they play the Skyway Theatre on June 12, part of the roll-out for their fifth album, "Rivers in the Wasteland." Tickets are on sale Friday at 10 a.m. They will have Irishman Foy Vance for an opener, who seems poised for a breakout year.

*Minnesota Public Radio announced three more installments of "Wits" at the Fitzgerald Theater, starting April 4 with Portland ensemble Typhoon and "Flight of the Conchords" groupie Kristen Schaal. April 18 will feature Cities 97 favorite Matt Nathanson and Bobcat Goldthwait, and April 25 welcomes New York hip-hop vet Jean Grae and "Daily Show" regular John Hodgman. Tickets go on sale next Tuesday, Feb. 25 to "Wits" club members, and Feb. 28 to the public.

Nickel Creek's members certainly don't look old enough to be marking their 25th anniversary, do they? / Photo from Nonesuch Records

*Hey, "Aqualung" fans: Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson also announced a State Theatre show, one that's not happening until Oct. 21. Tickets go on sale Friday at noon for $39-$79. The long wait will give fans time to soak in his new solo album, "Homo Erraticus." Yeah, right! (Anderson is also promising to play plenty of the Tull's hits on the tour.)