The Big Gigs for week of 6/24

POP/ROCK

On tour together for the first time in their long, hairspray-stained careers, Mötley Crüe and Poison are playing virtually nothing but their hits on tour this summer in an apparent attempt to create nothing but a good time. It's amazing that both bands still boast their original members despite decades of debauchery and recent health scares. (Both Mick Mars, who has a degenerative bone condition, and Bret Michaels, who suffered a brain hemorrhage last year, are reportedly doing well.) Unfortunately, hand-picked openers the New York Dolls -- whose glam punk inspired both bands -- are down to two original members, but they have added Earl Slick (ex-Bowie) on guitar and remain a hard-rocking history lesson. (7:30 p.m. Fri., Target Center. $27-$97.) Chris Riemenschneider

Twin Cities indie-rock fans will probably line up to discover Howler this time around, now that the young local quartet is signed to Rough Trade Records in Europe and sparking a real U.K. buzz despite a modest presence back home. Led by Total Babe guitarist Jordan Goldsmith, whose breathy vocals could have earned him a slot on a John Hughes soundtrack, the band plays scrappy, peppy, guitar-chopping garage-rock with vague '60s haze and '80s pop sensibility. The Red Pens -- a beloved local group with a big profile locally but tragically not too many other places -- open. (10 p.m. Fri., Triple Rock. 18 & older.) Riemenschneider

When you think of reclusive Minnesotans making synthy bedroom pop, you think Owl City. John Maus, a native of Austin, Minn., fits the same bill, but with big differences. For one thing, he's an instructor of political philosophy and theory at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a frequent collaborator of psych-pop mainstay Ariel Pink. He's also working on a Ph.D. His manically arty third album, "We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves," is slotted for a June 28 release. Los Angeles-based dream-pop sisters Puro Instinct open. (9 p.m. Fri., 7th Street Entry, $8-$10, 18 & older.) Jay Boller

It's sort of a double salute to Jerry Garcia. Not Quite Dead is a Twin Cities Grateful Dead tribute band that covers everything from "Althea" to "Wharf Rat." Not Quite Old and in the Way is really the Chris Silver Band, a Twin Cities bluegrass outfit that will perform all the songs from 1973's "Old and in the Way" by a bluegrass supergroup featuring Garcia, David Grisman and Vassar Clements. The concert is a benefit for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. (8 p.m. Sat., Cedar Cultural Center, $15.) Jon Bream

Jethro Tull fans have waited 40 years to hear 1971's classic "Aqualung" -- Ian Anderson's flute-filled commentary on God and religion -- in its entirety in concert. Anderson, guitarist Martin Barre and their new Tull cohorts will do the album and, presumably, continue living in the past with "Thick as a Brick," "Bungle in the Jungle" and other bloated folk-rock favorites. (8 p.m. Sat., Orpheum Theatre, $38.50-$103.50.) Bream

Yet another storm warning is forecast for the Twin Cities this weekend with Zebulon Pike's latest release party. The instrumental prog-metal quartet always kicks up thundering riffs and windy bursts onstage, but there's even more tempestuous material than usual on its fourth album, "Space Is the Corpse of Time." Almost all the songs clock in over 10 minutes and feature the kind of structure-playing improv-jazz qualities that guitarist Erik Fratzke applies to his other group, Happy Apple -- but with a lot more distortion. The disc includes several jazz heavies as guests, too, including Bad Plus pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Adam Linz and horn and wind instrument players. In no way does having a little flute mean the band has wimped out, though. The show features heavy support from Battlefields and the Book of Right On. (10 p.m. Sat., Triple Rock. $10.) Riemenschneider

Noise-pop trio Ringo Deathstarr has earned comparisons to My Bloody Valentine and the Jesus and Mary Chain for the sonorous shoegazery, awash with hazy trance-inducing distortion and alternating male/female vocals, on its full-length debut "Colour Trip." (9 p.m. Sat., Hexagon Bar, free.) Michael Rietmulder

A host of local acts -- Curtiss A, Al's Rockabilly Trio, Big Surf, the Reckless Ones, Nordic Surf, M.O.R.T. and Thee Unholy Three, plus a one-time-only combo called the Parisota Surf Club -- pitch in to play a benefit for Los Straitjackets founding guitarist Danny Amis (aka Daddy-O Grande), who is battling bone marrow cancer. It's fitting, since Amis is a Minnesota native who got his start in the Longhorn Bar glory days with surf revivalists the Overtones, and scored a local hit with "Calhoun Surf." (9 p.m. Sat., Lee's Liquor Lounge, $6-$10.) Tom Surowicz

Greta Oglesby may be the best Twin Cities singer you've never heard -- outside of musical theater. After showcasing her gospel and Broadway chops in concert at the Capri Theater this spring, the star of the Guthrie's "Caroline, or Change" will make her debut at the Dakota Jazz Club. It should be an occasion for her blues and jazz repertoire. (8 p.m. Sat., Dakota, $12.) Bream

It's billed as the Max Weinberg Experience featuring Bill Champlin. So, this isn't the 15-piece, all-instrumental Max Weinberg Big Band that he brought to the Dakota and the Guthrie. And it's not the Max Weinberg 7 that played on Conan O'Brien's talk show. But it is a seven-piece band featuring singer/keyboardist Champlin, an alum of San Francisco's underrated soulful rockers Sons of Champlin and more recently the band Chicago, in which he spent 28 years. (7 & 9 p.m. Mon.-Tue., Dakota, $35-$45.) Bream

In what will be the third Grateful Dead tribute show in the Twin Cities in 10 days, Dark Star Orchestra will do it their way: Re-create a Dead concert, song by song, from a specific date. They never disclose the date in advance, but they do promise a long, strange trip; hence the earlier-than-usual start time. (7 p.m. Mon., Minnesota Zoo, $29.) Bream

Always thinking conceptually, whether he's collaborating with Allen Toussaint, Burt Bacharach or a bunch of Americana musicians, Elvis Costello is a revisiting an old concept on his current Spinning Songbook Tour. After playing a quick flurry of his early punkish material with the Imposters, Costello will leave the rest of the set list to chance. Fans are invited onstage to spin the wheel, which suggests specific songs or topics. Throughout it all, the always witty Costello literally wears a bunch of different hats to fit the mood. (7:30 p.m. Wed., State Theatre, $49-$89.) Bream

What a delicious doubleheader: Two esteemed forces in American music, two bona fide headliners, two singers who have been going strong since the 1960s. Gospel/R&B great Mavis Staples will whip the congregation into a soul-stirring frenzy with "I'll Take You There," "Respect Yourself" and more recent material from her Jeff Tweedy-produced album "You Are Not Alone." Fresh from zoos in Seattle and Portland, Taj Mahal returns with his trio for a journey through blues, roots and island music. Given the season, bet he does "Fishin' Blues." (7:30 p.m. Wed., Minnesota Zoo, $47.) Bream

Few bands have been asked both to tour with Metallica and to headline a stage at the hipster-heavy Austin City Limits Festival, but those are bragging points that Austin's own steamy, hazy metal quartet the Sword can make. The Black Sabbath-ized, hair-tossing retro headbangers had one of last year's best unsung metal albums, "Warp Riders," produced by Mastodon's main guy Matt Bayles. They're coming here fresh from a well received Bonnaroo set. Dead Meadow opens. (9 p.m. Wed., Triple Rock. 18 & older. $12-$14.) Riemenschneider

Although he's never quite found his comfort zone in the recording studio, Hasidic reggae rapper Matisyahu throws down in concert. The latest evidence is this year's "Live at Stubbs, Vol. 2," his second strong live disc but one that impresses even more thanks to his new backup group, the Dub Trio. Luther and Cody Dickinson of North Mississippi All Stars open. (7 p.m. Thu., Minnesota Zoo, $40.) Bream

JAZZ It's lucky number 13 for the Twin Cities Jazz Festival, which really gets rolling Friday in St. Paul's Mears Park. Headlining is vibraphone master Gary Burton and his New Quartet, with guitar phenom Julian Lage and a splendid rhythm section of bassist Scott Colley and drummer Antonio Sanchez (8:30 p.m. Fri.). Also appearing Friday is Minnesota's most renowned jazz clan since the Pettifords, the Peterson Family (6:30 p.m.), and Doug Little's lively Latin ensemble Seven Steps to Havana (4:30 p.m.). Saturday is unofficially "Latin night" as Brazilian pianist and 1970s million-seller Deodato makes a rare local appearance featuring New York City percussion dynamo Gerardo Velez (6 p.m. Sat.). Headlining the show is Panamanian pianist, composer and Grammy winner Danilo Perez, who has crisscrossed the planet as a headliner and with such jazz legends as Roy Haynes and Wayne Shorter (8:30 p.m.). Full schedule on page E5. Surowicz

The jazz fest concludes with a unique club show, "Two Bass Hit," spotlighting a pair of terrific bassists -- one local (Billy Peterson), one national (John Patitucci), both world-acclaimed. Patitucci, who's also playing with Danilo Perez Saturday, is a veteran leader who's also recorded with such stars as Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter and Michael Brecker. And everybody knows Peterson, who's toured the globe with the Steve Miller Band, Ben Sidran, et al. -- he's the master in our midst. (8 p.m. Sun., Artists' Quarter, $15.) Surowicz

WORLD Direct from the Sahara Desert, Group Doueh is a family affair featuring guitar hero Bamaar Salmou, his wife, Halima, on vocals, their son on keyboards, plus three female backing vocalists who also play percussion. Their sound is a mix of ancient and electronic -- trippy, tribal, hypnotic and danceable, with more than a few echoes of psychedelia. You'll get lots of distorted guitar solos, and some keyboard flourishes worthy of Ray Manzarek. Expect sweaty grooving at the new "fully air conditioned" Cedar. With an opening set by the instrumental/electronica band Food Pyramid, who "use sound to activate space" -- don't we all? (8 p.m. Fri., Cedar Cultural Center, $18-$20.) Surowicz

CHORAL What better way for the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus to celebrate Gay Pride weekend than with "Let's Hear It for the Boys," a concert billed as "the ultimate boy band review." The chorus brings its unique combination of impeccable musicianship and high camp to contemporary music by the Backstreet Boys and the Jonas Brothers as well as old hits by the Jackson 5, Beatles and Four Seasons. (8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., Ted Mann Concert Hall, 2128 S. 4th St., University of Minnesota, Mpls. $24-$51. 612-624-2345 or www.tcgmc.org) William Randall Beard