A head full of Coldplay
Coldplay has been more consistent in staging exciting live spectacles than in recording great albums. Remember anything much from 2015's "A Head Full of Dreams"? At least the Super Bowl halftime performers can rely on 16 years of favorites including "Yellow" and "Clocks" — plus the current Chainsmokers hit "Something Just Like This" featuring Coldplay's Chris Martin —and plenty of bells and whistles for their first stadium show in the Twin Cities. JON BREAM
7 p.m. Sat., U.S. Bank Stadium, Mpls., $27.50-$285.75, ticketmaster.com
Liza Sylvestre's immersive exhibition "Interference" at Soo Visual Arts Center creatively brings people into her personal struggles with living in a world designed for hearing people. In "Captioned" (2017), she uses close captioning to explain her thought process about what is going on to viewers. Rather than seeing the dialogue, they see Sylvestre's thoughts on what is happening between the people on screen. Other works on paper delve into the staticness of speech, and what's lost in translation.
ALICIA ELER
Ends Aug. 26. Soo Visual Arts Center, Mpls., soovac.org
Former Wisconsinites who first met in Milwaukee, Sylvan Esso bandmates Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn have earned rave responses in repeat appearances at Justin Vernon's Eaux Claires festival. That buzz will now ripple one state over with two packed First Avenue shows supporting their sophomore album, "What Now." Their jagged techno-pop is playful but also often beautiful, with Meath singing over the grooves with an earthy weight.
CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER
8 p.m. Sun. & Mon., First Avenue, Mpls., sold out.
Jazz master Herbie Hancock has had a wonderful career, from his years in Miles Davis' acoustic and electric bands to his pioneering Headhunters group. The keyboard giant grabbed a Grammy for album of the year in 2008 for interpreting Joni Mitchell music with various guests. His latest, "Imagine Project," paired cool singers like John Legend and Pink on classic-rock songs. Hancock is working on an album with hip jazzmen Robert Glasper and Kamasi Washington.
JON BREAM
7:30 p.m. Fri. Minnesota Zoo, Apple Valley, $75-$103.50, suemclean.com
"Native Gardens" is this summer's comedic winner on the theater scene. The Guthrie just added an extra week to this smart play about a culture clash between a long-established white couple in Washington, D.C., and their new Latino neighbors. The play addresses stereotypes and environmentalism. And the cast is superb, with Guthrie stalwarts Sally Wingert and Steve Hendrickson and New York imports Jacqueline Correa and Dan Domingues.
Rohan Preston
Ends Aug. 26. Guthrie, Mpls., $43-$67, guthrietheater.org
Get your creative juices flowing with a day of art-making activities. See some of the 26 quilts made by local artists with Million Artist Movement and a make a square to add to a quilt. Catch a sneak peek of a photo show featuring iconic images of Prince and make your own social-justice inspired art. PaviElle and Unknown Creatures provide music for the outdoor festival that also includes games and activities.
MELISSA WALKER
11 a.m.-5 p.m. next Sun. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Mpls., free, artsmia.org.
Just like Carmen, this Brainerd opera production wants to be free. Lakes Area Music Festival presents two unticketed performances of "Carmen," Bizet's operatic tale of jealousy and sexual obsession. Mezzo-soprano Carolyn Sproule sings her very first Carmen, with tenor Mackenzie Whitney as Don José, the soldier who attempts to rein in her wild, untamable spirit.
TERRY BLAIN
7 p.m. Sat., 2 p.m. Sun.; Tornstrom Auditorium, Brainerd, free, lakesareamusic.org
Kevin Mahogany, the big man with the smooth baritone, seemed to be everywhere in the 1990s, recording regularly for Warner Bros. and claiming a role in the Robert Altman movie "Kansas City," the singer's hometown. Mahogany is equally comfortable tackling the biting compositions of Charles Mingus and the sunny hooks of Motown. He'll be appearing with local pianist/composer Mary Louise Knutson.
BRITT ROBSON
7 p.m. Tue.- Wed., Aug. 9, Crooners, Fridley, $25-$50, croonersloungemn.com
For lovers of romantic 19th-century German art songs, the Source Song Festival brings a must-see concert starring tenor Evan LeRoy Johnson, a young singer from Pine Island, Minn., with an international opera career beckoning. He will sing Schubert's great song cycle "Die schöne Müllerin" with world-class accompanist Julius Drake.
TERRY BLAIN
8 p.m. Fri., MacPhail Center for Music, Mpls.; $12-$25, sourcesongfestival.org
