Best of the Week (Sept. 8-15): Janet Jackson, SPCO, apple events and more

Her two-year State of the World Tour inexplicably skipped the Twin Cities, where she recorded so many hits. Now, after a Vegas residency, Janet Jackson is performing her first Minnesota show in four years — outdoors. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the made-in-Minneapolis classic "Rhythm Nation 1814" and her induction into the Rock Hall of Fame, Jackson is featuring more than three dozen tunes in concert, and plenty of dancing. JON BREAM

8 p.m. Sat., Treasure Island Casino Amphitheater, Red Wing, $42.50-$229; 1-800-982-2787, ticketmaster.com.

Pianist Jeremy Denk thinks of Schumann as "not so much a composer of pieces as he is of visions, visions breaking through obscurity." That deeply poetic nature is evident in Schumann's Piano Concerto, alongside passages of exuberant technical difficulty. Denk's interpretation opens the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra's new season along with Rossini's scuttling overture "The Silken Ladder" and a trademark conductorless performance of Schubert's Second Symphony.

TERRY BLAIN

8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. next Sun., Ordway Concert Hall, St. Paul. $12-$50; thespco.org

Twin Cities fans know all too well that any preview of a Lil' Wayne concert comes with a possible no-show warning. That's especially true on this peculiarly paired — and heavily Groupon-discounted — outing with Blink-182, the pop-punk trio of "All the Small Things" fame. Weezy already missed a handful of dates and has been quoted bad-mouthing the proceedings. Still, that adds a certain amount of intrigue.

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

Nature Theatre of Oklahoma isn't actually based in Oklahoma. Artistic directors Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper, who are based in New York, named their performance-art company after a chapter in the unfinished Franz Kafka novel "Amerika." In "Pursuit of Happiness," NTO teams up with Slovenian dance troupe EN-KNAP Group to interrogate the "unalienable right" from the Declaration of Independence, with cowboys, physical comedy, silliness, parody and whiskey.

Sheila Regan

8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Walker Art Center, Mpls. $28; 612-375-7600, walkerart.org.

Learn how your food grows and goes from the farm to your plate through games and activities at the Minne­sota Landscape Arboretum's festival. Sample Minnesota-grown grains and talk to a farmer about the research and technology used to feed consumers. Buy a sack of apples, eat from food trucks and enjoy a beverage at the beer garden. Also: barn tours, farm machinery and a pop-up shop and garden store.

Melissa Walker

Graciela Iturbide's photographs record daily life in Mexico, with a focus on the lives of its indigenous people. Her sensitive still images range from portraits of women and death rituals to swaths of birds clustering in the skies. "Graciela Iturbide's Mexico," her career survey at Mia, includes 125 photographs from over four decades, beginning in the late 1970s. She captures the essence of a contemporary and ever-evolving Mexico.

Alicia Eler

10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Wed. and Sat.; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thu.-Fri.; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. Ends Dec. 15. Minneapolis Institute of Art. Free, new.artsmia.org.

The Minnesota Orchestra plays a brace of warmup gigs next weekend as a prelude to its 2019-20 season. The first is a free hourlong program of orchestral favorites at Lake Harriet Band Shell, while the second at Orchestra Hall offers a cut-price opportunity to sample key works from the forthcoming season.

T.B.

Delayed in March due to an unspecified illness, the 20th anniversary tour of British trip-hop group Massive Attack's darkly prophetic album "Mezzanine" is finally underway. The biggest talking point has been ethereal-voiced Cocteau Twins singer Elizabeth Fraser, who sang on the record not long before she essentially bowed out of the business. There's a lot more to it, though, including reggae singer Horace Andy, a purportedly dazzling film backdrop and some fun cover songs.

C.R.

8 p.m. Tue., Palace Theatre, St. Paul. Sold out.

For its Johnny Appleseed Day, Bruentrup Heritage Farm is having some old-fashioned fall fun. Visitors can summon their strength to hand-press apple cider. See how families produced crops and food before modern technology by working a pedal tractor and making butter by hand. Children's activities include face painting and a bouncy house. Classic cars will be on view and apple-themed desserts will be available.

M.W.