The big gigs: 10 concerts to see in the Twin Cities this week

Thursday, March 31

Conan Gray: After skipping Minnesota on his 2019 coming-out tour, the hunky 23-year-old Texas popster is making his overdue debut here at the same venue where his "just good friends" pal Olivia Rodrigo is due next month. Gray has amassed an impressive string of YouTube/TikTok-elevated hits over four years, including "Heather" and "Maniac," but the question remains if his often chill, somber-toned love songs can carry a big crowd. Rising Canadian star Bülow opens. (8 p.m., the Armory, 500 S. 6th St., Mpls., $35-plus, ticketmaster.com)

Also: Cloud Cult begins its three-night run with the Minnesota Orchestra (8 p.m. Thu.-Sat., $40-$96, Orchestra Hall); singer-songwriter Carlene Carter, a member of Nashville's royal family (7 p.m. the Dakota, $30-$45); "The Voice" champ and country contender Cassadee Pope (8 p.m. Turf Club, $25); Cole Diamond headlines the Uptown Hoedown (8 p.m., Uptown VFW, $5-$10); Kinda Kinky warms up for a "Rushmore" screening (7 p.m., Parkway Theater, $9); the Scarlet Goodbye with Dan Murphy (8 p.m., Aster Cafe, $7); guitar jammer Demitri Rallis (8:30 p.m., Hook & Ladder, $8-$12); Mary Cutrufello and Trevor McSpadden play the Eagles' "Desperado" album (9:30 p.m. 331 Club, free).

Friday, April 1

Caitlyn Smith: After leaving Cannon Falls for Nashville, the singer-songwriter is ready to drop her third album, "High," on April 8. Like Kacey Musgraves and Maren Morris, Smith doesn't stay in the country lane. On "High," the alluring siren pours her emotions into lushly arranged sounds with a hint of twang. She dials it down on the stand-out "I Don't Like the World without You." After the pandemic derailed concerts behind her 2020 album, "Supernova," Smith will have plenty of material to debut in her home state on the first night of her the High and Low Tour. (9 p.m. Fri. First Avenue, 701 1st Ave. N., Mpls., $25, first-avenue.com)

Scrunchies: After cleverly eschewing six-string guitars in her other riotous punk band Kitten Forever, Laura Larson shreds with pent-up aggression and joy on her third group's second album, "Feral Coast." One of the Twin Cities music scene's youngest rock vets — she got her start in her teens with Baby Guts — Larson carries Babes in Toyland's fire with a little early British punk fuel fronting a Scrunchies lineup now featuring Bruise Violet drummer Danielle Cusack and Condominium bassist Matt Castore. Their release party also features Vial and Liquid Lunch. (9 p.m., 7th St. Entry, 701 1st Av. N., Mpls., $15, first-avenue.com)

Minnesota Sinfonia: Originally from South Korea, violinist Grace Park has settled in New York City, where she won the 2018 International Naumburg Violin Competition and recently presented her Carnegie Hall debut recital. She'll join conductor Jay Fishman and the Minnesota Sinfonia for Mozart's Third Violin Concerto. Also on tap are music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Georges Bizet and a new work by Fishman. (7 p.m. Friday, Metro State University Main Auditorium, 700 E. Seventh St., St. Paul; 2 p.m. Saturday, Basilica of St. Mary, 1600 Hennepin Ave., Mpls.; free; mnsinfonia.org.)

Also: Adventurous French jazz vocalist Cyrille Aimee (7 p.m. the Dakota, $30-$40); AAA-radio favorite Eric Hutchinson plays the "Songs & Stories" series (7:30 p.m., Woman's Club Minneapolis, $35-$75); Japanese blasters MONO (9 p.m., Turf Club, $20); Paul Cebar's Tomorrow Sounds with appropriate April 1 opener the April Fools (7:30 p.m., Hook & Ladder, $15).

Saturday, April 2

Golden Smog: Originally booked for First Ave's 50^th anniversary in April 2020 (but then came COVID), the Twin Cities-based all-star band came up with a good consolation prize for fans. Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy — the lesser-known of Uncle Tupelo's two singers when he joined the Smog in 1995 — signed up to rejoin the band for this pair of makeup shows along with Big Star drummer Jody Stephens and Pink's violinist Jessy Greene. This same lineup recorded 1998's "Weird Tales" album, including the local crew of Jayhawks Gary Louris and Marc Perlman, ex-Soul Asylum guitarist Dan Murphy and Run Westy Run's Kraig Johnson. The first public Smog gigs since an Obama rally in 2011, each will be livestreamed via nugs.net. (8 p.m. Sat. & Sun., First Avenue, only $80+ premium tickets remain, first-avenue.com)

Sasami: Fresh off a hotly hyped run at Texas' SXSW fest, classically trained rocker and former Cherry Glazzer member Sasami Ashworth dropped one of the year's wildest and most electrifying rock records last month, "Squeeze," produced with fellow Los Angeles scenemaker Ty Segall. The sophomore solo album was partly inspired by her Japanese and oppressed Korean Zainichi heritage but sounds equal parts Bowie and Danzig. Staten Island trio Jigsaw Youth opens. (8 p.m., 7th St. Entry, Mpls., $16-$18, axs.com).

Also: Always-on rock legend Alice Cooper with Buckcherry (8 p.m., Mystic Lake Casino, sold out); "Fight Song" hitmaker Rachel Platten performs for free at the NCAA Super Saturday Concert in conjunction with the Women's Final Four (6-10 p.m., Minneapolis Convention Center); Brubeck Brothers Quartet carry on the jazz spirit of their legendary father Dave Brubeck (5 & 8 p.m. Crooners, $40); Great American Songbook devotee Michael Feinstein (7 & 9 p.m., also Sun., the Dakota, $45-$80); Kendrick Lamar's cousin and Grammy best new artist nominee Baby Keem (8 p.m., the Fillmore, $20); tribute to Bob Dylan with Dan Israel, Dave Russ and other local vets (8:30 p.m., Hook & Ladder, $20).

Sunday, April 3

Bon Jovi: On the second night of his band's first tour in three years, Jon Bon Jovi will offer topical tunes from "2020," the Jersey boys latest album. "American Reckoning" explicitly addresses the George Floyd murder in Minneapolis, "Blood in the Water" discusses xenophobia and "Lower the Flag" disses gun violence. Of course, Bon Jovi knows where it's bread is buttered, with such meat-and-potatoes classics as "Livin' on a Prayer" and "Bad Medicine." (8 p.m. Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, $35.40-$1,950, ticketmaster.com)

Diane Schuur: Best known for singing with the Count Basie Orchestra, this veteran Grammy-winning vocalist/pianist has explored jazz with shades of blues, country, Latin and gospel. Her 2020 effort, "Running on Faith," is in the spiritual vein, including a reverent and eventually adventurous reading of the Beatles' "Let It Be." (5 & 7:30 p.m. Crooners, $40 and up, croonersmn.com)

Also: Pipa master Gao Hong celebrates her 50th anniversary with Dessa and others (3 p.m. Ordway, $15-$20); genre-crossing classical/hip-hop duo Black Violin (7:30 p.m., Ordway, $45-$75); Canadian indie-folkie Sarah Harmer (7:30 p.m., Cedar Cultural Center, $20-$24); the Nunnery joins Al Church's monthly live score series for "Last Man on Earth" (7:30 p.m., Parkway Theater, $10-$15); Scottish indie-rockers We Were Promised Jetpacks (8 p.m., Turf Club, $17-$20).

Monday, April 4

Mike Campbell & the Dirty Knobs: The longtime guitarist with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and recent replacement in Fleetwood Mac is learning to be a touring frontman with his 14-year-old hobby band. While 2020's debut "Wreckless Abandon" was appealing in a garagey Stonesian kind of way, this year's "External Combustion" is a bit more polished with a Southern-fried flavoring that evokes Petty lost in a '60s haze. After two pandemic postponements, the Dirty Knobs will finally make their Twin Cities debut with a setlist that includes a generous handful of Petty favorites. (8 p.m. Mon. Fine Line, 318 1^st Ave. N., Mpls., $35 and up, first-avenue.com).

Also: Jazz pianist Jeremy Walker (7 p.m. the Dakota, $10-$15); girl-group-channeling California rockers the Aquadolls (7:30 p.m., 7th St. Entry, $15).

Tuesday, April 5

Sons of Kemet: There is no other band quite like multi-reedist Shabaka Hutchings' quartet with two drummers and a tuba. Together, they encase the roiling of free jazz into Caribbean parade music, with a dash of hip-hop and politically charged spoken word. Their songs are variously syncopated and polyrhythmic, creating an interplay with Theon Cross' spirited bass lines on tuba that sounds greater than four pieces. Hutchings' saxophones and clarinets further diversify the textures. Born in London, raised in Barbados and classically trained, he celebrates the heroes and castigates the villains enmeshed in racism. Occasionally incendiary, utterly unique and surprisingly accessible. (8 p.m. Tue., Fine Line, 318 1st Av. N., Mpls., $25-$40, first-avenue.com)

Also: Industrial-metal pioneer Al Jourgensen's Ministry is back with veteran openers the Melvins and Corrosion of Conformity (7 p.m., Palace Theatre, $40+); Canadian noisemakers PUP with Cloud Nothings (7:30 p.m., the Fillmore, $25+); masterful picker David Bromberg, who has played with everyone from Bob Dylan to Jerry Garcia (7 p.m. also Wed. the Dakota, $45-$65).

Wednesday, April 6

Pittsburgh party-starter DJ/producer Girl Talk makes up a date originally scheduled for 2020 (9 p.m., First Avenue, $20); Houston's thrash-punk vets Dirty Rotten Imbeciles (8 p.m., Cabooze, $20); Salt Lake City rocker Ritt Momney (9 p.m., 7th St. Entry, $20); experimental metal band Abhorrent Expanse featuring Happy Apple's Erik Fratzke (8 p.m., Icehouse, $15).