Big Gigs for May 16-22: Lady Gaga, Haim, Rodriguez and more

After debuting a louder and feistier backing band last year, Haley Bonar follows suit with a vibrant new album landing Tuesday, "Last War." The Rapid City, S.D., native hasn't lost the stargazed big-sky vibe she made her mark with a decade ago, when Low's Alan Sparhawk produced her raw debut album. However, she's come a long way in cultivating a sound to match that expansiveness, with guitarist Jacob Hanson's knack for the ethereal and other traces of the Cure and Bon Iver (never mind that BI's Justin Vernon guests on the album). Her hometown release party will feature the coolest choral group in town, Anonymous Choir, and DJ-ing by Shannon Blowtorch. Read an interview at startribune.com/music. (9 p.m. Fri., Varsity Theater, $15.) Chris Riemenschneider

Milwaukee's revived and rejuvenated Semi-Twang has produced two of the most inspired roots-rock albums of this decade. Maybe taking 23 years to follow up its 1988 major-label debut was the secret, or perhaps frontman John Sieger is the most fertile late bloomer since Cezanne, cranking out one droll and hook-filled gem after another. If you like great in-the-tradition songwriters — from Dylan, Prine and Fogerty to such Sieger friends as Robbie Fulks — Semi-Twang should be on your radar. (9:30 p.m. Fri., Lee's Liquor Lounge, $10.) Tom Surowicz

As farewell shows go, High on Stress appears to be going out stress-free, feeling good about an 11-year local legacy that saw the Americana twang-rock quartet back up Slim Dunlap and play innumerable whiskey-soaked gigs. They're going out on a high note, too, with their final gig serving as a release party for their fourth album, "Leaving Mpls." Frontman Nick Leet channels his North Dakota roots and Gear Daddies-like, heartland songwriting style as he sings about moving on with life. Ah, life. It certainly should be a lively affair in a cool neighborhood theater with three excellent openers, Little Man, the 757s and Verskotzi. (7:30 p.m. Fri., Parkway Theater, 4814 Chicago Av. S., Mpls., $8-$12.) Riemenschneider

Movie stars can make a career out of an Oscar, so don't begrudge singer/songwriter Rodriguez — subject of the 2012 Oscar-winning documentary "Searching for Sugar Man" — for cashing in on his reignited music career. In the early 1970s, the singer from Detroit made two albums that were little noticed except in South Africa, where he became a cult hero. Thinking he was dead, two fans tracked him down and convinced him to come to South Africa for huge concerts that were filmed for the movie. Last year in concert in St. Paul, the seemingly shy Rodriguez, now 73, emerged as a charmer in conversation and in song. Sadly, "Sugar Man" director Malik Bendjelloul died this week in Sweden at 36. (8 p.m. Sat., State Theatre, $39-$69.) Jon Bream

It'll be like a Record Store Day reprise Saturday at Treehouse Records, except local music­heads won't line up to buy collectibles, but rather to say goodbye. Dan Cote, the store's manager since it changed over from Oar Folkjokeopus in 2001, is flying the coop. Also the man behind the record label Heart of a Champion, Cote has an impressive roster of local music makers performing in-store, starting with Eleganza! and continuing hourly with (in order) the Blind Shake, Charlie Parr, the Bombay Sweets, Murzik and Mike Gunther. (1-7 p.m. Sat., Treehouse Records, 2557 Lyndale Av. S., Mpls., all ages, free.) Riemenschneider

On this year's "Tales From the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles," Suzanne Vega offered her first new material in seven years. She is, by turns, serious (songs about Mother Teresa, Buddhist philosophies), lighthearted (she name-checks Macklemore and samples 50 Cent) and self-reverential ("Song of the Stoic" is part "Luka," part Leonard Cohen and part rap). For Vega fans, "Queen of Pentacles," which refers to Tarot cards, is a good sign. Ari Hest opens. (8 p.m. Sat., Cedar Cultural Center, $35-$45.) Bream

Huey Lewis and the News aren't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, even though their previous incarnation known as Clover anonymously backed Hall of Famer Elvis Costello on his 1977 landmark debut "My Aim Is True" — true story. A glorified San Francisco blues-rock bar band, Lewis and the News made their own headlines with such 1980s smashes as "I Want a New Drug," "The Power of Love" and "Hip to Be Square." Indeed, Lewis was never hip. But he has hits to keep on playin' as he celebrates the 30th anniversary of his blockbuster "Sports" album. (8 p.m. Sat., Mystic Lake Casino, $46 & $56.) Bream

Los Angeles sister trio Haim has been touring for well over a year, building up the buzz behind its debut album, "Days Are Gone," but it oddly has yet to play Minnesota. Local fans can finally learn that, in addition to brandishing those insatiable pop hooks heard in the hit singles "Don't Save Me" and "The Wire," these Valley Girls rock with surprising oomph in concert. And the sisters will get to play the club that was on their "Purple Rain"-shaded radar from the get-go. Denver indie-pop duo Tennis opens. Read an interview with Este Haim in Sunday's Variety. (8 p.m. Mon., First Avenue, sold out.) Riemenschneider

Performing solo, David Lindley returns to play blues, folk, original reggae, roots-rock, music of Madagascar — pretty much whatever he pleases. The longtime sideman to rock stars (Jackson Browne, Dylan, Warren Zevon, Linda Ronstadt), Lindley is a guy who can morph the classic car song "Mercury Blues" into a protest number about the mercury content in tuna. (7:30 p.m. Mon., Cedar Cultural Center, $20-$22.) Surowicz

Compared with her first two blockbuster albums, last year's "Artpop" has been a commercial fizzle for Lady Gaga. That hasn't deterred her from filling her just-launched concert tour with "Artpop" material and, of course, eye-popping production. You've probably heard about her most outrageous gag — she changes clothes onstage and exposes her skull cap (under her wig) and her you-know-whats (she asks her Little Monsters to put away their cellphones for this truly Gaga moment). Just don't expect her to preview her jazz album, a collaboration with Tony Bennett due later this year. Opening is Japanese virtual pop star Hatsune Miku — she appears as a computer-generated hologram. (7:30 p.m. Tue., Xcel Energy Center, $37-$202.) Bream

If only Maplewood Mall allowed camping and had overflowing porta-potties in its parking lot, fans could party like it's X Fest 1999 with back-to-back hard-rock gigs at Myth. First up is Seether, the grungy South African trio led by Kurt Cobain acolyte Shaun Morgan, which just dropped its seventh album, "Isolate and Medicate." The "Remedy" and "Fake It" hitmakers sounded refreshingly unchanged and overwrought opening for Nickelback in 2012. Black Stone Cherry opens. (7:30 p.m. Tue., Myth, $19.37.) The next night sees the return of Ozzfest faves Black Label Society, led by Ozzy's former guitarist Zakk Wylde, they are heading up the Revolver Golden Gods Tour with Devil You Know and Down. (7:30 p.m. Wed., $29.50.) Riemenschneider

Twista made the Guinness World Records book as the fastest rapper in the game, but he hasn't been moving all that swiftly in his career of late. The Chicago wordsmith — still best-remembered for the Luther Vandross-invoking 2003 Kanye West collaboration "Slow Jamz" — is hyping his way to a June arrival for his first album in four years, "Dark Horse." The first single, "Throwin' My Money" with R. Kelly, actually came out last May. He's performing here with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's Flesh-n-Bone, who hasn't let a half-dozen arrests on gun charges keep him from touring. (9 p.m. Fri., Fine Line, $25.) Riemenschneider

The duo of Irish fiddler Martin Hayes and Chicago guitarist Dennis Cahill certainly gets around. These traditional Celtic musicians have collaborated with Bill Frisell, Paul Simon, Ricky Skaggs and Alison Krauss, to name a few. Plus their "experimental" band the Gloaming's self-titled release recently stormed the Irish indie charts, gathering rave reviews. There's no denying the duo's empathy after nearly two decades of collaboration. (8 p.m. Fri., Celtic Junction, 836 Prior Av. N., St. Paul, $20-$25, 612-874-8892.) Surowicz

The Artists' Quarter may be shuttered, but great jazz persists in St. Paul. Ace trumpeter Steve Kenny leads a quartet of bar all-stars featuring bassist Billy Peterson, saxophonist Brandon Wozniak and drummer Jay Epstein. This new combo's "book" consists largely of Thelonious Monk tunes, and that's a good thing. (8 p.m. Fri., Black Dog, 308 Prince St., St. Paul, no cover, 651-228-9274.) Surowicz

Fans of avant-garde improvised jazz should take note of an intriguing gig by saxophonist Pat Moriarty and pianist Ellen Lease, featuring New York City-based saxophonist/composer/free improviser Michael Attias plus the return of an old bandmate: Homer Lambrecht, a trombonist and composer better known these days in the classical/orchestral realm. He'll appear sans horn, as a live electronics specialist, providing "interactive soundscapes" for the intrepid trio to explore. (8 p.m. Sun., Studio Z, 275 E. 4th St. St. Paul, $5-$10. 651-755-1600.) Surowicz

With "Blue Light 'Til Dawn" in 1993, inventive jazz singer Cassandra Wilson expanded the Great American Songbook to embrace blues, folk and R&B. The breakthrough album resonated with baby boomers as Wilson re-imagined songs by the likes of Joni Mitchell and Van Morrison. Her striking versions of Robert Johnson's "Come on in My Kitchen" and Ann Peebles' "I Can't Stand the Rain" rival the originals. Wilson is celebrating the album's 20th anniversary by releasing a remastered CD (including three unreleased live tracks) and performing the album on tour with some of the musicians who played on it. (7 & 9 p.m. Mon.-Tue., Dakota, $40-$60.) Bream

The Schubert Club ends its International Artist season with a bang, presenting Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovksy. The busy recitalist, recording artist and opera singer was last at the Schubert Club in 1999, when a Star Tribune critic noted the "earthshaking tour de force" of his encore, an aria from "Rigoletto." In this concert, Hvorostovsky will perform music of Liszt, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky. Also on the program are settings of poems by Pushkin and Goethe by the lesser-known composer Nicolas Medtner. (7:30 p.m. Mon., Ordway Center, 345 Washington St., St. Paul, $26-$89, 651-224-4222.) Claude Peck