The Big Gigs: 10 top concerts to see in the Twin Cities this week

Even as the world seems to get darker and bleaker, one of TikTok’s earliest breakout pop singers seems to only be getting brighter and sweeter. The 27-year-old Gray — whose smalltown-Texas roots and military-family roots play into his many positive songs about struggling to fit in — writes about falling in and out of love with a similarly upbeat outlook on his fourth album, “Wishbone.” He also takes on a slightly rockier edge akin to his close pal Olivia Rodrigo. His tour opener Esha Tewari is another wholesome TikTok star from Australia. (8 p.m. Target Center, 600 1st Av. N., Mpls., $37-$125, ticketmaster.com)

What’s an increasingly popular Oklahoma country-rock band that’s big enough to fill arenas across the country doing performing in a smaller theater in Minneapolis? Raising money for a conservationist cause near and dear to one of its good buddies from Minnesota, Trampled by Turtles frontman Dave Simonett. The red-dirt sextet is out promoting its Shooter Jennings-produced sixth album, “The Price of Admission,” but making a goodwill stop to benefit Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever supporting bird-hunter efforts in the Upper Midwest. A solo Simonett will open the show. (7:30 p.m. State Theatre, 805 Hennepin Av., Mpls., $120-$575, ticketmaster.com)

The Twin Cities’ first couple of classical music doesn’t meet onstage as often as it once did, as Osmo Vänskä has left his post as the Minnesota Orchestra’s music director, while his wife, violinist Erin Keefe, continues on as concertmaster. But Conductor Laureate Vänskä will be on the podium again for a program that features Keefe soloing on Sergei Prokofiev’s stirring yet somewhat haunting Second Violin Concerto. Vänskä will also conduct American composer Missy Mazzoli’s fascinating “Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres)” and Igor Stravinsky’s 1947 version of his ballet music for “Petrushka.” (11 a.m. Feb. 19, 8 p.m. Feb. 20; Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., $37-$115, minnesotaorchestra.org)

· “Masters of Hawaiian Music” features Grammy-winning George Kahumoku Jr.,Led Kaapana and Sonny Lim (7 p.m. the Dakota, $47.10 and up).

· Americana trio Turn Turn Turn wraps up its three-week album-preview residency at Icehouse with Leslie Vincent (7 p.m., $20-$27).

· New Nostalgia blows in from Chicago with its horn-propelled fusion (7 p.m. Crooners, $32.31 and up).

When we urged you to take a chance on the Cedar’s adventurous bookings in our guide to local concert venues, this is exactly the kind of show we were talking about. The two-night series exclusively spotlights Minnesota artists creating all-original and innovative music, including new pieces they will premiere at the show supported with a grant from the Jerome Foundation. Night 1 features Somali-born rapper/poet Deeq Abdi, union-affiliated laborer songwriter Creekbed Carter Hogan and theatrical pop act Trick Locket. Night 2 offers buzzing rapper Gr3g, composer/cellist Mikey Marget and storytelling indie-rocker Valentine Lowry-Ortega of the band Gill Weather. (7:30 p.m. Feb. 20 & 21, Cedar Cultural Center, 416 Cedar Av. S., Mpls., $18-$20/night or $30/two-night, thecedar.org)

This 25-year-old North Carolinian with a twangy voice created a buzz last fall with her debut album, “Cherry Valley.” Owing to the quirkiness of early Kacey Musgraves and the drama of Lana Del Rey, Faith impresses with super-emotionality while traversing the youthful challenges of love and the music biz in Nashville. She can turn a phrase: “Someone hold my beer ‘cause I can’t hold my tongue” (in “Grudge”) and “He drives me a Patsy kinda crazy” (in “Arrows”). Before Faith joins Post Malone and Jelly Roll on a stadium tour this spring, she visits one of Minneapolis’ smaller music spaces. (8 p.m. 7^th St. Entry, 701 1^st Av. N., Mpls., axs.com)

The New Jersey-reared guitarist has long been an in-demand session player, notably on Tom Waits’ “Rain Dogs,” Elvis Costello’s “Spike” and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss’ “Raising Sand,” among many projects. He also has released more than two-dozen instrumental albums under his own name. Last year, Ribot issued his first vocal album, “Map of a Blue City,” which was more than 30 years in the making and brought him to the Cedar Cultural Center. Along the way, he’s been part of a few disparate groups including the Ceramic Dog and Los Cubanos Postizos. Now he’s formed Hurry Red Telephone with former collaborator Chad Taylor on drums as well as bassist Sebastian Steinberg of Soul Coughing and saxophonist Briggan Krauss of Sexmob. (7 p.m. the Dakota, 1010 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., $41.95 and up, dakotacooks.com)

· Tiffany, the 1980s pop star launched by a shopping mall tour, saw her 1987 hit remake of “I Think We’re Alone Now” end up in “Stranger Things” last year (7:30 p.m. Paramount Center for the Arts, St. Cloud, $23 and up).

· Erik Koskinen is bringing Texas songwriting vet Will Sexton with his wife Amy LaVere to open this week’s residency gig at Icehouse (8 p.m., $22-$29).

· As part of the Twin Cities Jazz Festival’s pop-up series, the Kevin Gamble Quartet brings its mix of fusion and funk to Berlin (7:30 p.m., $20).

· Cate Fierro is back in black for her Amy Winehouse tribute (5:30 p.m. Crooners, $43 and up).

Two days after delivering a stirringly stark rendition of “America the Beautiful” at the Super Bowl, she opened her Human Tour in Philadelphia. She told the audience there that she was terrified. Not to worry. She is featuring her best album, 2025’s “Returning to Myself,” as well as collabs with Elton John from last year. When she comes to Minneapolis, Carlile also will dig deep into her catalog, maybe answer some requests and once again demonstrate why she loves Minnesota and the Land of 10,000 Bands loves her. Opening is the indie-folk group, the Head and the Heart, which, like Carlile, is from the greater Seattle area. (7 p.m. Target Center, 600 1^st Av. N., Mpls., $105 and up, axs.com)

After becoming the first jazz musician to win the Grammy for best new artist in 2011, this singer/bassist has certainly lived up to the promise of that prize. Not only has she won four more Grammys (including three for best jazz vocal album) but she has distinguished herself as a visionary, risk-taker and integral force in jazz, including writing an opera with saxophone giant Wayne Shorter. Her latest work, 2024’s “Milton + Esperanza,” is a graceful collaboration with legendary Brazilian singer Milton Nascimento, with guests Paul Simon and Lianne La Havas as well as the multilingual Spalding singing in Portuguese. Fresh from a tour of Slovakia and Czech Republic, she returns to Minneapolis. (7 p.m. the Dakota, 1010 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., $108.90 and up, dakotacooks.com)

· The Laurels String Quartet, mainstays in the background for a decade in the Twin Cities, have organized a program, entitled “8 Feet from the Stars,” accompanying a parade of Minnesota singer/songwriters including Aby Wolf, Adam Levy, Annie Humphrey, Barbara Cohen, Chan Poling, Chastity Brown, Dylan Hicks and John Munson (7 p.m. MacPhail Center for Music, $23.18).

· Joe Davis & the Poetic Diaspora lead a Black History Month program featuring Nur-D, Known Mpls, Brandyn Tulloch, VocalEssence, Singers Of This Age (SOTA), ComMUSICation and Endia Tierra (7 p.m. Northrop, pay what you wish).

· Rezz, the Ukrainian–Canadian DJ, dons her spiraling hypno glasses for a gig at the Armory (9 p.m., $65 and up).

· Veteran Mexican singer Alicia Villarreal, who postponed her fall Twin Cities concert because of the ICE operation, will make good (8 p.m. Pantages Theater, $58 and up).

· Stanford-educated Vienna Teng, who hasn’t issued an album since 2015, takes time out from her work as a climate activist to return to the stage (7 p.m. the Dakota, $40 and up).

· Well-traveled rockers Needtobreathe, featuring Twin Cities-reared picker Tyler Burkum, wraps up its Barely Elegant Acoustic Tour before delivering its 10th album in late March (6 p.m. Treasure Island, $58 and up).

· Toad the Wet Sprocket barefoot frontman Glen Phillips is out on a solo tour (7 p.m. the Dakota, $40 and up).

· Prudence Johnson, Richard Kriehn, Tatiana Riabokin, Dean Magraw and others billing themselves as Friends of Peter Ostroushko Stand with Ukraine will perform a fundraiser for Ukrainian refugees on the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the fifth anniversary of the death of Ostroushko, Minneapolis’ world-class mandolinist who was Ukrainian (7 p.m. Crooners, $48 and up).

With frontman Eugene Hütz’s homeland of Ukraine still under attack and many of his bandmates and fellow immigrants under siege in America, it should be a very interesting time to catch this always fiery Eastern European-flavored New York punk band. They just dropped a new album last week, “We Mean It, Man!,” produced with IDLES and Nick Cave cohort Nick Launay and featuring a new recording of their cult hit “Solidarity” with New Order’s Bernard Sumner. Opening band Puzzled Panther is another wild NYC act signed to the headliners’ label, Casa Gogol. (8 p.m. First Avenue, 701 1st Av. N., Mpls., resale tickets only, first-avenue.com)

· Blues powerhouse Shemekia Copeland is back for her second visit touting her Grammy-nominated “Blame It on Eve” (7 p.m. the Dakota, $45 and up).