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

It’s Farm Aid’s idea of pregaming. Sort of. The nonprofit is presenting Rissi Palmer’s Color Me Country Takeover two days before Farm Aid 40 takes over Huntington Bank Stadium with Willie Nelson and friends. The subject of the 2023 documentary “Still Here,” Southern soul singer Palmer just received the Lift Every Voice Award from the Academy of Country Music. Not only is she known for the hit “Country Girl,” the socially conscious Palmer has advocated for rootsy musicians of color on her Apple Music show and podcast, both titled “Color Me Country.” Opening will be Michael B. Whit and Alyssia Dominguez. (8 p.m. Fine Line, 318 1st Av. N., Mpls., $33-$65, first-avenue.com)

Since serving as one of Frank Ocean’s chief collaborators on his 2016 album “Blond,” Philadelphia’s cosmic-melodic wizard Alex Giannascoli has himself become a semi-enigmatic, influential, viral pop music antihero. He scored the music for last year’s sleeper indie hit movie “I Saw the TV Glow” and dropped his own new record, “Headlights,” which trades his former lo-fi guitar sound for more lushly arranged but equally chill tunes. Unlike Ocean, he’s thankfully prone to touring. London strummer Nilüfer Yanya opens. (7 p.m. Palace Theatre, 17 W. 7th Place, St. Paul, $53-$120, axs.com)

Thomas Søndergård launches his third season as music director by conducting a program that features a Hector Berlioz song cycle, “Les nuits d’ete (Summer Nights),” performed by one of the world’s most renowned opera stars, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. There will also be orchestral works by Leonard Bernstein and contemporary French composer Guillaume Connesson, as well as a suite from Richard Strauss’ opera “Der Rosenkavalier.” (11 a.m. Thu., 8 p.m. Fri. Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., $47-$125, minnesotaorchestra.org.)

Also: Seminal British punk band the Damned has re-formed a few times over the years, and the current lineup boasts original 1976 members Dave Vanian, Rat Scabies and Captain Sensible (8 p.m. First Avenue); Lene Lovich, the Detroit-born, London-launched new wave singer who recorded for Stiff Records in its late ‘70s/early ‘80s heyday, has undertaken her first tour in decades and Minneapolis is the second date (7:30 p.m. Parkway Theater, $35-$50); Joyann Parker presents her highly recommended Patsy Cline tribute in words and song (5:30 p.m. Crooners, $37.89 and up)

The soprano known as “the Voice” is the world’s most famous classical vocalist. She’ll spend a weekend in St. Paul, starting with a Friday night Schubert Club recital with pianist Inon Barnatan. They’ll perform a very diverse program of music from her Grammy-winning 2021 album, “Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene,” with images from National Geographic projected behind them. Then she’ll lead a master class with Minnesota Opera resident artists on Saturday, and offer a “Music and Mind” lecture and panel discussion on Sunday. (Recital: 7:30 p.m. Fri., Ordway Concert Hall, 345 Washington St., St. Paul, $45-$95; master class: 6:30 p.m. Sat., House of Hope Presbyterian Church, 797 Summit Ave., St. Paul, $20; lecture: 2 p.m. Sun., House of Hope, $35, schubert.org.)

After sparking a rather bizarre celebrity beef with Lana Del Rey and earning cancellation-style backlash over stupid, old tweets from her youth, this Florida-reared goth-pop balladeer is — like the Southern culture that inspires her songs — complicated. But the real-life Hayden Anhedönia’s music has proved to be complex and compelling. Her richly atmospheric production and literary abilities shine through the moodiness on her second album, “Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You,” a continuation of the characters and stories from her 2022 breakout LP, “Preacher’s Daughter.” She’s making her overdue headlining debut locally with Toronto band 9Million. (8 p.m. Palace Theatre, 17 W. 7th Place, St. Paul, $94 and up, axs.com)

Also: Twenty-one years since winning the best new artist Grammy, Amy Lee and her dramatic hard-rock band Evanescence have maintained a cultish following, keeping them in arenas on their Keep Them Fed Tour with Poppy and more (6 p.m. Grand Casino Arena, $66 & up); Ruben Studdard, the 2003 “American Idol” champion, brings his estimable voice to St. Cloud (7:30 p.m. Paramount Center for the Arts, St. Cloud, $10-$32); last year’s Twin Cities Winter Jazz Fest headliner, Cuban jazz pianist Jorge Luis Pacheco returns with his trio for two shows (7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Berlin, $40); Justin Hawkins brings the Brit band the Darkness, remembered for the 2003 song “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” back to Dinkytown (8 p.m. Varsity Theater, $45 and up); Iowa-reared country singer Hailey Whitters of “Everything She Ain’t” fame is touting her fifth album, “Corn Queen” (8 p.m. Fine Line).

She is a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Grammy queen, national treasure, righteous activist and longtime Minnesota favorite. She recorded her first album in a makeshift studio on Lake Minnetonka back in 1971. There is no better place in the Land of 10,000 Lakes to see Raitt than the picturesque Ledge Amphitheater. The Californian booked this concert in the state she calls a second home long before Farm Aid announced its plans for the same day in Minneapolis. Raitt is still celebrating her 2022 Grammy-winning album, “Just Like That,” along with those classic ballads that made Minnesota love her. Veteran Texas bluesman Jimmie Vaughan opens and will collaborate with Raitt. (7:30 p.m. Ledge Amphitheater, Waite Park, $65 and up, ticketmaster.com)

To celebrate its 40 years as a destination for good music and good food, the popular downtown Minneapolis club will present a free two-stage indoor/outdoor block party. With performances on the Nicollet Mall and inside the Dakota, the suitably eclectic lineup features some of Minnesota’s most beloved musicians — the Suburbs, Davina & the Vagabonds, Nachito Herrera, Jamecia Bennett, Tina Schlieske — as well as New Orleans party starter Glen David Andrews, who has been a Dakota regular. New Orleans-flavored food, including specials like beignets, will be available for purchase. (2-10 p.m. the Dakota, 1010 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., free, dakotacooks.com)

While their fellow ‘90s British rock heroes Oasis are filling stadiums playing nothing but the oldies, these more stylish and forward-thinking Sheffielders are reiterating their cool cult appeal by performing new tunes on their long-awaited reunion tour. Bowie acolyte Jarvis Cocker and his old chums of “Common People” fame sound familiar but revitalized on their first album in 24 years, “More,” which has turned into one of 2025’s most acclaimed rock LPs and generated a legit hit with the playful romp “Spike Island.” Hamilton Leithauser of the Walkmen opens. (8 p.m. the Armory, 500 S. 6th St., Mpls., $78, ticketmaster.com)

Five decades after releasing their first batch of highly influential albums and serving as one of synth-pop music’s earliest pioneers, Ron and Russell Mael are enjoying a giddy kind of resurgence. The wry and high-wiry Los Angeles siblings are featured on the new Gorillaz single, “The Happy Dictator,” and enjoying cool buzz for their own new releases as Sparks, the LP “Mad!” and follow-up EP “Madder.” And now they’re on a rare tour bringing their band to Minneapolis for the first time as a stand-alone unit, following their only other previous appearance here with Franz Ferdinand as the hybrid band FFS at First Ave in 2015. Certain to be a lot of fun. (8 p.m. Fitzgerald Theater, 10 E. Exchange St., St. Paul, $70-$111, axs.com)

Also: Another free outdoor bash with an excellent lineup like the Dakota party, SurlyFest will feature a Lazerbeak-curated lineup with the reformed Doomtree offshoot rap group Shredders, Bad Bad Hats, White Boy Summer (Thomas Abban and L.A. Buckner), Christy Costello and Sophie Hiroko (2 p.m., Surly Brewing Co., all ages); Twin Cities-based, Cuba-reared string players the Havana Quartet will celebrate composers from their homeland (7:30 p.m. Berlin, $25).

Known from the 2019 Juice Wrld collaboration “Bandit” and his own viral hits “Outside Today” and “Untouchable,” Louisiana rapper NBA YoungBoy is heading up the MASA Tour with Migas alumni Offset and a large undercard including Toosii, DeeBaby and Mellow Rackz (7 p.m. Target Center, $93 and up).

Stylish, fun French electronic producers Paul Armand-Delille and Alexandre Grynszpan have generated a lot of airplay in hipster boutique stores as Polo + Pan and are now taking on America audiences (8 p.m. Palace Theatre); a whole other kind of European duo, Estonia’s eclectic folk pickers Puuluup are playing a full “evening with” set (7:30 p.m. Cedar Cultural Center, $20-$25).

A fun idea with a couple of the Twin Cities’ best swinging retro-jazz groups, the Southside Aces and the Riffin’ Trio perform for the F. Scott Fitzgerald birthday bash, timed to the 100th anniversary of “The Great Gatsby” (7 p.m. Turf Club); Franco-Moroccan trio Zar Electrik is billed as “a marriage of Gnawan trance with loops of sub-Saharan music and bewitching electro” (7:30 p.m. Cedar Cultural Center, $20-$25).