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

1. Hootie & the Blowfish: Artists who accounted for the best-selling albums of the ‘90s — Metallica, Alanis Morissette and Creed — have been on the area concert schedule this summer. Don’t forget about Hootie & the Blowfish, celebrating the 30th anniversary of “Cracked Rear View.” They last toured five years ago to mark the silver anniversary of that blockbuster album featuring “Hold My Hand” and “Let Her Cry.” On tour this summer, they’ve been throwing in a couple of Darius Rucker’s country hits as well as well-chosen covers of R.E.M., Tom Waits and Led Zeppelin. Opening are ‘90s holdovers Collective Soul and Edwin McCain. (7 p.m. Somerset Amphitheater, 495 Main St., Somerset, Wis., $70-$1,200, livenation.com)

2. Source Song Festival: This celebration of the voice brings contemporary composers and emerging singers and collaborative pianists to town for a week of free-to-the-public daytime workshops, master classes and lectures. Evenings are given over to concerts that include an all-Spanish-language recital by two of the outstanding visiting clinicians, Grammy-winning soprano Ana María Martinez and pianist Myra Huang (7:30 p.m. Thu.), and a showcase for the singers and pianists the festival has brought together (7:30 p.m. Fri.). (Westminster Hall, Nicollet Mall and Alice Rainville Place, Mpls., $25, sourcesongfestival.org)

Also: It’s a weekend full of pickin’ and singin’ with concerts and workshops at the Minnesota Bluegrass August Festival with Ron Block’s All-Stars, Dave Adkins & Mountain Stout, Purple Hulls, Amanda Cook Band, David Peterson & 1946 and many others (Thu.-Sun. El Rancho Mañana, Richmond, Minn., $50 and up); hard-rocking, hard-working, patriotic, outlaw country singer Creed Fisher of Odessa, Texas, lands in St. Paul (8 p.m. Turf Club, $28 and up); British guitar star Albert Lee, who has done stints with Eric Clapton, Emmylou Harris and others, is back in downtown Minneapolis with Jeremy Clyde of Chad & Jeremy fame (7 p.m. the Dakota, $45-$55); well-traveled Twin Cities guitar masters Bobby Schnitzer and Dan Neale team up (6:30 p.m. Crooners, $20-$30).

3. Bayfront Blues Festival: The Bayfront Blues Festival folks highlighted Bayfront Festival Park on Lake Superior before it became Duluth’s hippest venue. For their 35th annual run, Bayfront Blues has a Saturday night of fierce female performers, including fireball Shemekia Copeland, British guitar star Joanne Taylor Shaw and saxophonist/singer Vanessa Collier. Friday’s lineup includes blues-rock scions Devon Allman and Bernard Allison. Sunday’s bill showcases Buckwheat Zydeco Jr. as well as Minnesota favorites Mick Sterling & the Stud Brothers and Maurice Jacox & the We Still R. (noon Fri.-Sun., Bayfront Park, 350 Harbor Drive, Duluth, $65 and up, bayfrontblues.com)

4. Lakeside Guitar Fest: One of the Twin Cities’ coolest free music festivals, it’s curated as a nonprofit event by musicians Molly Maher and Todd Clouser centered around any and every genre featuring their favorite instrument. One of the standout performers this year is a veteran jazz/avant-garde bassist, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, who worked with Ornette Coleman in the ‘70s and ‘80s. He tops off the Saturday lineup, which also features New York innovator Ava Mendoza, Texas twanger Nicky Diamonds and locals Paul Metzger, Molly Dean, Jake LaBotz and more. There’ll also be a noontime improv session led by Low’s Alan Sparhawk; all guitarists are invited. The Minnesota Last Waltz tribute to the Band follows at a $33 charge at 6 p.m. The fest gets started Friday with surfabilly rockers the Black Widows, Dylan Salfer and another masterful bassist, Yohannes Tona. (6 p.m. Fri. & 11 a.m. Sat., Como Lakeside Pavilion, 1360 Lexington Pkwy N., St. Paul, free, musicmissionmusic.com)

5. Ber: A year after dropping her breakout EP “Halfway,” Minnesota’s viral pop-rock singer has another terrific half-sized album to promote, “Room for You,” named after the heart-splattered new-beginnings piano ballad that’s been in steady rotation on the Current since January. There’s other bittersweet romantic fodder and some rowdier, fun new tunes on the EP, co-produced with members of Now, Now. The Twin Cities transplant originally from the Bemidji area is touting the new release for hometown fans with a free, summery outdoor gig at Minneapolis’ most scenic outdoor stage, preceded by Anni XO and followed by a screening of “Jaws” for the Star Tribune’s Music & Movies series (6:30 p.m. Lake Harriet Band Shell, 4135 W. Lake Harriet Parkway, Mpls., free, tix.startribune.com)

6. Julia Bullock: This soprano might be the hottest singer in classical music right now. One of Musical America’s 2021 Artists of the Year, Bullock recently won a Grammy for her album “Walking in the Dark,” sharing it with her pianist husband, Christian Reif, music director of Brainerd’s Lakes Area Music Festival, which hosts this concert. Known for curating fascinating, thought-provoking recitals, she’ll perform one with pianist Bretton Brown that mixes American folk, blues and spirituals with songs by 20th-century Europeans Kurt Weill, Richard Strauss and Alban Berg and slices of musical theater. (7:30 p.m. Tornstrom Auditorium, 804 Oak St., Brainerd, Minn., $43, lakesareamusic.org)

Also: Lou Barlow of Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh fame has revived his rhythmic lo-fi duo the Folk Implosion, which scored the hit “Natural One” off 1995′s “Kids” soundtrack and just dropped its first album in 25 years, plus Barlow and partner John Davis will each play a solo set (8 p.m. Cloudland Theater, $30); Dallas alt-country yahoos the Old 97′s are celebrating their 30th anniversary with a tour and a dark new album, “American Primitive,” and are thankfully back in the Mainroom this time around (8 p.m. First Avenue, $28); another Tribute to Shania Twain is being staged by local twang unit Too Short to Be Stormtroopers and a cast of hot, young local singers such as Faith Boblett, Jaedyn James, Molly Brandt, Clare Doyle and more (8:30, Turf Club, $15); the New Primitives, those Minneapolis groovers, toast their new reggae-infused album, “Primitive Road,” on Loud Folk Records (7:30 p.m. Hook & Ladder, $15-$20); Wild Nights at the Minnesota Zoo takes a funky turn with irresistible rapper Nur-D and Chase & Ovation, the long-lived Prince tribute band (8 p.m. Minnesota Zoo, $30-$40); sidelined by bassist Chris Bierden’s cancer battle of late, Poliça is playing its first show of 2024 and first hometown gig since 2021 to kick off the two-night Totally Gross National Product party at Icehouse (9 p.m., $25-$35); indie-folk vet Mason Jennings will perform his “Use Your Voice” album in full with a band for a two-night 20th anniversary celebration (8 p.m. Parkway Theater, $35-$55); Moore By Four harmonizes again, under the direction of jazzy piano man Sanford Moore (6 p.m. Crooners, $35-$45).

8. Dwight Yoakam and the Mavericks: What do Yoakam and the Mavericks have in common besides guitarist Eddie Perez (who’s toured with both)? They remain compelling live acts decades after they landed on the radio. Yoakam will bring his love of Bakersfield, the Beatles and Elvis Presley as well those sexy legs. Led by bravura Orbison-esque vocalist Raul Malo, the Mavericks mine a pre-Beatles mix of rock, pop and Tex-Mex into an irresistible sound that will keep baby boomers dancing. Think of this delectable doubleheader as two country-adjacent mavericks for the price of one. (6:30 p.m. the Ledge Amphitheater, 1700 Parkway Dr., Waite Park, Minn., $49.50-$495, ticketmaster.com)

Also: Proving that disbanded country duos are destined to reunite, Brooks & Dunn are back with “Boot Scootin’ Boogie,” “Neon Moon” and a jukebox full of ‘90s and ‘00s hits, with Terri Clark of “Girls Lie Too” fame (7 p.m. Treasure Island Casino, $45-$149); the Totally Gross National Product label party is a mini-fest of sorts featuring a wild mix with Marijuana Deathsquads, Alan Sparhawk, Greg Grease, Psymun, Papa Mbye and more inside and outside Icehouse (3 p.m., $40); indie-rap mainstays Atmosphere return to First Avenue as a warm-up to their almost-annual Red Rock gig (8:30 p.m., resale tickets only); Twin Cities jazz ensemble Steve Kenny Quintet plays the music of John Coltrane (7 p.m. Crooners, $25-$35); Erik Koskinen pairs up with northern Minnesota alt-twangers Wild Horses (8 p.m. Turf Club, $20).

With a brief break in this year’s Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band schedule, Max Weinberg’s Jukebox does its live jukebox bit for free (7 p.m. Mayo Park, Rochester, free); Charanga Tropical heads up another Sunday Salsa Matinee show (5 p.m. Icehouse, $15); after a fun run of outdoor gigs already this summer, Van Morrison-channeling big band the Belfast Cowboys seek the solace of air-conditioning and table cloths (7 p.m. the Dakota, $25-$30).

Longtime Twin Cities favorite Ike Reilly, the righteous rocker from Libertyville, Ill., is the subject of a new documentary, “Don’t Turn Your Back on Friday Night,” which will be screened followed by a Q&A with Reilly and director Mike Schmiedeier as well as live music from Reilly and friends (7:30 p.m. Parkway Theater, $25-$30); high-wired Kentucky rockers Cage the Elephant have maintained a dedicated following since their 2008 hits “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” and “Cigarette Daydream,” and now they’re testing their fanbase with their first arena tour for the new album “Neon Pills” with openers Young the Giant and more (6:30 p.m. Target Center, $30-$130); that ukulele wiz Jake Shimabukuro, who covers everything from Queen and the Beatles to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and Hawaiian tunes, is back with his fancy picking (7 p.m. the Dakota, $60-$70); jazz and hip-hop keyboardist DeVon Gray is heading up the Jazz Implosion Mondays series this month with his Heiruspecs bandmate Felix, Tasha Baron, Mike Marcinowski and more guesting this week (7 p.m. Icehouse, $15-$20).

9. Ice Spice: Eight months after she showed commanding flow and fiery energy to make a strong and fiery first impression to Twin Cities audiences opening for Doja Cat at Target Center, the Bronx’s hottest young hitmaker since J. Lo is locked and loaded to be her own headliner. The rapper born Isis Naija Gaston got a big boost via her feature on Taylor Swift’s 2022 hit “Karma” and then “Barbie World” with Nicki Minaj, but she has since racked up her own run of hits, too, including “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2,” “Princess Diana” and “Think U [Expletive],” the latter from her fun, raunchy but seriously biting debut album, “Y2K!” She’s on tour with another Bronx rapper, Cash Cobain of “Sexy Drill” fame. (8 p.m. the Armory , 500 S. 6th St., Mpls., $46-$66, ticketmaster.com)

10. Robert Finley: Rediscovered busking in 2015, the retired carpenter has become an inspiring story and musician. Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach found the blind Louisiana bluesman on his 2016 release “Age Don’t Mean a Thing” and produced Finley’s next three albums. In between, Finley got a boost by making it to the semi-finals on “America’s Got Talent” in 2019. Last year, the 70-year-old singer/guitarist showed his robust, B.B. King-evoking voice and way with the blues on the rousing “Black Bayou,” featuring drummers Patrick Carney of Black Keys and Jeffrey Clemens of G. Love & Special Sauce as well as Auerbach. (7 p.m. Dakota, 1010 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., $35-$40, dakotacooks.com)

Also: Dweezil Zappa, audiophile, guitarist and TV star on MTV and cooking shows, returns (8 p.m. Fitzgerald Theater, $47.50 and up); guitar experimentalist Buckethead, best known for playing in Guns N’ Roses for five years and wearing an KFC bucket on his head, reemerges (8 p.m. First Avenue, $35 and up); Texas bluesman Sugaray Rayford, who won the 2020 Blues Music Award for entertainer of the year, visits Minneapolis (8 p.m. Hook & Ladder, $20-$35).