The 20 fun events we're most excited for in the Twin Cities area in 2023

Roll out the welcome mat for 2023 — it's worth the wait.

Venues are hosting mega performers — a pop icon drops by the Vikings stadium and a world-famous string quartet bids farewell in a church. Uptown is getting a two-level concert hall and a writers' festival is back in person after three long years. Marvel's famous webslinger is back in action and FX's riff on the Coen brothers' 1996 noir returns to the Upper Midwest for Season 5. The Guthrie Theater celebrates its 60th anniversary by going down memory lane, a visual artist gives meaning to junk and dancers explore the past and future.

Here's our guide to what you must do, see and listen to in the new year, and so mark down the dates and get those tickets ASAP.

MUSIC

Concerts: Taylor Swift

Let's force ourselves to forget the Ticketmaster fiasco for the moment (I know, a big ask). Let's be grateful that the world's most massive music maker will return to Minneapolis for the first time in five years. Since her 2018 gigs at the Vikings stadium, she has dropped four new albums ("Lover," the Grammy-winning "Folklore," the even better "Evermore" and 2022's masterful "Midnights"), plus Swift's versions of "Fearless" and "Red" and "Midnights (3am Edition)." So much new music. Will there be room for "You Belong With Me" or "Bad Blood"? (6:30 p.m. June 23-24, U.S. Bank Stadium, 401 Chicago Av. S., Mpls., $49-$899, ticketmaster.com)

A close second: Bruce Springsteen is back, with hubbub over ticket sales and, like Swift, much new material since his last Twin Cities gig in 2016. Will the marathon rocker offer any tunes from his recent "Western Stars," "Letter to You" and 2022's soul covers "Only the Strong Survive"? (7:30 p.m. March 5, Xcel Energy Center, 199 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, $200 and up, ticketmaster.com)
JON BREAM

It's literally a stretch: One of Minneapolis' oldest and most iconic movie theaters is being renovated into a 2,500-person, two-level concert hall by expanding it into a neighboring building. The ambitious project's developer, Swervo, already pulled off a similar makeover with the resoundingly successful Armory in downtown Minneapolis. An opening date has not been given, but it's well on track for 2023 with Live Nation reportedly in line to help line up performers. The Twin Cities area doesn't really need another indoor venue this size (see also: the Palace, Orpheum, State, Northrop). But Uptown sure could use the jolt.

A close second: Started during the COVID pandemic for safe outdoor gigs, the Hook & Ladder's Under the Canopy concert series will not only live another year but maybe another 20 years. A permanent canopy will be built and there will be other improvements by next summer, paid for via grants and Give to the Max donations in support of the nonprofit venue's community-oriented bookings.
CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

Classical: Emerson String Quartet

After 46 years, one of the world's great string quartets is calling it a career. Winners of nine Grammys (including two for Best Classical Album), the foursome is on an international farewell tour that includes big venues like New York's Carnegie Hall and Chicago's Orchestra Hall and also the intimate St. Anthony Park United Church of Christ. At the St. Paul church, it will perform a Schubert Club Music in the Park Series concert of quartets by Haydn, Shostakovich and Dvorak. Consider yourself quite fortunate if you have a ticket. (4 p.m. Feb. 12, 2129 Commonwealth Av., St. Paul, $23-$33; 651-292-3268, schubert.org)

A close second: While violin soloists are common at orchestral concerts, Tabea Zimmermann is a master of the violin's larger, lower-voiced cousin, the viola. Her tenure as a St. Paul Chamber Orchestra artistic partner begins with music of Bartok, Brahms, the Mendelssohns, and virtuosic viola showpieces by Odon Partos and Johann Hummel. (11 a.m. & 8 p.m. March 10, Wooddale Church, Eden Prairie; 8 p.m. March 11, 2 p.m. March 12, 8 p.m. March 17 and 18, Ordway Concert Hall, St. Paul; 2 p.m. March 19, Benson Great Hall, Arden Hills; $10-$50; 651-291-1144, thespco.org)
ROB HUBBARD

'Spider-Man'

There are a lot of sequels coming in 2023 but the biggie is "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse." The familiar voices of Shameik Moore (Miles Morales), Jake Johnson (Peter Parker) and Hailee Steinfeld (Gwen Stacey) return, but there are also new ones. Even if you've given up on the multiple iterations of the live-action Spider-Man, keep your eyes peeled for this animated followup to the best movie of 2018, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse." It delivered the inclusive, wildly stylish and lightning-paced origins story of a new Spidey, who's a lot of Spideys in one. More of the same, please! (June 2, in theaters.)

A close second: A Mattel brand extension might not normally seem exciting but director/co-writer Greta Gerwig's take on "Barbie" is said to blend satire and affectionate homage, with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as the plastic lovers Barbie and Ken. (July 21, in theaters.)
CHRIS HEWITT

COMEDY

Sarah Silverman

A close second: It may seem odd that Trevor Noah stepped down from his high-profile gig on "The Daily Show" — until you see him in concert. As good as he was skewering the news, he's even better doing stand-up. The 38-year-old's Off the Record tour will hit more than two dozen American cities before venturing out in the rest of the world. (8 p.m. Nov. 9-10; 7 p.m. Nov. 11, Orpheum Theatre, 910 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls. $49.50-$115. hennepintheatretrust.org)
NEAL JUSTIN

BOOKS

Wordplay

The annual writers' festival hosted by the Loft Literary Center started off with a bang in 2019 and then went virtual-only for two years, thanks to COVID-19. In 2022, it went on hiatus, but we are thrilled it will be back this year, reconsidered, reshaped and rescheduled. The festival will move from May to July 8, shrink to one intense day and be structured around the theme "Narrative Power." The festival will have three stages, a variety of food trucks, and, in addition to talks and readings, classes, workshops and activities for children. Names of participating writers have yet to be announced. (All day July 8, Open Book, 1011 Washington Av. S., Mpls., loft.org)

A close second: The annual First Books reading of graduates of the University of Minnesota MFA program will feature Erica Berry, whose book "Wolfish" comes out in February, along with others to be announced. (7 p.m. March 2, Room 412, Pillsbury Hall, U of M.)
LAURIE HERTZEL

'Fargo'

After spending time with Chris Rock in Kansas City, the critically acclaimed TV series moves back to the Upper Midwest. Details about Season 5 are scant, but we're told that the plot revolves around a kidnapping in 2019, a hint that this could be the biggest throwback yet to the original 1996 Coen brothers movie. Could it be that creator Noah Hawley is returning to Minnesota? We do know that it's a doozy of a cast: Jon Hamm, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Juno Temple are all on board. Are we excited? You betcha. (FX, premiere TBA)

A close second: "Party Down," a sitcom about a hapless catering company, lasted only 20 episodes, but it's become a cult favorite. That's largely because cast members Jane Lynch and Adam Scott would go on to bigger things. It's also because it was hilarious. Now, more than a decade later, many of the actors return for a six-episode reboot with high-profile guest stars. (8 p.m. Feb. 24, Starz)
NEAL JUSTIN

ART

Kahlil Robert Irving

A close second: The Twin Cities' Bill Cottman may be best known for his longtime KFAI radio program "Mostly Jazz," but he also was a beloved mentor to young artists and a longtime board member of the nonprofit Juxtaposition Arts. A year after he died at the age of 77, his solo exhibition "I Am Here" is going on display. (Through Jan. 31, Homewood Studios, 2400 Plymouth Av. N., Mpls., free, 5-9 p.m. Tue., 1-6 p.m. Wed. & Fri., 1-4 p.m. Sat. homewoodstudios.com, 612-587-0230)
ALICIA ELER

STAGE

'Hamlet'

There's a neat symmetry that 60 years after the Guthrie Theater opened with founder Tyrone Guthrie's production of "Hamlet" in modern dress, artistic director Joseph Haj will again stage the Bard's ghost-suffused classic. The Guthrie's launch fueled the regional theater movement and changed the nation's arts landscape, so "Hamlet" was more than just a show. It was a celebration of a continuing artistic growth and maturation. Haj's revival will mark another moment in that progress. (April 8-May 21, Guthrie Theater, 818 S. 2nd St., Mpls. $20-$80. 612-377-2224, guthrietheater.org)

A close second: Another ghost, this time of an elephant, animates "Mlima's Tale," Lynn Nottage's 2018 work. The spirit of the title character takes us on a journey from Africa to Asia, touching on capitalism and conservation, human greed and haunting memory in this regional premiere by Ten Thousand Things. (Feb. 9-March 12, Open Book, 1011 Washington Av. S., Mpls.; Feb. 16-March 12, various community centers. $35. 612-203-9502, tenthousandthings.org)
ROHAN PRESTON

'Love to Death'

In this ritualistic work, Samoan choreographer Lemi Ponifasio seeks to draw the aesthetic roots in Indigenous forms, philosophies and ceremonies in collaboration with two Chilean artists — Mapuche vocalist and composer Elisa Avendaño Curaqueo and contemporary flamenco dancer Natalia García-Huidobro. They explore the natural world and femininity while interrogating identity, destiny, Chilean history and its future. Spurred by events after the murder of a Mapuche farmer, the work was created in 2019 and is currently on a North American tour. (8 p.m. March 31-April 2, Walker Art Center, 725 Vineland Place, Mpls., $31.50, 612-375-7600, walkerart.org)