Critics' picks: The 10 best things to do and see in the Twin Cities this week
Critics' picks for entertainment in the week ahead.
Peter Gabriel
It's been a minute since the two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and human-rights champion has released an album or toured. He's doing both this year, presenting an evening of new and old music accompanied by cutting-edge visuals and a large band including his longtime mates bassist Tony Levin, guitarist David Rhodes and drummer Manu Katché. Reports indicate half of the two-set concert is devoted to songs from the forthcoming "i/o," Gabriel's first album of new material since 2002. Meanwhile, the "Sledgehammer" hitmaker has been dropping new songs on every full moon this year. (8 p.m. Tue., Xcel Energy Center, 199 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, $55-$750, ticketmaster.com)
JON BREAM
Radio K's 30th Birthday
Still one of the liveliest and most innovative outlets on the Twin Cities FM dial, the University of Minnesota's student-run station is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a lineup of local acts as eclectic, cool and communal as its on-air brand. The globally flavored hip-hop/R&B collective Ozone Creations with producer/rapper Obi Original heads up the party, also featuring funky young jazz star L.A. Buckner and his band Big Homie, Low singer Alan Sparhawk's new funk group Derecho Rhythm Section, bluegrassy pickers Buffalo Galaxy and fuzz-rock blasters Bugsy. (7:30 p.m. Thu.., First Avenue, 701 1st Av. N., Mpls., $15, axs.com)
CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER
Ringo Starr
After COVID-19 forced the Beatles drummer to twice cut his tour short last fall, he's back on the road with the 15th iteration of His All-Starr Band. Starr gets help from his friends from previous tours, including Toto's Steve Lukather, Men at Work's Colin Hay and Edgar Winter. Expect plenty of peace signs from Ringo and a nostalgic jukebox full of hits from the Beatles to the Average White Band. (8 p.m. Sun., Mystic Lake Showroom, 2400 Mystic Lake Blvd. NW., Prior Lake, $130 and up, ticketmaster.com)
J.B.
Chappell Roan
Tapped to open the first leg of Olivia Rodrigo's upcoming arena tour, this flaming-redheaded, fiery-voiced Missouri synth-pop singer is already on the verge of breakout status with her debut album, "The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess." Songs like "Hot to Go!" and "Red Wine Supernova" have gone viral with her Benatar-meets-Blondie rocker voice, ultra-catchy choruses and the sharp blend of snarky and tender lyrics that will make her a perfect Rodrigo opener. (6 p.m. Sun., First Avenue, all ages, $31, axs.com)
C.R.
'Dark Sisters'
Journey North Opera Company's productions put women front and center, and this area premiere should provide a powerful opportunity to do so. With a libretto by Stephen Karam — author of the Tony-winning play, "The Humans" — Nico Muhly's opera chronicles a woman's attempt to escape from a polygamist Mormon sect after their compound has been raided by the federal government and the children taken away. (7:30 p.m. Fri. and Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., Southern Theater, 1420 Washington Av. S., Mpls., $25-$40, journeynorthopera.com)
ROB HUBBARD
The Ariel Quartet with Orion Weiss
The Schubert Club opens its Music in the Park Series season with this renowned Israeli string quartet, which formed while the musicians were in middle school, has now been together 20 years and has received the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award. After a collection of movements by various composers that they call "American Dream," they'll be joined by pianist Orion Weiss for Dmitri Shostakovich's powerful Piano Quintet in G minor. (4 p.m. Sun., St. Anthony Park United Church of Christ, 2129 Commonwealth Av., St. Paul, $23-$33, 651-292-3268 or schubert.org)
R.H.
DANCE
'The Great Gatsby'
Patrick Jeffrey takes on the role of Jay Gatsby, the millionaire who went in search of the American Dream, in Collide Theatrical's production. It tells F. Scott Fitzgerald's celebrated novel through dance, supported by live singers and a band. Adapted by artistic director Regina Peluso, the story gets a modern twist and finds connections between the roaring 1920s of Gatsby's world and the social-media-frenzied world of today. The show is co-choreographed by Heather Brockman. (7:30 p.m. Fri. & Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Through Oct. 15. Luminary Arts Center, 700 N. 1st St., Mpls, $45-55, 651-395-7903, collidetheatrical.org)
SHEILA REGAN
ART
Young, Gifted and Black
The MCAD Black Artist Collective takes inspiration for its exhibition title from Nina Simone's 1969 song "To Be Young, Gifted and Black," which became an anthem of the 1970s Black Pride Movement. The exhibition at MCAD's Concourse Gallery celebrates Blackness as it manifests through art and design. (Ends Nov. 4, 2501 Stevens Av. S., Mpls., free. Hours: 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat., 612-874-3700 or mcad.edu)
ALICIA ELER
Jim Denomie's 'Painting-a-Day'
Every day for a year in 2005, Ojibwe artist Jim Denomie made a small oil painting. By the end, he had 430. A selection of these are on view in his show at Bockley Gallery. Denomie died in 2022 and also has a solo exhibition up at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, but this show offers a more intimate look at this phase of the prolific artist's life. He credited painting-a-day with transforming his practice. "I understood that creativity is like a river," Denomie told the Star Tribune in 2014. "You must dip into it now. If you wait, you'll dip into a different river." (Ends Oct. 14. 2123 W. 21st St., Mpls., free. Hours: noon-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 612-377-4669 or bockleygallery.com)
A.E.
FAMILY
Discovery Days
The Bakken Museum's Innovation Fair explores new ways to understand, do and make something. Local creators, scientists and artists lead hands-on activities. Witness how ultrasound technology works and how aquaponic systems can grow a variety of foods. Strap on a headband to learn how the brain perceives visual triggers and lower your carbon footprint with a lesson on clean energy. (10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat., $7-$13, 3537 Zenith Av. S., Mpls., thebakken.org)
MELISSA WALKER
In a city best known for hockey and manufacturing, John Davis is trying to make a new $20 million arts center “relevant in people’s lives.”