Big Gigs for Sept. 25-Oct. 1: Stone Temple Pilots, Big Sean, Destroyer, Mark Knopfler, Shania Twain and more

After a long-building permanent fallout with original frontman Scott Weiland, Stone Temple Pilots pulled a Van Hagar and got a name-brand singer to replace him: Chester Bennington of Linkin Park. We're not sure how well the squawky-voiced rap-rocker will pull off old STP tunes such as "Plush" and "Interstate Love Song," but the tracks off the new EP "High Rise" carry on the familiar STP sound with gusto. Opening band U.S. Elevator is the rockier new alter-ego band of Johnny Irion, who also performs with his wife, Sarah Lee Guthrie, as an Americana/folk duo. (8 p.m. Fri., Myth, all ages, $32.) Chris Riemenschneider

She was gone for a dozen years and now Shania Twain is back in Minneapolis for the second time in 60 days. Her Rock This Country Tour celebrates her three blockbuster albums all dressed up with fringe, a flying mechanical bull and a ShaniaMobile just like the Pope Mobile in which she rides through the arena. With plenty of glitz, she knows how to sell her songs but will she impress you much? Opening is Gavin McGraw, a piano-propelled pop star of "I Don't Want to Be" fame who knows how to work an arena. (7:30 p.m. Sat. Target Center, $46-$136.) Bream

Big Sean has the best connections in hip-hop. His latest (and best) album, "Dark Sky Paradise," features Drake, Lil Wayne, John Legend and Chris Brown along with Svengali producer and featured artist Kanye West. But it was the kiss-off single "I Don't Give a F---," with E-40 sharing the mic, that propelled "Paradise" to the top of the charts earlier this year. Throw in a tabloid-perfect breakup with Ariana Grande and Sean has the star power to headline the U's homecoming concert at "The Bank." But can he deliver the goods without his friends? (7:15 p.m. Fri., TCF Bank Stadium, $20 students/$40 general). Britt Robson

On her current tour, Twin Cities favorite ZZ Ward, the diminutive fedora-wearing rocker with the big voice, will preview her sophomore album, "This Means War," due in March. She's already released a four-song EP featuring fresh material with hip-hop beats, including the rocker "Lonely," the Adele-evoking "Rescue" and the sassy stomp "Marry Well." With Marc Scibilia and the Young Wild. (8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., First Avenue, Fri. sold out, $25 Sat.) Jon Bream

Two things Twin Citians will go out of their way for — a trip down the Great River Road and a Los Lobos gig — will be fulfilled by this weekend's Boats and Bluegrass Festival. East Los Angeles' beloved melting-pot rock vets will play the riverside party Saturday just a day after the release of their latest record, "Gates of Gold." The three-day lineup, which kicked off Thursday, also features bluegrass/country stalwart Tim O'Brien's band Hot Rize, Oregonian folkies the Shook Twins and regional string band faves such as Pert Near Sandstone, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades and the Last Revel. (10 a.m. Fri. & Sat., $128/three-day, $68/Saturday, Prairie Island Park, Winona, Minn., BoatsandBluegrass.com.) Riemenschneider

The self-titled album from Holly Miranda has the gathered-up ambience befitting a veteran singer-songwriter at a point in her career where she is open to whatever comes next. Holed up in a rental near the Joshua Tree desert, Miranda composed a batch of songs that are gently kaleidoscopic in mood, pace and subject matter. It's her best work since the second Jealous Girlfriends disc eight years ago, and her most effective and cohesive solo collection to date. (8 p.m. Sat., 7th St. Entry, $10-$12.) Robson

Dan Bejar, aka Destroyer, is a prolific singer-songwriter-bandleader with an approach similar to Bowie, Morrissey, Bryan Ferry or Elvis Costello. He uses music primarily to project an attitude and isn't shy about indulging himself. His latest, "Poison Season," is particularly strong, with his beat poetry, exhausted laments and nettled aggravations supported by vigorous horns, sophisticated strings, Broadway schmaltz and gleaming pop melodies. Bejar also works with the New Pornographers and Hello, Blue Roses, but this Destroyer alter ego seems closest to his heart and soul. (8 p.m. Sat., Fine Line, $20-$35.) Robson

Guitar hero Mark Knopfler is rock's anti-star: no cool outfits, self-conscious posing, long-winded solos or jumpin'-jack flash. But he is one of the tastiest guitarists and most skillful songwriters, a master at shading, nuance and artfulness. Plus, he always travels with a band of top-notch players. Knopfler is on tour promoting this year's mostly low-key "Tracker" but set lists suggest he's playing plenty of tunes from throughout his solo career and, of course, some gems from Dire Straits days. (9 p.m. Tue., Orpheum, $59.50-$109.50.) Bream

Hollywood Undead performs a pastiche of rap-rock and puberty-friendly clichés assembled with commercial cunning and delivered with apparent sincerity. The pro-forma naughtiness of their raps and choruses is spritzed with more dance-oriented licks on their fifth album, "Day of the Dead." But the truth is that the sextet's staying power — they first came to prominence via Myspace — is the product of their original formula, even if it does fall somewhere between kitsch and a wince. (5 p.m. Tue., First Avenue, $25, all ages.) Robson

Former Stereolab vocalist Laetitia Sadier is still riding the durably dreamy songs from last year's solo-artist release, "Something Shines," balancing the gauzy textures with her precise, penetrating phrases. Sadier's stage presence is both affable and commanding, and the hope here is that she'll perform the class-warfare chronicle "Oscuridad" in honor of our quickening political season. The opener is Angel Deradoorian, the ex-Dirty Projectors vocalist, frequent high-profile guest (she's on "Siren Song" by Flying Lotus) and kindred spirit to Sadier. (9 p.m. Tue., Icehouse, $15.) Robson

Smooth soul crooner Jeffrey Osborne is best known for such 1980s hits as "On the Wings of Love" and "You Should Be Mine (The Woo Woo Song)." But he proved his depth and chops on 2013's "A Time for Love," featuring his interpretations of pop classics and standards with the help of George Duke, Kamasi Washington and Rick Braun. The Chaka Khan duet on "Baby It's Cold Outside" is a winner even if winter is weeks away. (7 p.m. Tue. & 7 & 9 p.m. Wed., Dakota, $50-$65.) Bream

Ride followed My Bloody Valentine and the Stone Roses in the great wave of late-'80s/early-'90s British alt-rock and sounded like a hybrid of them, with the former's shoegazer guitar whir and the latter's psychedelic pop melodies. The Oxford quartet reunited after nearly two decades to play Coachella in April and kept going. Set lists have pulled heavily from 1990's debut "Nowhere," which made Pitchfork's tally of the top 100 albums of the '90s and was reissued in 2011 by Rhino Records. Montreal's great shoegazer-flavored band Besnard Lakes opens. (9 p.m. Tue., Mill City Nights, $35-$40.) Riemenschneider

The Colorado quartet Head for the Hills has consistently pushed past the bluegrass template via a wry, contemporary sensibility and a collective jam-band virtuosity. But they take it a little further on "Never Does," from their fourth album, "Blue Ruin." The lyrics are sprightly, rap-sung couplets, the instrumental breaks are fiddle-driven, and the undertow comes from swaying, hummed harmonies. It's an attractive blend that explains why they'll command another enthusiastic crowd on their third trip here in the past 13 months. (8 p.m., Thu., Turf Club, $10-$12.) Robson

To call Of Monsters and Men a chamber-pop group (the most common descriptor for their music) understates their orchestral grandeur. They understand how to leverage swelling, repetitive riffs and phrases, multi-tracked vocal harmonies, and come-and-go volume dynamics. The resulting uplift has earned the Icelandic ensemble comparisons to Arcade Fire. Given their reliance on acoustics, it's hard not to wish they could sidle their churning anthems and breathy ballads from Roy Wilkins over to the more intimate Ordway. (7:30 p.m. Thu., Roy Wilkins Auditorium, $37.50.) Robson

A traditional folk music vocal quartet from Finland, Kardemimmit traffics in spare strings and plush harmonies. Their chosen instrument is the kantele, in both its 15-string and 38-string incarnations. The all-female ensemble wouldn't seem out of place singing ballads from the Simon & Garfunkel catalog, as their own material has a similarly wistful simplicity. The opener is Lynn O'Brien, accompanied by cellist Jessica Cheadle. (7:30 p.m. Tue., Cedar Cultural Center, $15-$18.) Robson

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra hits the road for a flurry of five concerts at four venues. The program is topped and tailed by Haydn's 83rd and Mozart's 29th Symphonies, two of their composers' most boisterous, life-enhancing creations. In between SPCO principal cellist Julie Albers stars in Tchaikovsky's elegant Rococo Variations, while Stravinsky's Pastorale for Violin, Oboe, English Horn, Clarinet and Bassoon provides a further opportunity for the orchestra's excellent soloists to have their moment in the limelight. (10:30 a.m. & 8 p.m. Fri., Wooddale Church, 6630 Shady Oak Rd., Eden Prairie; 8 p.m. Sat., St. Paul's United Church of Christ, 900 Summit Av., St. Paul; 2 p.m. Sun., Ted Mann Concert Hall, Mpls.; 7:30 p.m. Tue., Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, 12650 Johnny Cake Ridge Rd., Apple Valley. $13-$43. 651-291-1144 or thespco.org) Terry Blain

The Minnesota Guitar Society celebrates its 30th year with a formidable roster of concerts at Hamline this season, including international star Irina Kulikova, a onetime classical guitar prodigy who at 33 has won a slew of prestigious awards across Europe. She is touring behind last year's "Reminiscences of Russia," featuring beautiful interpretations of works by contemporary folkloric composers from her native country. It delivers her stunning virtuosity as a value-added byproduct of her interpretive empathy. (8 p.m. Fri., Sundin Hall, Hamline University, St. Paul, $10-$25.) Robson

The Borromeo Quartet recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, and remains one of America's most distinguished chamber music groupings. They bring an imposing program to open the Schubert Club season, devoting the first half to Beethoven's mighty Op. 130 quartet, with the original "Grosse Fuge" ending, one of the most technically challenging quartet movements ever written. They're joined after the interval by the outstanding Michigan-born violist Kim Kashkashian in Dvorak's "American" Quintet, with a small slice of neglected composer Gunther Schuller to whet the palate. (4 p.m. Sun., Saint Anthony Park United Church of Christ, 2129 Commonwealth Av., St. Paul. $21-$30. 651-292-3268 or schubert.org) Blain