The Big Gigs: Hip-Hop

HIP-HOP It's only January but the I Am Music Tour starring Lil' Wayne should be the hip-hop show of the year. The ubiquitous rap superstar has become a bona fide rock star. Not only did he have the biggest-selling album released in 2008 ("Tha Carter III") but Weezy picked up more Grammy nominations than anyone else, not to mention a cool gig as a red-carpet interviewer for ESPN the Magazine at the Next Party before the Super Bowl. He has a supporting cast of hitmakers including Auto-Tune ace T-Pain (who will likely join Weezy for a few numbers), R&B diva/BET reality star Keyshia Cole, rap-rockers Gym Class Heroes and rising R&B hottie Keri Hilson. (7 p.m. Mon. Target Center, $39.75-$79.75.) (J.B.)

POP/ROCK Hold Steady keyboardist Franz Nicolay isn't just hollering along to Craig Finn's lyrics these days. The mustachioed, animated New York rocker -- who also plays with the World/Inferno Friendship Society and helps write a lot of the HS music -- just issued his solo debut, "Major General," and is now touring behind it with a new band. The disc is full of boisterous, sneering, anarcho-punk that's more in line with Gogol Bordello or Against Me! than the Hold Steady, but fans of the latter will still appreciate Nicolay's character-filled, novella-like songs and sheer rockability. And that mustache, of course. The God Damn Doo Wop Band opens. (10 p.m. today, Triple Rock. 21 & older. $10.) (C.R.)

The buzz is building on Solid Gold, and not just in local circles, where critics voted the dance-rock group's first full-length CD, "Bodies of Water," the fourth-best record of the year in the Twin Cities Critics Tally. Bloggers and indie radio stations around the country and even in the U.K. have also given the CD some attention, akin to the early-2006 buildup around Tapes 'N Tapes (for whom SG opens at First Ave next month). The record is full of warm, hazy grooves worthy of a Manchester dance floor and stylish, falsetto-laden melodies that are part OMD and part MGMT. Digi-rock duo Lookbook, led by Digitata's Maggie Morrison, opens the show after playing First Ave's Best New Bands showcase earlier this week. (10 p.m. today, Turf Club. $5-$7.) (C.R.)

Celebrating the passing of the presidential torch, the sarcastically named "End of an Error Party" presents three good local bands -- Retro-bluesers the Brass Kings, honky-tonkin' faves Trailer Trash and Louisiana-styled gumbo groovers the Rockin' Pine Cones -- raising dough for one noble local charity: St. Stephen's Homeless Shelter. (7 p.m. Sat., Minneapolis Eagles Club. $20 suggested donation.) (T.S.)

First, the Killers wanted to be U2. Then they turned more Springsteen-esque on their second album, "Sam's Town." Then there were the edgy Lou Reed collaboration and Joy Division cover on last year's outtakes collection, "Sawdust." On their latest disc, "Day & Age," the Las Vegas quartet incorporates African chants, Caribbean rhythms and other world-music influences à la Paul Simon or Peter Gabriel. A real love-'em-or-hate-'em band, you have to at least love their audacity even if you hate the results, which are half-great for all their records -- and most of their live shows, too. Opener M83 is a French buzz band with an atmospheric, ethereal electronic pop sound reminiscent of Sigur Ros and the Cocteau Twins. (7:30 p.m. Mon., Northrop Auditorium. $46.50-$58.50.) (C.R.)

Until Angus Young's schoolboy cap came off to reveal his bald spot last November at the X, you would have sworn that AC/DC hadn't aged in the past four decades. The Aussies certainly haven't changed. Their double-entendre-laden blooze-rawk remains timeless and invigorating -- even the new tunes from last year's "Black Ice" sounded cool. Aided by fireworks, giant video screens and a runaway train, the boys shook the X all night long. Brian Johnson was in fine screech, and Young went wild on a platform projected high over the crowd. (7:30 p.m. Mon., Xcel Energy Center, $91.50.) (J.B.)

Last seen with Minus the Bear, North Carolina indie-pop band the Annuals are back in support of their aptly named second album, "Such Fun," featuring an impressive sonic swath of bubbly, Cure-like dance-pop to sweeping orchestral ballads to some pretty folk music. Their opener, Jessica Lea Mayfield, just issued a soulful debut album produced by fellow Ohioan Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, who also used her as a guest vocalist on their last disc. (8 p.m. Tue., Varsity Theater. 18 and older. $10-$12.) (C.R.)

REGGAE After a few well-received but relatively predictable appearances in town, the Wailers are offering an interesting changeup this time around: They're playing the landmark 1977 album "Exodus" in its entirety on tour. Led by Bob Marley's longtime bassist Aston (Familyman) Barrett -- now the only Marley-era Wailer left -- the group recently teamed with Kenny Chesney for his song "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven," and they even joined him on the CMAs. (9 p.m. today, First Avenue. 18 and older. $18-$20.) (C.R.)

COUNTRY On his most recent album, 2005's "Drinkin' Songs and Other Logic," 1990s country star Clint Black complained about there being too much rock in country. He righteously sticks to more traditional tunes, whether honky-tonk, ballads or fiddle-fueled dance numbers, but at the same time he's also branched out to reality TV. Last year, he appeared on "Secret Talents of the Stars" (standup comedy was his bit) and he's slated for "Celebrity Apprentice" in March along with Joan Rivers, Dennis Rodman and Andrew Dice Clay. (8 p.m. Sat., Mystic Lake Casino. $39-$52.) (J.B.)

CLASSICAL Get past the improbable fact that a composer named Goebbels has set the words of an American Jew (Gertrude Stein) to music, and you may well find that Heiner Goebbels' "Songs of Wars I Have Seen" (2007) is the summit of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra's current chamber-orchestra festival. Written for the combined forces of the London Sinfonietta and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (which just happen to be on hand), Goebbels' category-escaping work, receiving its U.S. premiere at these performances, is reportedly a gem. Opening the program are pianist/director Pierre-Laurent Aimard and the SPCO in Beethoven's martial (or is it anti-martial?) "Emperor" Concerto. (8 p.m. today & Sat., Ordway Center. $11-$59.) (L.F.)

JAZZ Modern-jazz groups tend to be musical-chairs affairs, with more subs than a World War II movie. Not so the Phil Hey Quartet, arguably our area's finest hard bop/"free" bop ensemble. Now in its ninth year, the PHQ has the same lineup as Day One: Dave Hagedorn (vibraphone), Phil Aaron (piano), Tom Lewis (bass) with Hey on drums. Familiarity has bred content, as Hey & Co. have mastered a repertoire penned by jazz giants past (Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Don Cherry) and present (Kenny Wheeler, Bobby Hutcherson, Ornette Coleman), with the occasional Broadway tune and band original tossed in. (9 p.m. today-Sat., Artists' Quarter. $10.) (T.S.)

Even by freewheeling avant-jazz standards, Japanese drummer Tatsuya Nakatani has a highly unorthodox approach to the trap set, a technique that involves lots of bowed cymbals and scraped drum heads. Nakatani also does fertile work with gongs (frequently bowing them), industrial metal objects and little hand-held bells. The Osaka-born, Pennsylvania-based percussionist has appeared on more than 50 CDs, collaborating with such improvisational bright lights as Billy Bang, William Parker and Joe McPhee. He makes his Twin Cities debut with two gallery shows -- the first co-starring local avant mainstay Milo Fine, and the second with acoustic bassists Chris Bates and Adam Linz. Both evenings will have a solo drum set. (7:30 p.m. Tue., Art of This Gallery, 3506 Nicollet Av. S., Mpls., $5-$10. 8 p.m. Wed., Rogue Buddha Gallery, 357 13th Av. NE., Mpls. $7.) (T.S.)

IRISH Button accordion champ Paddy O'Brien is one of Ireland's finer gifts to the Twin Cities. He's a walking encyclopedia of dance tunes, a four-decade collector of Irish music and lore with thousands of melodies in his head and at his fingertips. O'Brien tours internationally with the trio Chulrua, and was a smash hit in Moscow last March. (There's a fun Russian TV segment at Chulrua.com.) This weekend, he plays intimate duets with Paul Wehling, a guitarist, banjoist and bouzouki player known for his work with the Blackbirds and Clumsy Lovers. (8 p.m. Sat., Riverview Cafe & Wine Bar, 3753 42nd Av. S., Mpls. $12-$15.) (T.S.)