The Big Gigs: Taylor Swift, Frightened Rabbit

POP/ROCK This is a rerun absolutely worth watching. Taylor Swift will perform the same show she did in October at Target Center, with only one new number. Swift will preen, play guitar, hug her fans and sing the most genuine and authentic songs ever written by a teenage star (she turned 20 in December). That's why she was named entertainer of the year by the Country Music Association and won the Grammy for album of the year. Opening are her pal Kellie Pickler and the harmonizing coed quartet Gloriana. (7 p.m. Fri., Xcel Energy Center. Limited availability. $27-$61.50.) (J.B.)

Fresh off a winter tour with fellow Tex-Mex stars Alejandro Escovedo and Los Lonely Boys, Austin's Carrie Rodriguez first made her name as the sweet-voiced partner of songwriting vet Chip ("Wild Thing") Taylor. She expands her role as interpreter with a great new collection, "Love & Circumstance," featuring songs by Townes Van Zandt, M. Ward, Merle Haggard and mentor Lucinda Williams. Her ace band features local boy Luke Jacobs on guitar/pedal steel, who will also open the show with his regular group, Romantica. (8 p.m. Fri., Varsity Theater. $16-$19.) (C.R.)

If you watch "Glee," "American Idol" or PBS entertainment specials, you realize they don't make 'em like they used to. I'm talking the old triple threat -- singer, actor and dancer. Bernadette Peters is that rare bird, and she has splendid comic timing, too. She'll do show tunes and turn on her charms with the Minnesota Orchestra. Read an interview at startribune.com/music. (8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., Orchestra Hall, $28-$90.) (J.B.)

Whether you consider him country, pop, blues, folk, gospel or western swing, Lyle Lovett will always entertain you. With His Large Band, the Texas troubadour seduces with his rangy musicality, dry wit and gentlemanly soulfulness. The four-time Grammy winner is playing the 28th annual benefit for the Pacer Center, which helps children with disabilities; the event includes an auction. Read an interview at startribune.com/music. (8 p.m. Sat., Minneapolis Convention Center, $55.) (J.B.)

Two thickly assembled, sonically playful bands that haven't let a fizzling buzz dampen their creativity, North Carolina sextet the Annuals and Ontario seven-piece Most Serene Republic are combining their ambitious efforts on a co-headlining tour. After a widely panned sophomore disc, the Annuals return to the formula of their buzz-igniting 2006 debut on the new EP "Sweet Sister." (9 p.m. Sat., 400 Bar. 18 & older. $10-$12.) (C.R.)

Guitar heroine Kaki King is known for her hammering technique on acoustic guitar, but on her fifth CD, "Junior," she seems to be favoring an electric ax in a power trio setting. Either way, it feels more like a songwriter's disc than a guitarist's. Only her second album with vocals, "Junior" conveys drama and anger with pointed words and emotional playing. Opening is An Horse, the Aussie male/female duo who created a buzz with "Postcards" in a Mercedes-Benz commercial. (7 p.m. Sat., Varsity, $15.) (J.B.)

For Natalie Cole, 2009 was an unforgettably tough year. She needed a kidney transplant, but the same day Cole learned that a donor had been found, her sister Cookie died of lung cancer. Cole has healed in both body and soul and returned to the road, doing shows that balance standards with her pop/soul hits. Expect her famous father, Nat King Cole, to be a prominent part of this Mother's Day show in both sound and spirit. (7 p.m. Sun., Mystic Lake Casino, $42-$69.) (J.B.)

Scottish quintet Frightened Rabbit is living up to the drama and ambitious, U2-like epic sound of past work on its third album, "The Winter of Mixed Drinks," but its overwrought sound remains an acquired taste. It might be easier to acquire with Chicago's great folk-pop experimenters Maps & Atlases opening. Third band Our Brother the Native is a group of teenagers newly signed to FatCat Records. (8 p.m. Mon., Varsity Theater. 18 & older. $13-$15.) (C.R.)

Leslie & the Badgers are part of an unlikely Americana/twang boom in Los Angeles, but instead of the psychedelia of Devendra Banhart or the posh soul of Dawes, they play relatively straight-up classic country. There's even a fiddler in the band, and frontwoman Leslie Stevens sings with unabashed, nonironic Dolly/Loretta zeal. Their L.A. supporters include New West (and ex-Twin Tone) label man Peter Jesperson and former Tom Petty collaborator David Bianco, who produced their barnstorming album "Roomful of Smoke." (8:30 p.m. Mon., 400 Bar. 18 & older. $5-$8.) (C.R.)

Cure- and Pulp-copping Swedish indie-pop brooders the Shout Out Louds might have tried a little too hard to sound all grown up on their third album, "Work," but they still brandish some infectiously sweet coed harmonies and charmingly bittersweet songs. Openers the Freelance Whales are a glockenspiel-loving, falsetto-laden New York folk-pop quartet who made a splash at South by Southwest and are now headed for Lollapalooza and Sasquatch. (9 p.m. Tue., Varsity Theater. 18 & older. $12-$14.) (C.R.)

If Bill Withers and Keb Mo had a son, he might sound like Raul MidÓn, the singer/acoustic guitarist who was born blind in New Mexico in 1966. On "Synthesis," his fourth album, he is intimately soulful on message-heavy originals such as the Brazilian-tinged "Everyone Deserves a Second Chance" and on a sublimely minimalist cover of the Beatles' "Blackbird." (7 p.m. Tue., Dakota Jazz Club, $24-$30.) (J.B.)

One of the most inventive bands in metal today, New York quartet Coheed and Cambria -- led by Muppet-haired singer/guitarist Claudio Sanchez -- first made a strong impression onstage opening for Linkin Park and Slipknot. Five discs in, it's put out a contender for the metal album of 2010, "Year of the Black Rainbow," another concept record that finely hones its prog-gone-thrash power and Sanchez's love-it-or-hate-it, grandiose singing style. Circa Survive and Torche open. (6 p.m. Thu., First Avenue. All ages. $25-$27.50.) (C.R.)

JAZZ Pianist Laura Caviani has worked hard on this weekend's centennial tribute to Mary Lou Williams, and there's a lot of ground to cover. In the male-dominated jazz scene of the 1930s, Mary Lou was a sensation as "The Lady Who Swings the Band," playing piano for Andy Kirk's terrific 12 Clouds of Joy ensemble and composing the classic "What's Your Story, Morning Glory?" She wrote hits for Benny Goodman and other star bandleaders, was a musical godmother to the beboppers who changed jazz forever, composed a series of religious works and taught at Duke University. This amazing lady will get her due from Caviani, bassist Jay Young and drummer Phil Hey. (9 p.m. Fri.-Sat., Artists' Quarter. $10.) (T.S.)

Guitar god Pat Metheny is performing solo, but you won't know it if you close your eyes. He's touring with his Orchestrion, a three-tiered wall of percussion devices and self-playing guitars, pianos, water-filled jugs and other music-making creations featured in a new album of the same name. The concept was inspired by a childhood memory of discovering a player piano in his grandfather's basement in Wisconsin. You might miss pianist Lyle Mays and the other players in the Pat Metheny Group, but you'll get an orchestra full of Pat. (7:30 p.m. Sun., Fitzgerald Theater. $48-$53.) (J.B.)

Probably the only jazz singer who's covered Cream's "White Room," London-born Tessa Souter may be new to Minnesota audiences, but she's on the jazz vocal fast track, selling out such hallowed New York City venues as Joe's Pub and the Blue Note. Mentored by the legendary Mark Murphy and raved about by critics from Philadelphia to Tokyo, Souter and her bell-clear voice should be in full flower at a duo gig with NYC guitarist Jason Ennis, who's also worked with New Orleans R&B great Charles Neville. (8 p.m. Wed., Artists' Quarter. $15.) (T.S.)

HIP-HOP Whatever you think of Devin the Dude's rather dopey overuse of marijuana themes and his quirky nerdcore-influencing voice, the Texas rapper's new record, "Suite #420," at least finds the shtick still lighting up some clever ideas. He's performing with longtime cohorts the Coughee Brothaz. (9 p.m. Thu., 7th Street Entry. 18 & older. $15.) (C.R.)

R&B Fresh from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the Average White Band fires up their hits ("Pick Up the Pieces," "Work to Do," et al.) in a much more intimate setting. There's usually a little straight jazz sprinkled into their club sets, and always some great ballads, none finer than "A Love of Your Own." (7 & 9:30 p.m. Sat., Dakota Jazz Club. $35-$45.) (T.S.)

CLASSICAL The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra presents an intimate evening of chamber music that opens with a Bach Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord and concludes with the Schubert Quintet in C. In between comes Beethoven's Grosse Fuge string quartet, recently presented by the Minnesota Orchestra in an arrangement by Michael Steinberg. It's a rare opportunity for comparison. (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, 2128 S. 4th St., Mpls., $10-$49. 651-291-1144.) (W.R.B.)