The Big Gigs: The critics' music picks for the next seven days

POP/ROCK A quick spin of "Out of My Hands," the debut by Fort Worth's Green River Ordinance, suggests this band is radio-ready. It unabashedly aims for the mainstream with a polished pop/rock sound that suggests Matchbox Twenty and Third Eye Blind. With Backseat Goodbye and the Ready Set. (5 p.m. today, Station 4. All ages.) (J.B.)

Frequent visitor Joshua Radin is more low-key than Jack Johnson, but women love his acoustic emo. Ellen DeGeneres and Portia di Rossi enlisted him to play at their wedding. Radin has released two melancholy albums of what he calls "whisper rock," each inspired by an ex-girlfriend. A favorite on the Hotel Cafe Tour, he's traveling with another veteran of those tours, Meiko, and Jesse Harris, best remembered for working with Norah Jones on "Come Away With Me." (9 p.m. Sat., Fine Line. Sold out.) (J.B.)

The Walker is one of only eight U.S. venues hosting Dean & Britta's "13 Most Beautiful ... Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests," as rock couple Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips accompany Warhol's stylish black-and-white footage of such Factory regulars as Edie Sedgwick, Lou Reed and Nico. They seem a perfect fit for the project, with the Velvet Underground influence Wareham showed as frontman of Luna and Galaxie 500, and Phillips' Nico-like looks. The New York Times said of the show last month: "In a word, mesmerizing." A second performance has been added because of high demand. (8 and 10:30 p.m. Sat., McGuire Theater, Walker Art Center. $22. 612-375-7600.) (C.R.)

A week after Flogging Molly played there, Myth nightclub will be taken over by the other big Irish-American punk band gearing up for St. Patty's Day, the Dropkick Murphys. The seven Bostonians are a little meaner and mightier than the Mollys and put on an equally visceral live show. H2O and Civet open. (7 p.m. Sun., Myth. All ages. $23-$25.) (C.R.)

There is no Christine McVie, no Sheryl Crow and no new album for Fleetwood Mac. Actually, this is the first time in Big Mac's long and checkered career that it has gone on tour without a new album. That means more hits and old favorites. The group explains all in an interview in Monday's Variety section. (8 p.m. Tue., Xcel Energy Center, $49.50-$149.50.) (J.B.)

If you haven't heard, singer/songwriter Duncan Sheik is writing musicals, notably the Broadway hit "Spring Awakening," which earned raves for its recent run at the Orpheum. His new CD, "Whisper House," also is aimed for the stage, although the material evokes the 1970s singer/songwriter era. So his eight-member band this time includes a cellist, clarinetist, French horn player and vocalist Lauren Pritchard, who was in the original "Spring Awakening" cast and doubles as an opening act. Let's hope he'll squeeze in his '90s hit "Barely Breathing." (8 p.m. Wed., Varsity Theater, $21-$25.) (J.B.)

He has long since turned up the volume in Low, but Duluth's rock-scene figurehead Alan Sparhawk really maxes out the amps and distortion pedals in his side band the Retribution Gospel Choir. The trio was handpicked to open for Wilco on tour last year after issuing its feedback-drenched eponymous debut, which fell somewhere between Crazy Horse and Band of Horses. Kid Dakota opens. (10 p.m. Wed., Triple Rock. 18 & older. $10-$12.) (C.R.)

HIP-HOP Already known for his love of punk rock, P.O.S. (Stefon Alexander) waves his Black Flag-tinged freak flag proudly on his third and wildest album, "Never Better." This is to hip-hop what TV on the Radio is to rock: a bold, bursting, unlikely yet effortless-sounding homogenization of all things urban and underground, paired with some mighty intelligent and poetic lyrics. The Rhymesayers star wraps up a monthlong tour with a hometown gig featuring his Doomtree cohorts Sims, Mictlan and their burgeoning beats-maker, Lazerbeak. Read an interview with P.O.S. at startribune.com/music. (7 p.m. Sat., First Avenue. All ages. $10-$12.) (C.R.)

FOLK A time-tested perfect pairing of venue and performer, Greg Brown's return to the Cedar has been six years in the making. In that time, the Iowa folkie/cult-hero got married (to fellow picker Iris DeMent), laid to rest a good friend (Red House Records founder Bob Feldman), toured less and produced one exceptional album, 2006's time-worn, young-at-heart "The Evening Call." He has a new live benefit CD due soon. Irish troubadour Noelie McDonald opens. (7 p.m. Sat., Cedar Cultural Center. Sold out.) (C.R.)

JAZZ Sax star Joshua Redman plays his last two U.S. dates in Minneapolis before touring Europe. He's bringing bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Gregory Hutchinson, who supported him on the new album "Compass." Rogers has been heard with some top-tier trumpeters (Wynton Marsalis, Nicholas Payton, Roy Hargrove), while Hutchinson is an alumnus of two other noteworthy trios, Betty Carter's trial-by-fire backing band and Ray Brown's three-piece swingin' machine. (7 & 9:30 p.m. Mon.-Tue., Dakota Jazz Club. $28-$40.) (T.S.)

WORLD Stars of the syndicated radio show "Irish Heartbeat," County Sligo band Dervish has been together two decades and played everywhere from the Great Wall of China to Brazil's mammoth Rock in Rio fest. You get five top Celtic instrumentalists plus charming singer Cathy Jordan. And to put the head on your Guinness, there's a swell opening act: Irish fiddle master Martin Hayes and Chicago guitarist Dennis Cahill, who normally headline folk clubs. (7:30 p.m. Sun., Cedar Cultural Center. $25-$28.) (T.S.)

It's never promising when a group of white musicians is billed as an African-style band, but Toubab Krewe defies expectations. Childhood friends from Asheville, N.C., the string-driven quintet clearly picked up a thing or two on treks to Guinea, the Ivory Coast and Mali, where they played the renowned Festival of the Desert. They're hardly purists -- they've done Bonnaroo, too, and their music also shows the influence of Ry Cooder and Medeski, Martin & Wood. Local Afro-cuban all-stars Joto open. (9:30 p.m. Thu., Cabooze. 18 & older. $10.) (C.R.)

CLASSICAL Wilbert Hazelzet is the flying Dutchman of the baroque transverse flute (not to be confused with the recorder). Principal of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, he teaches in Utrecht and the Hague and appears regularly with ensembles in London and Bilbao. He's in the Twin Cities this week to play concertos by Haydn and the Bohemian Josef Myslivecek (a composer praised by Mozart) with the Lyra Baroque Orchestra and its harpsichordist/director, Jacques Ogg. (8 p.m. Sat., Sundin Music Hall, Hamline University, 1531 Hewitt Av., St. Paul. $6-$23. 651-209-6799 or uptowntix.com.) (L.F.)

What's better than an acclaimed early-music ensemble? Two, of course. The Twin Cities' Rose Ensemble plays host to London's Voces8 in a candlelight performance that centers on William Byrd's invitingly intricate "Great Service" and includes a wealth of rarely heard English Renaissance music for double choir. (7:30 p.m. today, Church of St. Bernard, 187 W. Geranium Av., St. Paul. 8 p.m. Sat., Basilica of St. Mary, 88 N. 17th St., Mpls. 5 p.m. Sun., St. Paul Seminary Chapel, 2260 Summit Av., St. Paul. $17-35. 651-225-4340 or www.RoseEnsemble.org.) (L.F.)