10 best concerts to see in Twin Cities this week

Thursday, Feb. 15

1. Rachael & Vilray: Guitarist Vilray Bolles was last seen backing Rickie Lee Jones on her standards concert at the Dakota. Chanteuse Rachael Price was last seen fronting Lake Street Dive at the State Fair. Rachael & Vilray is their gloriously jazzy side project, featuring vintage-sounding tunes circa the 1930s and ’40s that Vilray composes. The pair met in 2003 while students at the New England Conservatory of Music. They started performing as a duo in 2015, released their self-titled debut in ’19 and last year delivered “I Love a Love Song.” (6:30 & 8:30 p.m. the Dakota, 1010 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., $35-$55, dakotacooks.com)

Also: Acme Jazz Company, an 18-piece Twin Cities big band featuring vocalist Arne Fogel and saxophonist/arranger Bob Parsons, surveys the Great American Songbook (7:30 p.m. Crooners, $25-$35); Scottish neo-folk trio Talisk is touring the States (7:30 p.m. Cedar Cultural Center, $25-$30); the Martin Devaney and Friends series with St. Paul’s songwriting troubadour will feature the Int. Treasures and Paul Bergen (8 p.m. White Squirrel Bar, free); husband/wife rock duo the Danger Pins are heading out to Excelsior (8 p.m. 318 Cafe, $15).

Friday, Feb. 16

2. Big Turn Music Fest: Named for the bend in the river that houses Red Wing’s historic downtown, this two-day gigathon amounts to a full-on musical bender. Some 200 acts will perform across 16 walkable venues, including the Sheldon Theatre, St. James Hotel, three churches and bars like Liberty’s and the Red Wing Barrell House. Friday’s top names include Native blues-rockers Corey Medina & Brothers, Trampled by Turtles’ Dave Simonett, Annie & the Bang Bang, Loud Mouth Brass, Sean Anonymous and Maygen & the Birdwatcher. Saturday’s lineup features Turn Turn Turn, the Foxgloves, Desdamona, Porcupine, Molly Brandt, Connie Evingson, Favourite Girl and many more. (4:30 p.m.-midnight Fri. and Sat., downtown Red Wing, $55 or $95/two-day, bigturnmusicfest.com)

3. Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Pitbull: Latin music is all the rage, whether it’s Karol G, Peso Pluma or Bad Bunny. But a previous generation of Latin superstars paved the way. And three of them are uniting for the Trilogy Tour. Each is a worthy headliner, so the order of performers changes from night to night with a trio of full sets. Ricky Martin will reprise “Livin’ la Vida Loca” and “She Bangs.” Enrique Iglesias will seduce with “Bailamos” and “I Like It.” And Pitbull, that Miami energy machine, will bring the bangers “Timber” and “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho).” (7 p.m. Xcel Energy Center, 199 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, $60-$1,200, ticketmaster.com)

4. Matthew Sweet: After hunkering down in his native Omaha for the past four years without touring, the guitar-cranking power-pop hero of “Girlfriend” and “Sick of Myself” fame is hitting the road again ahead of what sounds like a busy year. He has a new album in the pipeline as well as a live recording from 1993, when Television’s Richard Lloyd was in his band. This year’s backing unit looks pretty great, too, with the Bangles’ Debbi Peterson on drums and the Orange Peels’ John Moreland on guitar. Alabama’s Abe Partridge opens. (8:30 p.m. Turf Club, 1601 W. University Av., St. Paul, $35, axs.com)

5. Subtronics: The Twin Cities’ first major EDM event of the year is big enough to spread out over two nights. Philadelphia-reared dubstep wizard Jesse Kardon, aka Subtronics, headlined festivals such as the Electric Forest and Lost Lands last year. Now, he’s coming to Minneapolis to kick off his Tesseract Tour behind the new album of the same name, which is derived from a four-dimensional feature in quantum physics that will be reflected in the show’s visual production. Also set to perform both nights are Wooli, Hedex, Jon Casey, Distinct Motive and Skellytn. (8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., the Armory, 500 S. 6th St., Mpls., 18 & older, $55 or $85/two-day, ticketmaster.com)

6. World Music Fusion: The irrepressible, resourceful Gao Hong, a Chinese pipa virtuoso and professor at Carleton College, is involved in another smorgasbord of global music. Joining her will be erhu player Changyao Zhu, known as the Itzhak Perlman of China; Emmy-winning Vietnamese đàn tranh and đàn bầu player Vân-Áhn Võ; guzheng player Zhongbei Wu, who has performed at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and Twin Cities world music ensemble Speaking in Tongues. (7:30 p.m. Hamline University, Sundin Music Hall, 1531 Hewitt Av., St. Paul, $18-$25, 952-210-3268)

7. The Sounds of Gospel: This musical was created by the Rev. William Pierce of 2nd Chance Outreach, with Jevetta Steele directing and Billy Steele overseeing the music. Created in 2018 for the National Baptist Convention held in Minneapolis, the piece chronicles the extensive history of gospel music, with an all-star Twin Cities cast including Tonia Hughes-Kendrick, Cornisha Garmon, Jermaine Thomas, J. Michelle Caldwell, Fred Steele, Jr., Jhadiya Steele, Jackson Hurst, Angel Woods and Lysanis Shelby. (7 p.m. Fri.-Sun. Cowles Center, 528 Hennepin Ave., Mpls., $35-$65, thecowlescenter.org)

Also: Atlantis Quartet — the veteran Twin Cities jazz combo of saxophonist Brandon Wozniak, guitarist Zacc Harris, bassist Chris Bates and drummer Pete Hennig — will record a live album in the new North Loop club (7 p.m. Berlin, $30).

Saturday, Feb. 17

8. Lunar New Year with the Minnesota Orchestra: The Year of the Dragon is upon us, and the orchestra is celebrating its start with a concert full of music by Chinese composers who create in the area where Western classical and traditional Chinese music meet. Among them is Peking Opera composer Zhenqiang Xie, who will premiere a new piece commissioned by the Minnesota Orchestra. Conducted by Junping QianXian, the concert also features the local debut of Vietnamese vocalist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ. (7 p.m. Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., $38-$78, ages 6 to 18 free, minnesotaorchestra.org)

9. Barely Brothers Records 10th Anniversary: The week-long party at one of the Twin Cities’ coolest little record stores will culminate in a big way this weekend with a free daytime bash that’s doubling as a celebration of local punk/garage-rock veterans Billy and Ernie Batson. All three of the brothers’ era-specific bands will perform in succession, starting with their ’60s/’70s-spiked unit the Hypsterz, followed by ’50s-themed hot-rod rockers King Kustom & the Cruisers and ending with their influential ’80s band the Mighty Mofos. Few musicians in town could cover more of what’s available in the well-stocked Barely Brothers bins than these encyclopedic rockers. (1-4 p.m. Barely Brothers, 783 Raymond Av., St. Paul, free, barelybrothersrecords.com)

Also: Twin Cities’ singing lariat ace Pop Wagner is celebrating the release of two albums — a new one called “Rowdy Folk Songs” (on which he plays 6, 9 and 12-string guitars) and a reissue of a 1983 cassette (which featured Angus Foster on bass and Butch Thompson on clarinet) (5 p.m. White Squirrel, free); local punk vet Christy Costello from Pink Mink and Ouija Radio is celebrating the release of her first solo album, “From the Dark,” with Screamin’ Cyn Cyn & the Pons and Scrunchies (8 p.m. 7th St. Entry, $15); another lineup of female-fronted punk/garage-rock bands is happening over at Cloudland Theater with the Silent Treatment and Tiny Daggers (7 p.m., all ages, $12-$15); the stellar Bruce Henry, the Chicago-based, former Twin Cities singer, presents his “Watch That Star; A Music Celebration of The African-America Journey!” for Black History Month (7 p.m. the Dakota, $30-$35); Neil Diamond doesn’t tour anymore but Martin Zellar, the Minnesotan living in Mexico, returns for his popularity Neil tribute (7:30 p.m. Parkway Theater, $29-$59); St. Paul soul man Nicholas David delivers “Songs of Love and Loss” (7:30 p.m. Crooners, $25-$35).

Sunday, Feb. 18

10. The King’s Singers: In the classical realm, there are few vocal ensembles more beloved than the King’s Singers, a multi-Grammy-winning group celebrated for lending its mellifluous harmonies to everything from medieval chant to British Invasion pop. Formed in 1968 at England’s King’s College, Cambridge, the six-man a cappella group has had many personnel changes but maintains a consistently beautiful sound. For this sold-out Bethlehem Music Series concert, they’ll sing a collection of Nordic works by Edvard Grieg, Jean Sibelius, Ola GjeiloGjello and others. (4 p.m. Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 4100 Lyndale Av. S., Mpls., free, bethlehemmusicseries.org)

Also: “On A Winter’s Night” reunites a quartet of distinguished singer/songwriters John Gorka, Patty Larkin, Lucy Kaplansky and Cliff Eberhardt from a 1994 concert and album helmed by Christine Lavin (7:30 p.m. Parkway Theater, $49-$69); a trio of Twin Cities R&B artists — Mayyadda, Jackson Hurst and newcomers Traiveon & Candi — offer “All Sweet Things: A Celebration of Black Love” (7 p.m. the Dakota, $20-$25); the Birthday Club features versatile St. Paul pianist Dan Chouinard and standout vocalist Gwen Matthews saluting artists who have birthdays in February including Nancy Wilson, Natalie Cole, Carole King and Roberta Flack (5 p.m. Crooners, $20-$30).

Monday, Feb. 19

Squid, the U.K. experimental rockers, are touring behind their new sophomore album, “O Monolith” (8 p.m. Fine Line, $20-$30); local sax blowers Nelson Devereaux and Chris Thomson are pairing up for a duo show to help christen Minneapolis’ new jazz hub (7 p.m. Berlin, free).

Tuesday, Feb. 20

Hippo Campus-flavored collegiate rockers the Hails hail from Florida and are on a coming-out tour ahead of summer festival gigs including the Governor’s Ball (6:30 p.m. 7th St. Entry, all ages, $15); the Belfast Cowboys’ offshoot St. Dominic’s Trio continues to raise money every Tuesday night for Foothold Twin Cities with its loose rock marathons (7 p.m. Driftwood Char-Bar, donations requested);

Wednesday, Feb. 21

Singer Eric Martin and bassist Billy Sheehan, both ’80s hair-band vets, are back together as Mr. Big and playing their 1991 album “The Big Finish” on tour (8 p.m. Fitzgerald Theater, $47-$88); dramatic Nashville soft-rocker Ron Pope is also revisiting an old album in full, his 2008 debut “Daylight,” featuring the hit “A Drop in the Ocean;” retro-country specialist Cole Diamond continues his Whiskey Wednesday residency (8 p.m. Palmer’s Bar, free).