The Big Gigs: 10 best concerts to see in the Twin Cities this week

1. Musiq Soulchild: After selling out three nights at the Dakota last fall, the ‘00s Philly soul man is back for a six shows over three nights. He’s again touting last year’s “Victims & Villains,” his first full-length in six years. It’s a collab with Hit-Boy that finds Soulchild in his familiar hip-hop soul mode. It’s hard to resist the new ballads “Beat of a Slow Dance” and “Your Love Is Life.” In early September, he also dropped a new single, “Not My Fault,” with Swerve the Realest and Monteasy. (6:30 & 9 p.m. Thu., Fri. and Sat. the Dakota, 1010 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., $65-$75, dakotacooks.com)

Also: Twin Cities pop-rock quartet Hippo Campus is playing the hometown release party for its fourth album, “Flood,” which had to be postponed two weeks ago due to illness, making the sold-out tickets newly available at press time (8 p.m. First Avenue, $40); after making their mark with two No. 1 country songs in the ‘10s with “Girl in a Country Song” and “Die from a Broken Heart,” Nashville duo Maddie & Tae are on tour behind their just-released third album, “What a Woman Can Do” (7:30 p.m. Varsity Theater, $48 and up); long removed from their novelty hit “MMMBop,” cult-loved sibling pop-rockers Hanson kick off a two-night stand starting with an acoustic set on Night 1 with opener Matthew Sweet, who’s also playing unplugged-style (7 p.m. the Fillmore, $71 or $110/two-night).

2. Babyface: R&B royalty is coming to town. Babyface, who has distinguished himself as a songwriter, producer and recording artist, will put on his performer face. The 13-time Grammy winner will perform some of his own hit songs like “It’s No Crime” as well as smashes he wrote for Whitney Houston, Boyz II Men, Madonna, Bobby Brown and many others. Taking a break from his Vegas residency, the artist behind more than 35 No. 1 R&B tunes is squeezing in casino shows in Minnesota and his home state of Indiana. (8 p.m. Mystic Lake Casino Showroom, 2400 Mystic Lake Blvd., Prior Lake, $59 and up, ticketmaster.com)

3. Cantus: Ysaye Barnwell’s “Wanting Memories” has become a signature song for this Minneapolis-based low-voice ensemble, and it lends its title to this program of music about memory by everyone from Richard Strauss to Dolly Parton to Taylor Swift. (7:30 p.m. Fri. Trinity Lutheran Church, 115 N. 4th St., Stillwater; 7:30 p.m. Sat., Westminster Hall, Nicollet Mall and Alice Rainville Place, Mpls.; 3 p.m. Sun. Sundin Music Hall, 1531 Hewitt Av., St. Paul; 11 a.m. Oct. 10, Meetinghouse Church, 6200 Colonial Way, Edina; 3 p.m. Oct. 13, St. Philip the Deacon Lutheran Church, 17205 County Road 6, Plymouth, $5-$45, online stream available Oct. 10-20, cantussings.org)

Also: Part of a crop of exciting, new alt-twang/Americana acts in the Twin Cities, Molly Brandt hosts the release party for her second album, “American Saga,” with the Roe Family Singers (8 p.m. Icehouse, $20-$25); BeBe Zahara Benet, a favorite from “RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars,” entertains in Fridley (7:30 p.m. Crooners, $35-$45); Minnesota vibraphone ace Dave Hagedorn pairs with his former St. Olaf College student, pianist Dan Cavanagh, for an evening of jazz (8 p.m. Dunsmore Room art Crooners, $25-$35); Night 2 of Hanson’s Underneath Experience Tour will feature an electric set with openers Phantom Planet (7 p.m. the Fillmore, $71); rowdy and visceral L.A. punk trio Fidlar is back on tour touting its first post-pandemic album, “Surviving the Dream” (7 p.m. Varsity Theater, $38); a kindred lineup of women all-stars in the Twin Cities music scene finds Becky Kapell & the Fat Six pairing up with Gini Dodds & the Dahliahs before their Linda Ronstadt tribute band the de’Lindas (8 p.m. Cabooze, $15).

4. Surly Darkness Day: Even if you don’t like the midnight-black beer this event celebrates, you have to love the chance to see San Diego’s devilish punk group Rocket from the Crypt for free outside in early October along with some other dark-tinted bands. Frontman John Reis, who’s also known from the influential screamcore band Drive Like Jehu, has earned giddy responses from young and old fans at RiotFest and other throwback punk events in recent years with his reformed RFTC lineup. They top off an eight-band lineup that includes Twin Cities metal-horror vets Impaler, Denver doom-metalists Khemmis, California punks the Schizophrenics, and other locals Christy Costello, ROT and the Rumours. (Noon-10 p.m. Surly Brewing, 520 Malcolm Av. S., Mpls., free, all ages, surlybrewing.com)

5. Mk.gee: There’s a sizable buzz on this low-key, basement-taper guitar strummer, who sounds like an unlikely cross between Mac DeMarco and Frank Ocean and counts everyone from Justin Vernon to Eric Clapton among his big-name supporters. Born Michael Gordon in New Jersey 28 years ago, he went viral off a 2020 mixtape and got picked up by Interscope Records for this year’s album, “Two Stars & the Dream Police,” an odd-sounding collage of lo-fi, reverb-heavy guitar and soft and warped-sounding love songs. He’s selling out venues on his first big headlining tour with just a two-piece backing band. (8 p.m. Uptown Theatre, 2900 Hennepin Av., Mpls., $64, ticketmaster.com)

6. Billy Bragg: With a long tradition of making Twin Cities audiences think and sing — damn him! — the topical British alterna-folk hero is recapping his four-decade career on a tour tied to his impressive new box set, “The Roaring Forty, 1983-2023.″ Accompanied by keyboardist and vocalist JJ Stoney, Bragg will try to get voters ready for the U.S. elections with maybe a bit of philosophy explained in 2019′s “The Three Dimensions of Freedom,” his third book. (8 p.m. First Avenue, 701 1st Av. N., Mpls., $40, axs.com)

Also: Robin and Linda Williams, the husband-and-wife folk duo who were favorites on “A Prairie Home Companion,” return to the West Bank (8 p.m. Cedar Cultural Center, $30-$35); the annual Twin Cities Luther Vandross tribute lands at Crooners featuring Jay Bee, LaMont Keten and Patricia Lacy, a former Vandross backup singer (5 & 8 p.m., $35-$45); an L.A. scenemaker who has produced for Jenny Lewis, Dawes and Ondara, Mike Viola steps up to the mic (8 p.m. 7th St. Entry, $20-$25); San Francisco blues stalwart Tommy Castro, who captured the Blues Award for entertainer of the year in 2023 (his fourth time claiming that prize), adds to his resume of 6,000 gigs with his band, the Painkillers (8 p.m. Medina Entertainment Center $29-$48).

7. Air: Did the Paris Olympics whet your appetite for some French culture? Here comes Air, champions of chill-out music, masters of retro-futurism and maestros of soundtracks for Sofia Coppola films. Air is an acronym for the French words amour, imagination and rêve that translate to “love, imagination and dreaming.” The cult-loved duo of guitarist Nicolas Godin and synthesizer player Jean-Benoît Dunckel have lived up to their moniker over the course of six albums of space-age pop, the last of which arrived in 2012. Best known for the groovy 1998 electronica hit “Sexy Boy,” the French pair will perform their ‘98 debut album “Moon Safari” in its entirety on this rare Air U.S. tour. (8 p.m. State Theatre, 805 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls., $64.50-$154.50, ticketmaster.com)

8. Brittany Howard and Michael Kiwanuka: Former Alabama Shakes frontwoman Howard and “Cold Little Heart” hitmaker Kiwanuka each started their recording careers in 2011. Since then, they’ve both done a lot of innovative and infectious work with classic soul and R&B influences, making them sensible co-headlining partners. The headliner in St. Paul, Howard added Prince & NPG-style funk and cosmic-soul touches to her cool sonic mix for her second solo album, “What Now,” and her live shows of late have offered similarly bright and colorful visual displays. Kiwanuka is previewing a new album due in November, “Small Changes,” which was co-produced with Danger Mouse and features Jimmy Jam among its collaborators. Acoustic guitar wiz Yasmin Williams opens. (7 p.m. Palace Theatre, 17 W. 7th Place, St. Paul, $80-$125, axs.com)

9. Jonathan Biss: Local classical music lovers have had the pleasure of experiencing this insightful pianist’s artistry in collaboration with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra as he premiered five new piano concertos inspired by the five written by Beethoven. Now he’s turned his focus to Beethoven’s Viennese neighbor, Franz Schubert, asking composers Timo Andres, Caroline Shaw and Tyson Gholston Davis to write new solo piano works inspired by Schubert’s. He’ll open the Frederic Chopin Society’s season by performing the Davis piece between Schubert Impromptus and a Sonata. (3 p.m. Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, 130 S. Macalester St., St. Paul, $20-$40, chopinsocietymn.org)

Also: “Brick”-hitmaking piano rocker Ben Folds is playing another highfalutin performance hall, but this time with the charmingly lowbrow of concept of taking song requests via paper airplanes (7 p.m. Ordway Center, $45-$115) ; the all-star Neil Young tribute band Tired Eyes returns to the Turf Club with Alan Sparhawk, Rich and Glen Mattson and Kraig Johnson (8 p.m., $20); warbly voiced folkie Willie Watson, formerly of Old Crow Medicine Show, is touring behind his third album, “Willie Watson” (7 p.m. the Dakota, $35-$45).

Best known as Trent Reznor’s keyboardist and collaborator in Nine Inch Nails, Italian composer Alessandro Cortini is touring to promote a new sound-instillation-turned-album, “Nati Infiniti,” with an opening montage by Aida Shahghasemi and Jeremy and Max Ylvisaker (7:30 p.m. Cedar Cultural Center, $28); North Carolinian country-rock vets American Aquarium are back on the road promoting a Shooter Jennings-produced record, “The Fear of Standing Still” (8 p.m. Turf Club, $25).

10. Fontaines DC: The young Irish rockers that Noel Gallagher said “look like a [expletive] EMF” — that’s after they slagged Oasis’ reunion plans in the press — they have a sound that fans of Gallagher’s hometown music scene of Manchester should love. The quintet’s fourth album, “Romance,” offers snarling but melodic vocals, psychedelic bombast and jagged beats variously reminiscent of the Charlatans, Happy Mondays and/or Joy Division without often sounding derivative. They’re touring with the young and hazy New York band Been Stellar, whose debut LP has been in steady rotation at the Current. (8 p.m. the Fillmore, 505 5th St. N., Mpls., $42, livenation.com)

Also: One of the more clever and innovative underground music makers in Los Angeles these days, Sarah Tudzin is back out with her fun and thematic rock band Illuminati Hotties promoting their third album, “Power” (8 p.m. Turf Club, $20); Brazilian mandolin virtuoso Hamilton de Holanda visits downtown Minneapolis (7 p.m. the Dakota, $35-$40).

A bright and hopeful Canadian pop-rock band á la Nada Surf or Semisonic, Toronto quartet Valley is garnering a lot of streaming and TV exposure with its third album, “Water the Flowers, Pray for a Garden” (7:30 p.m. First Ave, $30); Kansas City’s well-known entry in the late-’90s emo wave that also birthed the likes of Jimmy Eat World, the Get Up Kids are on the road marking the 25th anniversary re-release of their best-loved album, “Something to Write Home About,” and they have Chicago’s great melodic punks the Smoking Popes out with them (7 p.m. Uptown Theatre, $41-$71); Nebraska’s John Prine-ian wordsmith folk picker Josh Rouse is in town again to play a solo set (7:30 p.m. Parkway Theater, $25-$40).

Classical music critic Rob Hubbard contributed to this column.