Bad Suns Fitzgerald's, February 24
Formed all the way back in 2012, Bad Suns is another stylish, dance-friendly act jockeying for whatever fans haven't yet been gobbled up by Imagine Dragons; perhaps they're just positioning themselves as potential openers for the "Radioactive" pace-setters' upcoming arena tour. Either way, the Southern California quartet folds '80s synth-pop into Phoenix-style alt-rock the way a skilled pastry chef would whip up a tray of delicious petit fours, and quickly found a receptive radio audience with candy-coated singles like "Salt" and "Cardiac Arrest." With Coasts and Maudlin Strangers.
Meghan Trainor House of Blues, February 25
Rapping singer of some of 2014's most enjoyable pop songs, Meghan Trainor became a star and eventual Grammy nominee thanks to back-to-back smash hits "All About That Bass" and "Lips Are Movin'." It'll never be Dylan, true, but the Massachusetts-born vocalist and multi-instrumentalist scored major points with fans by broaching issues like body image and teen vulnerability, topics seldom mentioned on a typical Top 40 playlist. Now based in Nashville, the 21-year-old Trainor has already unseated Taylor Swift from the top of Billboard's albums chart with last month's Title, and hopes to use her first full-fledged tour to prove she's got real staying power.
Dwarves Warehouse Live, February 25
Among the most willfully offensive bands in punk history, the Dwarves would also be among the most tongue-in-cheek, except their collective tongue is no doubt otherwise occupied with much more perverse pursuits. Of course the Chicago-formed band's most infamous stunt is the the hoax surrounding guitarist Hewhocannotbenamed supposed death in the wake of 1990's breakthrough album Blood, Guts & Pussy, which promptly got them dropped from Sub Pop, but they've hung around long enough to make their mark in areas other than perpetually poor taste: members of the Offspring, Queens of the Stone Age and Urge Overkill all appeared on 2004's The Dwarves Must Die. Last year they returned with the typically obnoxious Dwarves Invented Rock and Roll.
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