When it comes to concerts, this week you’ll have the option to hear the most important song of the year live, see a hidden gem in the flesh, and have your spirits lifted through the power of music. Here’s what’s on the horizon.
Pick of the Week: Childish Gambino
9/22 – Toyota Center
Once you get that time machine built, travel back to mid-2013 and find yourself. Tell that version of you that’s trying to make sense of Yeezus that five years from now Childish Gambino would make the most important hip-hop song of the year and that we’d all be, at minimum, slightly embarrassed for Kanye West. Gambino’s “This Is America” is one of the most interesting and essential tracks of the last decade, and knowing that Donald Glover plans to retire the Childish Gambino moniker after this tour means this could be your only shot to hear it live.
The Best of the Rest
Zhu/TOKiMONSTA
9/20 – Warehouse Live
The team behind “Light It Up” hit Warehouse Live for a night of big beats. Zhu’s rise to headliner is pretty impressive when you consider he’s been on the scene for less than have a decade, a testament to dance fans’ ability to embrace the new. As for TOKiMONSTA, I’m always happy to see an artist who is a woman get a platform to show off her work, especially in the world of electronic music.
Meg Myers
9/21 – House of Blues (Bronze Peacock Room)
Do you remember Tracy Bonham’s excellent debut The Burdens of Being Upright? Meg Myers is the closest artist I’ve come across that features the musical flexibility and sharp lyrics that made me fall in love with that record. Both of Myers’s albums — 2015’s Sorry and this year’s Take Me to the Disco — are masterworks in trusting an audience to follow you as you create songs that work as a package without necessarily having a defined sound. She should definitely be playing bigger rooms, but I won’t complain about seeing her in the intimate confines of the Bronze Peacock Room.
Update, Sept. 20: This show has been rescheduled to Oct. 29. Current tickets will be honored for the rescheduled date.
Andrew W.K.
9/23 – White Oak Music Hall
Maybe you think Andrew W.K.’s gimmick as party-centric motivational speaker is dumb, but in these stressful times isn’t it nice to have an artist who is singularly focused on producing uplifting music? If you’re reading a blog like this, you have to know deep down that “Music Is Worth Living For”, so why not enjoy W.K.’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” on steroids approach to self-help.
Thrice
9/25 – House of Blues
With Palms having just been released into the world, it’ll be interesting to see how Thrice’s setlists evolve moving forward. Recent setlists were a nice mix of old and newer favorites, and I’m personally curious to see how heavy their shows will be with new material; “The Dark” should be pretty fun if it makes it in. Fun fact: Thrice is in the top 2 percent of bands I’ve seen live in terms of sound engineering; their sets just sound impeccable.
Bonus Road Trip Option: River City Rockfest
9/22 – San Antonio
Still sad that you didn’t get a full Nine Inch Nails set at Day For Night on account of the weather? (“The Background World” was a pretty amazing closer though.) Well, you could wait a few months and drive up to Irving (gross) or east to New Orleans (both shows are sold out though so good luck if you don’t already have tickets), or you make the shorter drive this weekend to catch them headliner River City Rockfest, a fest no one really talks about, which is a shame because the lineups are fairly solid if that’s your scene. NIN headlines a lineup that includes that band pretending to be Stone Temple Pilots, Primus, and Joan Jett among others.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2018.
