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

French band Caravan Palace has become a playlist favorite in hipster boutique stores with its stylish combo of swinging jazz and chill electro-pop (8 p.m. First Avenue, $42); Grammy-winning gospel legends the Blind Boys of Alabama, founded in 1939, are now led by Ricky McKinnie, who has been on board since 1997 (7 p.m. the Dakota, $65-$75); New Jersey drummer Mark Guiliana, who performed on David Bowie’s “Blackstar” and many other albums, is leading his own experimental jazz combo (8 p.m. Icehouse, $25-$30); veteran jazz vocalist Karrin Allyson: is joined by Jazz at Lincoln Center host Deborah Grace Winer for an evening of the Great American Songbook (7:30 p.m. Crooners, $54.63 and up).

1. Bob Dylan: With his first home-state gig in six years impending in Mankato, the Hibbing bard kicked off his 2025 tour last week with concerts heavy on material from 2020’s stellar “Rough and Rowdy Ways.” But he also revisited tunes from seven other albums, embracing such classics as “It Ain’t Me, Babe,” “Desolation Row” and “When I Paint My Masterpiece.” After a four-month break from touring amid the buzz of the biopic “A Complete Unknown,” Dylan returned to the road with a new drummer, Anton Fig, perhaps best known for his work on David Letterman’s talk show, replacing the legendary Jim Keltner. After performing in Minnesota, Dylan will make his debut in Eau Claire, Wis., at a new venue. (8 p.m. Fri., Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center, Mankato, $157 and up, ticketmaster.com and 8 p.m. Sat., Sonnentag Event Center, Eau Claire, $62.50 and up, ticketmaster.com)

2. The Suburbs: Thirty-two years after recording their “final” concerts there for the album “Viva! Suburbs! Live at First Avenue,” the Twin Cities’ artiest party band is returning to the Mainroom to not only celebrate their pleasantly surprising longevity but also the continued vibrancy of the venue itself. The show was booked to mark the club’s 55th anniversary, timed to the April 4, 1970, opening date with Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen Tour. It also happens to be the ‘Burbs’ first hometown show since the January death of former guitarist/singer Beej Chaney, a sad occasion that will also be marked amid the band’s usual joyous set. Black Widows open. (8 p.m. First Avenue, 701 1st Av. N., Mpls., $40, axs.com)

3. Bright Eyes: After a decade-long hiatus for much of the 2010s, ultra-earnest indie-rock bard Conor Oberst (see also: Monsters of Folk, Better Oblivion Community Center) and his old collaborators from Omaha came back strong with their 2020 album, “Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was.” Too bad it came during the pandemic. They’re not missing the chance to tour their current record, “Five Dice, All Threes,” an exuberant and at times snarling collection that makes Oberst sound like he’s still 16 and amazed at how messy the world is. Their longtime Oma-homies Cursive open. (7:45 p.m. Palace Theatre, 17 W. 7th Place, St. Paul, $50-$95, axs.com)

Also: Scottish dance-rock mainstays Franz Ferdinand of “Take Me Out” fame are back in America promoting their heavily Bowie-infused seventh album, “The Seventh Fear” (8 p.m. the Fillmore, all ages, $59); Minnesota’s shock-rock pioneers Impaler are celebrating the 40th anniversary of their cult-loved EP “Rise of the Mutants” with a welcome return by Dumpster Juice to open (8 p.m. Turf Club, $15); with firebrand frontman Dick Lucas still on vocals, U.K. punk vets the Subhumans are back out railing against the times (8 p.m. Uptown VFW, $23-$27); celebrating their 50th anniversary, Australia’s Air Supply reprise the soft-rock faves “All Out of Love” and “Lost in Love” (8 p.m. Mystic Lake Casino Showroom, $49-$200).

4. The O’Jays: It’s been a long train running for the O’Jays, the hitmaking R&B trio founded in 1958 in Canton, Ohio. On their farewell tour, original member Walter Williams is leading the “Love Train” to the Twin Cities for one last show. Frontman Eddie Levert, an original member, is temporarily off the road, replaced by Nick Davis; Eric Nolan Grant joined in 1995. These Rock & Roll Hall of Famers will “Give the People What They Want” with such gems as “Back Stabbers,” “Use Ta Be My Girl” and “For the Love of Money.” (8 p.m. Mystic Lake Casino Showroom, 2400 Mystic Lake Blvd., Prior Lake, $49-$199, ticketmaster.com)

5. The Hard Quartet: An indie-rock supergroup on paper, this playful and noisy foursome sounds more like a fully bonded band of brothers on record. Stephen Malkmus of Pavement, Matt Sweeney of Chavez and the Cairo Gang’s Emmett Kelley trade off on vocals and guitars while Dirty Three and Cat Power drummer Jim White steers the ship. Their self-titled debut album for Matador Records was a sleeper hit of 2024, offering various echoes of Yo La Tengo, Big Star and lots of other bands record-store clerks adore. Their Twin Cities debut features Chicago’s Sharp Pins as an opener. (8 p.m. First Avenue, 701 1st Av. N., Mpls., $40, axs.com)

6. Shemekia Copeland: Last year’s Grammy-nominated “Blame It on Eve” lacks the social and political commentary of Copeland’s previous three albums, but it’s no less impactful. The New York City powerhouse brings the blues in different flavors, including her father Johnny Copeland’s gutbucket “Down on Bended Knee,” the chillin’ boogie “Tough Mother,” the gospelly Stevie Wonder fave “Heaven Help Us All” and the slow struttin’ “Wine O’Clock.” On her 12th album, Copeland was joined by such guests as Charlie Hunter and Luther Dickinson on guitar, Jerry Douglas on dobro and Alejandro Escovedo on vocals. After headlining last year at the Bayfront Blues Festival in Duluth, Copeland returns to her familiar downtown Minneapolis haunt. (7 p.m. the Dakota, 1010 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., $45-$55, dakotacooks.com)

7. Border CrosSing: The local choir known for exploring intersections between Latin American music and the Western European classical tradition will perform a potentially powerful epic. Brilliant Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov wrote “Oceana” in 1996, inspired by the cantatas of J.S. Bach. It both celebrates the world’s oceans and laments their possible demise while setting texts by the masterful Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Ahmed Anzaldúa conducts two choirs, an orchestra, two guitarists and a vocal soloist on a program that also features a Bach cantata and motets by both Bach and Golijov. (8 p.m. Ordway Concert Hall, 345 Washington St., St. Paul, $5-$100, ordway.org)

Also: Raw-voiced, Tik Tok-launched country singer Warren Zeiders offers his hit “Pretty Little Poison” and a new batch of highly personal songs (8 p.m. the Armory, $44 and up); expansive New Orleans R&B ensemble Tank and the Bangas are proudly touring behind “The Heart, The Mind, The Soul,” which won the Grammy this year for best spoken word poetry album (8 p.m. Fine Line, $30 and up); Canadian electronic classical-meets-prog rock instrumental ensemble Flore Laurentienne is on its first U.S. headline tour (8 p.m. Cedar Cultural Center, $23-$28); funky instrumental L.A. trio La Lom, aka L.A. League of Musicians, is garnering a Khruangbin-style buzz and playing its own dates head of a tour with Leon Bridges (8 p.m. Fine Line, $25-$45); blues scions Kent and Garry Burnside have recorded separate albums with producer Boo Mitchell (son of Willie Mitchell) for Strolling Bones Records that are due this summer (7 p.m. Uptown VFW, $27-$22); potent singer Lissie is back from Iowa once again (7:30 p.m. Parkway Theater, $29-$49); a tribute to great jazzmen Nat and Cannonball Adderley will be led by Twin Cities music vets trumpeter Omar Abdulkarim and pianist Dale Alexander (7:30 p.m. Berlin, $30); it’s an evening with California troubadour Tom Freund, the former Silos member who has worked with Ben Harper and Graham Parker (8 p.m. Aster Cafe, $20).

8. Chamber Music Society of Minnesota: Farewell, Paul Schoenfield. The renowned composer died in April 2024, leaving behind pieces like his infectious “Café Music,” inspired by his tenure as the pianist at Murray’s Steakhouse in downtown Minneapolis. He also was a founding member of the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota, which will perform six of his “Niguns” (including “Cafe Music”), performed by Schoenfield’s old recital partner, Young-Nam Kim, and his fellow violinist daughter, Ariana Kim, violist Sally Chisholm, the Minnesota Orchestra’s principal cellist, Anthony Ross, pianist Mary Jo Gothmann and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s principal clarinetist, Sang Yoon Kim. (4 p.m. Sundin Music Hall, 1531 Hewitt Av., St. Paul, $20-$25, students free, chambermusicmn.org)

Also: Fridley-born Texas singer/songwriter Susan Gibson, best known for writing the hit “Wide Open Spaces” for the Chicks, makes her hometown debut (7:30 p.m. Dunsmore Room at Crooners, $49.05); Meet You at the Crossroads is a new concert melding Black gospel music and Somali blues, under the direction of longtime Minneapolis maestro J.D. Steele and Ahmed Ismail Yusuf, respectively (7 p.m. Schoenecker Center Performance Hall, University of St. Thomas, free, and 2 p.m. April 27 Stephen B. Humphrey Theater at Saint John’s University, Collegeville, free); the Benny Benack III Quartet led by DownBeat’s No. 1 rising vocal star (who’s also a trumpeter) is on an extensive tour organized by the new Midwest Jazz Collective (6:30 p.m. Crooners, $35-$45); celebrating its 25th year, Scotland’s Skerryvore offers its brand of Celtic rock (7 p.m. the Dakota, $40-$45).

9. Jack White: Believe every fawning word you heard over last year’s last-minute First Ave show by the former White Stripes frontman and his freewheeling band, who didn’t follow a setlist but never missed a beat. They’ve apparently had so much they’re coming back around for two nights in a slightly bigger — but still too small — venue on a more formal tour behind last year’s full-throttle LP “No Name.” Resale tickets are all that’s available (for now). Prices for them are not quite as, um, jacked-up as last time; and still a better value than most concerts that charge $200-plus outright. (7:30 p.m. Mon. & Tue., Palace Theatre, 17 W. 7th Place, St. Paul, resale only, first-avenue.com)

Also: Johnnyswim, the Nashville husband-and-wife duo, are touting their fifth full length, “When the War Is Over” (8 p.m. Uptown Theater, $51 and up); Tatiana Eva-Marie brings her French swing to Minneapolis (7 p.m. the Dakota, $35.77 and up).

Considering she named her current trek the Unprecedented Sh!t Tour, topical and vehement indie-folk hero Ani DiFranco is bound to be extra-animated this time around at one of her favorite venues to play (7:30 p.m. First Avenue, $45); Japanese jazz piano force Hiromi is promoting her funkiest album, “Sonicwonderland (7 & 9 p.m. Tue. & Wed. the Dakota, $35-$60).

10. Tyler Childers: About as different from the other, more formulaic country singers headlining arenas as Nirvana was from Poison, this bluegrass-infused Kentucky warbler of “Feathered Indians” viral fame came up via 7th St. Entry and First Ave to become one of the music industry’s great unexpected success stories. He’s playing his first arena show in town still riding the buzz of his 2023 album “Rustin’ in the Rain,” nominated for four Grammys. His shows are a real hoot, fueled by big singalongs and a well-worn backing band that’s as adept at boogying as it is at twanging. This one is mostly sold-out save for a face-value Ticketmaster resale policy that should become standard. Memphis songwriter Cory Branan opens. (8 p.m. Target Center, 600 1st Av. N., Mpls., ticketmaster.com)

Also: Jazz Is Dead features Ghanaian guitarist Ebo Taylor with a mix of Afrobeat, jazz and funk (this is not the group of the same name that plays jazzy instrumental versions of Grateful Dead songs) (9 p.m. Fine Line, $35-$55).

Classical music critic Rob Hubbard contributed to this column.