If you’re still eager to experience Matisyahu for the novelty of his “Hasidic reggae superstar” persona his Saturday night set at Concord Music Hall could be as ideal as any since his breakout. That’s because Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, ends at sundown, and Matisyahu will likely drop some timely and perhaps thoughtful banter into his set. That’s hardly the only notable show on Saturday, or for the rest of the week for that matter.
Tonight Joey Bada$$ visits Metro and Daedelus headlines Concord Music Hall. Tomorrow night Fleetwood Mac wrap up a two-night stint at United Center and Judas Priest hit the Venue at Horseshoe Casino. On Saturday Otis Clay plays the Promontory and DJ Slugo swings by Primary Nightclub. On Sunday Warpaint perform at the Vic and Coheed & Cambria do all of 2003’s In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 at House of Blues.
Be sure to check out all of our concerts listings over at Soundboard and read on for some more picks from Reader critics. If you want to hear some of the acts we’ve written about take a listen to our “Best shows to see” Spotify playlist at the bottom of this post (and follow us on Spotify as well).
Thu 10/2: Robert Plant & the Sensational Space Shifters at Riviera Theatre
“It seems as if music has opened up over the last decade for Robert Plant; the singer who long ago adapted the blues to his own ends has been able to reimagine traditions from rural America and ancient West Africa in his own distinctive way,” writes Peter Margasak. “On Lullaby . . . and the Ceaseless Roar (Nonesuch), his first new studio album of original material in nearly a decade, Plant has rejoined members of his last working band from England. Among them is the remarkable guitarist Justin Adams, who in recent years has gained acclaim for his deep understanding and love of so-called desert rock from Africa, producing records for Tinariwen and collaborating closely with Juldeh Camara, a Gambian singer and master of the riti (a primitive bowed single-string instrument). Plant’s new band also includes keyboardist John Baggot and bassist Billy Fuller, integral players in the development of the Bristol sound espoused by Massive Attack and Portishead, to name a few. The album is bookended by two very different versions of ‘Little Maggie,’ the American rural classic made famous by the Stanley Brothers. One version is dominated by Camara’s piercing riti, the other pounded by down-tempo beats and laced with Gambian’s Fulani-language vocals. The rest of the songs are exquisite originals that reflect the feminine beauty of Plant’s post-hard-rock singing.”
Fri 10/3: Theo Parrish at Smart Bar
“Despite growing up in Chicago and residing in Detroit, Theo Parrish hasn’t performed here since 2006,” writes Tal Rosenberg. “It’s unclear why that’s the case, but hopefully this DJ set at Smart Bar portends more appearances, because Parrish is one of contemporary dance music’s greatest living artists. As part of a Detroit musical tradition that includes J Dilla (hip-hop) and Moodymann (house), Parrish’s music is an audible tapestry that weaves together samples of jazz, soul, funk, disco, and various electronic music, simultaneously referencing the genres that form techno’s historical context. Trained as a sculptor at a Kansas City art school, Parrish makes music that resembles sculptures of sound, either elegant, sumptuous creations (Sound Sculptures Vol. 1) or crude, gritty ones (his ‘Ugly Edits’ series). His DJ sets are totally unpredictable—he’s been known to play entire sets of jazz fusion or soul ballads.”
Sat 10/4: Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives at Old Town School of Folk Music
“Marty Stuart spent his early career as part of Johnny Cash’s backing band, and 20-plus years later, with a number of hits to call his own, he remains a solidly unstarlike country star—someone who’s spent the bulk of his career not in alt-country opposition to Nashville but just off to the side, supporting another’s turn in the spotlight,” writes Noah Berlatsky. “If that’s been frustrating for him, he sure doesn’t show it; instead he almost seems to revel in the low profile, whether that means winkingly billing his current bluegrass band the Fabulous Superlatives or letting his drummer, Handsome Harry Stinson, steal the show with a lung-defying held note on a live performance of the bluegrass gospel standard ‘Working on a Building.’ That song appears on Stuart’s live gospel album from earlier this year—and he’s got a half-secular, half-sacred two-disc set, Saturday Night & Sunday Morning (Superlatone), coming out shortly before this show.”
Sun 10/5: Slaughter & the Dogs at Reggie’s Rock Club
“Two of the most fabled events in the history of English music occurred in 1976 when the Sex Pistols played a pair of shows at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall,” writes Luca Cimarusti. “The performances are said to have inspired the likes of Ian Curtis, Mark E. Smith, Pete Shelley, and Morrissey to create their own bands—subsequently rewriting musical history. Opening the show on July 20 were the grimy punks in Slaughter & the Dogs, a band whose first record, 1978’s Do It Dog Style, summed up the sound of English punk rock at the time: they were working-class brutes putting a glammy spin on a formula perfected by Richard Hell and Johnny Thunders and running it through a Manchester gutter, all while cranking up the speed and aggression. Slaughter & the Dogs broke up in 1979, and if Dog Style was all that they had left behind, it would have been a perfectly greasy legacy. Unfortunately, the band reformed a number of times over the decades, releasing new albums with each tweaked lineup.”