Lecrae
Friday
7 p.m, Bojangles’ Coliseum, 2700 E. Independence Blvd.,
$24-$59.93/$119.92 VIP, www.ticketmaster.com
The struggle to remain cutting edge and Christian rests on the
shoulders of this chart-topping Atlanta-based rapper who manages to stay true
to his faith while pushing boundaries with tracks that don’t distinguish
themselves from mainstream hip-hop (his latest album “The Anomaly” debuted at
#1 on the Billboard 200) and lyrics that aren’t always faith-based, but rooted
in realism.
Cape Breton Fiddling & Piping
Friday 7:30 p.m., Great Aunt Stella
Center, 926 Elizabeth Ave., Free, donations accepted, www.folksociety.org
The Charlotte Folk Society introduces the city to the music of
Cape Breton with three natives of the island off the coast of Canada which has
preserved the Gaelic music and culture of the Scottish Highlanders who settled
there. Fiddler/stepdancer Andrea Beaton, Northumbrian smallpiper Dick Hensold,
and pianist Troy MacGillivray deliver old sounds anew to Charlotte.
This multi-instrumentalist has spent nearly 40 years as a sideman
for everyone from Meat Loaf to Mick Jagger, but is best known for his work with
Todd Rundgren’s `70s prog-rock side project Utopia. He employees Rundgren and
his fellow Utopians for his eclectic solo album “3,” which wears its link to
`70s AM pop, classic rock, and prog on its sleeve.
Datsik
Friday 9 p.m., The Fillmore, 1000 NC
Music Factory Blvd., $19.29, www.livenation.com
The Canadian dubstep DJ ends his Ninja Nation Tour this week, so
expect a mix of delirious exhaustion and amped enthusiasm as he pays tribute to
hip-hop’s influence on dubstep - which is the same theme of his “Down for My
Ninjas” EP - for the last time (the tour ends in Tennessee Saturday). With
Etc., Etc., Bear Grillz, and Infuze.
Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires
Alabama Shakes and St. Paul may have led the charge out of
Birmingham, but this raucous rock n’ soul powerhouse is the meat to their
potatoes with blistering performances of well-educated punk and literary folk-meets-Southern
rock that verges on exorcism. Late Bloomer, Totally Slow, and Motel Glory fill
out the impressive bill.
The Suffers
Sunday
8 p.m., Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St., $10,
www.neighborhoodtheatre.com
Take a fired up horn section, Latin percussion, and a charismatic
soul singer in Kam Franklin and you’ve got Houston’s female-fronted answer to
the next buzz band in the old school soul revival. It’s like a cross between
Sharon Jones and St. Paul & the Broken Bones with a funkier rhythm section
and startling versatility.
Sick of Sarah
With its new single “Rooftops” premiering on
EntertainmentWeekly.com last week, the Minnesotan girl group hit the road with
the promise of a late June release for the long-awaited new album “Anthem.”
“Rooftops” finds the rock band evolving with a touch of `80s longing and a
knack for memorable melodies.
Whirr
Monday
8:30 p.m., Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St., $11,
www.neighborhoodtheatre.com
If My Bloody Valentine had been a West Coast indie rock band with
Jesus & Mary Chain’s taste for thick veils of distortion and tendencies for
girly Northwest indie-pop (2012’s “Pipe Dreams”) and heavier, more masculine
contemplation (2014’s harder “Sway”), it might’ve sounded like this San Fran
shoegazer. With Wildhoney, Serfs, and Girl Pants.
Tops
The Montreal soft rock quartet ties together delicate harmonies,
breathy (mostly) female vocals, warm, expressive guitar, and reverb-heavy synth
that sounds like Fleetwood Mac and ELO producing twee, lesser known, `90s girl
groups like the Softies with equal measures of pastoral folk and indie-pop.
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