Friday, June 20, 2014

This week's hot concerts


Bakalao Stars
Friday  10 p.m., Chop Shop, 399 E. 35th St., $10, www.chopshopnoda.com
Nearly a decade ago this Charlotte upstart was the new kid on the block in NC’s percolating Latin rock scene. Today they’re the last band standing from those days, still churning out vibrant, Spanish-tinged, tropical rock, ska, and reggae with plenty of party-sparking joy on their third album, "Afro-Dijiak." They celebrate the release Friday.

Say Anything/Front Bottoms
Saturday  7:30 p.m., Amos’, 1423 S. Tryon St., $17-$21, www.amossouthend.com
Max Bemis tapped 16 guest vocalist for “Hebrews” - his just-released ruminations on cultural and religious identity. His live band includes musicians from Taking Back Sunday, Moving Mountains, Terrible Things, Moneen, and Eisley. Front Bottoms write snappy rock like a new Violent Femmes and pays tribute to Grandma on its new “Rose” EP.


Golden Era of Hip-Hop
Saturday  8 p.m., Fillmore, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd., $60.50-$99, www.livenation.com  
Thrice reunited `80s/`90s hip-hop duo EPMD joins influential emcee Rakim, Naughty By Nature’s Treach, enduring duo Das EFX, and `80s hit maker Rob Base (who lost his wife in October and old partner DJ EZ Rock in late April) for an old school hip-hop revival.

1960’s Rock & Roll Reunion
Saturday  8 p.m., Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St., $15, www.neighborhoodtheatre.com
For the second year 1960s era Charlotte rock n’ rollers regroup to launch (a new edition of) the book by musician Jacob Berger and photographer/writer Daniel Coston chronicling that era. The Mannish Boys, the Good, Bad & the Ugly, Young Ages, and thee Dirty Beats perform.


Dwele/Lira
Saturday  7:30 p.m., Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St., $30-$40, www.neighborhoodtheatre.com
The soft-spoken Detroit soul singer and go-to guest vocalist returns with South African R&B singer Lira in tow. Already a household name overseas, the platinum selling vocalist makes her US debut with “Rise Again,” a collection of R&B, jazz, and reggae touched by her African roots.

Counting Crows/Toad the Wet Sprocket
Tuesday  7 p.m., Uptown Amphitheatre, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd., $38-$80.50, www.livenation.com
The `90s nostalgia tours of the last few years may be passing over Charlotte this summer, but these two `90s pop-rock animals won’t disappoint with pockets full of hits as well as new material that like “New Constellation” - Toad’s first new album in over a decade - holds up to the old.

Phantogram
Wednesday  8 p.m., The Fillmore, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd., $30, www.livenation.com
The New York duo makes heartfelt, emotive electronic music that has more in common with the ethereal whirl of Cocteau Twins and funky R&B than cold, futuristic synthesizers. The band is enjoying a jump with its new album, “Voices,” selling out NY’s 4,000 capacity Terminal 5 in advance of this week’s show there.

Alejandro Escovedo
Thursday  8 p.m., Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave., $17-$20, www.visulite.com
Now in his sixties the literary Texas songwriter, who No Depression magazine crowned “artist of the decade” in the `90s, combines his punk roots, country twang, and rock n’ roll swagger for an album that sounds like it was made by someone half his age - 2012’s “Big Station.” With Austin’s BettySoo.