Friday, July 18, 2014

This week's hot concerts


Dave & Phil Alvin
Friday  8 p.m., Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave., $20-$24, www.visulite.com  
The Alvin brothers, who co-piloted the legendary California country punk outfit the Blasters before guitar whiz Dave left for a solo career, spent 30 years apart before a health scare brought them back together. Their reunion tour hits on their storied musical pasts and the recent tribute album to honor Big Bill Broonzy.


Half Strangers/The Hot Gates
Friday  8 p.m., Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St., $10, www.eveningmuse.com 
Former Charlottean Devon Elizabeth formed this new act after the soulful singer-songwriter moved to Charleston. The rootsier Americana suits her. She’s paired with Jason Scavone’s rollicking pop-rock band. Scavone produced Elizabeth’s 2013 solo EP “The Loneliest Dream.”

Kiss/Def Leppard
Saturday  7 p.m., PNC Music Pavilion, 707 Pavilion Blvd., $38.50-$186.50, www.livenation.com
Kiss celebrates its 40th anniversary by hooking up with UK classic rock co-headliners Def Leppard’s Heroes Tour. Both bands churn out about 14 tracks that rely heavily on older material from Kiss’ `70s and `80s albums and Leppard’s chart topping “Hysteria” and “Pyromania.”


King Buzzo
Saturday  9 p.m., Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave., $12-$15, www.visulite.com  
Following the release of his solo debut, “This Machine Kills Artists” the eccentric Melvins’ frontman embarks on a solo acoustic tour, but don’t get the wrong idea. He may be a candid storyteller and exhibits a broader sense of melody when the sludgy distortion subsides, but he hasn’t gone soft. It’s a daring departure, but one you’d expect from him.

Saturday  10 p.m., Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St., $5, www.snugrock.com
The Charlotte lo-fi indie-punk trio’s sophomore album “Things Change” has drawn attention from Pitchfork and Brooklyn Vegan (thanks in part to bassist Joshua Robbins and his wife Sarah’s growing indie label Self Aware Records). If you miss old Dinosaur Jr. and Husker Du, the group’s grasp of messy, noisy punk and more expansive moodier tracks should light your fire.

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
Sunday  8 p.m., The Fillmore, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd., $38.23, www.livenation.com
The Grammy winning `90s hip-hop collective, whose sense of lyrical melody and rapid-fire delivery influenced a generation of lightning-tongued lyricist, reteamed earlier this week to reveal plans for a 2015 farewell album which - like Wu-Tang Clan - they plan to auction off for a hefty sum.


I Am the Avalanche
Tuesday  9 p.m., The Milestone, 3400 Tuckaseegee Rd., $12, www.themilestoneclub.com
The Brooklyn band returned in March with its third album, “Wolverines” - a blast of hard hitting blue collar punk that’s equal parts Gaslight Anthem and Avail. It draws on very different circumstances from its six-year stalled 2011 comeback sophomore album. Frontman Vinnie Caruana wrote much of the album while suffering a debilitating spinal injury.

A Sunny Day in Glasgow
Thursday  8 p.m., Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St., $5, www.snugrock.com  
The experimental art-pop sextet kicks off the four day Recess Fest, which takes place across multiple Plaza Midwood venues. The buzzed about underground group represents what the festival is all about with innovative songs that often sound like blurry shoegazer compositions resting atop sweetly neurotic pop music.


Lee Bains & the Glory Fires
Thursday  9 p.m., The Milestone, 3400 Tuckaseegee Rd., $5-$7, www.themilestoneclub.com  
Music fans would be hard pressed to find a live band that rocks harder per dollar and the Alabama quartet’s Sub Pop debut, “Dereconstructed,” plays less on leader Bains’ literate writing and soulful delivery and more on the band’s raw live intensity with its soul singing and Southern rock grooves cutting through buzzing, noise-punk distortion.