> CONCERT SAMPLER
Live-music highlights for Sept. 28Oct 4. Lil Uzi Vert and Playboi Carti Two rising stars and outliers borrowing from the ASAP Mob school of ignoring borders converge at the top of the bill here and in the process kick off a week packed with prime rap and beyond (Kid Cudi brings the curtain down on the week Wednesday at the same edge-of-town spot). Lil Uzi Vert’s a powder keg diva whose rapid delivery earned him his stage name and, this year, a No. 1 album in the glossy Luv is Rage 2. Playboi Carti’s a little less intense but had an almost equally winning 2017 — the two, from Philly and Atlanta respectively, have collaborated before and are hinting at bigger things together to come. For now, this will do fine, enough to sell out the joint and likely make for a finale together. (Thursday, Rebel, doors 7 p.m.)
Tash Sultana
Melbourne native Tash Sultana is a one-time busker and full-time DIY virtuoso who hasn’t released a full album yet. That’s apparently coming next year. Until then, she’ll just keep on blowing up, including this show originally scheduled for the Opera House then moved to the bigger Danforth, where it quickly sold out. Her homemade YouTube recordings, including breakthrough single “Jungle,” showcase her loopy song-building m.o., mad guitar skills and informality — she adds a trumpet and an array of synths, drum pads and pedals for the road and, presto, a one-woman band who in her first show here is pick of the week. (Thursday, Danforth Music Hall, doors 7 p.m.)
METZ
When it came time for last call at the dear departed Silver Dollar last spring, local noise and mirth makers Metz were called in by sharp-eared promoter Dan Burke to do the honours and light the celebratory dynamite. They bring it big, for sure, and, now that they’ve hit the third-album mark with the Sept. 22 release of Strange Peace, how they go from here will be a story to follow, though “loudly” is a given. A little less direct than the headliners but with the same sort of power, Montreal psych masters SUUNS get the prime sup- porting slot both nights, just as they did ushering in the Dollar’s final weekend. This will be a survivors’ night out that ought to carry a tinnitus warning. (Friday and Saturday, Lee’s Palace, doors 8:30 p.m.)
Roger Waters
At age 73, Waters is into another round of touring that clings faithfully and lucratively to the Pink Floyd songbook and branding. The difference here is that unlike previous stops built around Floydian opuses
The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon, he brings a little of his own with him: Is This The Life We Really Want?, it’s called, his first collection of new stuff in 25 years and sure to cue a run for the hockey rink’s loo. The rest of this “Us & Them” tour goes broadly around the catalogue and applies an anti-Trump finish to the floating pigs, part of the usual stunning visual accompaniment. It’s all worked before (no “solo” tour has ever done better box office than Waters’ The
Wall) and it’ll wow ’em again, including an Oct. 13 return. (Monday and Tuesday, Air Canada Centre, 8 p.m.)
Songhoy Blues
Five years removed from their beginnings playing for fellow refugees in Mali’s capital Bamako, they’re maturing rapidly into one of the most formidable guitar-rock bands on the planet. So it figures, anyway, off the past couple years of touring the world, and so it sounds on second LP
Résistance, a little of their desertblues foundation pushed further back in favour of thick funk grooves, a psychedelic haze and even an Iggy Pop cameo, among others called in. Iggy ain’t here (thanks be), but the foursome are, a serious piece of business who scorched the walls of the tiny Garrison before — they’re well-placed to raise alarms again. (Tuesday, Mod Club, doors 8 p.m.)
Alex Cameron
The Aussie Cameron brings a lot to
Forced Witness, a collection of ironic pop that matches catchy melodies and sharp words with equally barbed hooks; paired with his electropop debut Jumping the Shark, it’s the sort of budding catalogue and sound that might well end up filling much larger spaces someday. That includes theatres, too, because posturing and swagger are other pieces of the deceptively deep puzzle. This landing at the Garrison is a little less grand than a hall or stadium: all the better to get up close for this introduction here. (Wednesday, Garrison, doors 8 p.m.)