SEVEN IN SEVEN
Welcome to Seven in Seven, where we take a look at shows coming to the region over the next week. As always, whether your musical tastes are rock ’n’ roll, jazz, heavy metal, R&B, singer-songwriter or indie, there’ll always be something to check out.
Here are seven of the best on the docket for the week of Aug. 5:
1 Incubus + Sublime with Rome — Friday at Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
Since first coming together in 1991, Incubus have consistently set their goal to lift themselves and alternative music to new creative heights. The Southern California band’s sales have eclipsed 23 million albums worldwide to date and they have had five consecutive releases debut in the Top 5 of the Billboard 200. Sublime with Rome have a bit of history, initially forming with the remaining two members of Sublime a decade plus after frontman Bradley Nowell’s death, and singer Rome Ramirez. That left a bad taste in some fans’ mouths, but as the years have gone on, it’s clear Sublime with Rome can stand on their own material as well as paying homage to the music of Sublime.
2 Run the Jewels — Friday at The Fillmore
Mixing the industrial grime of New York City with the vibrant bounce of the dirty South, Run the Jewels have forged hip-hop’s future since their inception in 2013 when Atlanta-based rapper Killer Mike first hooked up with Brooklyn’s El-P. Adhering to the core tenets of its foundation — gymnastic displays of skills, incendiary political rhetoric, furious scratch solos, merciless braggadocio and R-rated punchlines — the duo’s back-and-forth brings the interplay of the shell-toe Adidas era screaming into a contemporary nightmare.
3 Melissa Manchester — Saturday at Sellersville Theater 1894
Back in 1980, Melissa Manchester became the first recording artist in the history of the Academy Awards to have two nominated movie themes in a single year, “Through the Eyes of Love” from “Ice Castles” and “I’ll Never Say Goodbye” from “The Promise,” and to perform them both on the Oscar telecast. That’s just one of the highlights in the life of the singer-songwriter who has witnessed decades of them and still sees more on the horizon. Her upcoming LP, “Re:View,” features previously unreleased songs as well as fresh takes on several of Manchester’s own enduring classic hits that will be spotlighted in Sellersville.
4 Rage Against the Machine + Run the Jewels — Monday, Tuesday and Aug. 11, 12 and 14 at Madison Square Garden
Nothing seems to be able to hold Rage Against the Machine down once they get going. As one of the most anticipated reunions of the past decade, the rap rock/metal legends have postponed their “Public Service Announcement” tour multiple times due to the pandemic, but finally kicked it off in early July. Then, during the second show, firecracker of a frontman Zack de la Rocha went down with an undisclosed injury to his leg. Instead of calling off the tour — or the show, for that matter — he’s been seated on a road case at all subsequent shows, still retaining an explosive energy and hardly remaining stationary. Add Run the Jewels to the mix and you’ve got one of the best bills of the year for rap and rock fans, which includes a five-night stand at Madison Square Garden, the closest it’s coming to Philly and well worth the ride up I-95 to see it.
5 Enterprise Earth — Tuesday at The Galaxy Room at Planet Trog
Touring in support of their latest full-length, “The Chosen,” Enterprise Earth delivers atmospherically thick and groove-driven, old-school death metal with modern flourishes. The new record finds the band switching gears from earthshattering breakdowns to sickeningly slow sludge to blast furnace pummeling with seemingly effortless ease. Fans trekking to Whitehall’s Galaxy Room can expect a full evening of metal as well, with Great American Ghost, Within Destruction and Sentinels also on the bill.
6 The Devil Wears Prada — Wednesday at Reverb
Ohio metalcore act The Devil Wears Prada has something special in store for concertgoers on its current tour. The band will be performing the 2010 “Zombie” EP and its sequel, the “ZII” EP, in full, along with a selection of greatest hits. “ZII” was composed during the pandemic lockdown, so TDWP has been itching to perform some of the tracks live. Opening the show in Reading will be Long Island hardcore punk unit Stray From the Path and hardcore/metal band Dying Wish, who come from Portland, Ore.
7 Crowbar — Aug. 11 at Reverb
It seems like only yesterday that Crowbar was in town to play Reverb. Well, it was kind of recent, as back in late June the New Orleans masters of metal sludge were opening for Gwar at the Reading venue. Now they have returned to headline in support of their critically acclaimed full-length, “Zero and Below,” which came out earlier this year. Dubbed “The Riff Beast Tour,” it sees support coming from Texas-based doom metal outfit Spirit Adrift.