Hitting the high notes
Your guide to the hottest fall concerts
Vaxxed and masked and ready to rock. While the vaccine and mask mandates at venues are being taken extremely seriously this fall, we are not too strict in our definition of rock. This fall has it all: Southern rock, North African blues, modern folk, hip-hop, classical and stuff that defies definition. Live music, people! Let’s do this!
Black Crowes, Sept. 15, Xfinity Center, Mansfield
Shake your money maker while you say goodbye to the summer concert season. The Allman Brothers are long gone, the Rolling Stones aren’t coming to Boston, the best you’ll get for down and dirty rock on a big stage are the Crowes. Thankfully, the best the Brothers Robinson can do is very, very good.
Indigo Girls, Sept. 19, the Wilbur
On the duo’s latest album, “Look Long,” the pair mix optimism and despair, personal and political. It’s textbook Indigo Girls and damn great. The old stuff? Well, you know that’s damn great too.
Phoebe Bridgers, Sept. 26 & 27, Leader Bank Pavilion
Yes, she smashed her guitar on “Saturday Night Live” and got a lot of press. The story that really matters: her album “Punisher.” The LP has her doing fragile, tender and gossamer indie folk and charging up huge sonic peaks (see “ICU” and “I Know the End”). All those 2021 Grammy nominations — best rock performance, best rock song and best alternative music album — were well deserved.
Oompa, Oct. 8, Paradise
Oompa writes introspective, nostalgic gems and intense, awesome anthems (see Black Lives Matter song “SayHERName”) in her own voice. That mighty voice can bridge the gaps between poetry and hip-hop, rock and hip-hop, and belongs on this big stage.
St. Vincent, Oct. 14, Wang Theatre
It’s fun to ponder the greatest artist to come out of Berklee College of Music. Well, it is until you remember that St. Vincent went there. She crushes all comers. Want Prince and Madonna in one artist? St. Vincent! Want Nico and Neko Case in one artist? St. Vincent! Want sweet folk, dirty rock, sleazy funk, indie electro and Top 40? Again, St. Vincent!
Tessa Lark with Amy Yang, Oct. 17, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Violinist Tessa Lark doesn’t have much use for musical boundaries. With Amy Yang lending a hand on piano, Lark will tackle Ludwig van Beethoven, Maurice Ravel and bluegrass out of her home state of Kentucky.
From classical to jazz to downhome fiddling, Lark will jump across centuries and oceans in this epic program.
H.E.R., Oct. 19, Agganis Arena
H.E.R. crashed the 2019 Grammy broadcast with an outfit like a disco ball, a backing band of a dozen aces and a flame-throwing guitar solo on “Hard Place.” In 2020, she did it all over again with “Sometimes” (including another face-melting solo). Now it’s time to conquer stadiums.
Thundercat, Nov. 7, House of Blues
Let the bass drop again and again and again. And let the bass be a legit bass guitar played by a virtuoso. Thundercat does … what? Disco, funk, trance, yacht rock? Sure, all that sounds right and also limits this artist’s astounding reach. When you have made music with Mac Miller and Kenny Loggins, labels don’t really work.
Tinariwen, Nov. 10, Royale
If Keith Richards and Ron Wood had grown up in a band of Saharan nomads, they’d sound like this African blues/folk ensemble. Or they would try to. Yes, Tinariwen is that cool.