TOP 3 CONCERTS
Billie Eilish has slowly seeped into music listeners’ consciousness for 2 1/2 years — much like her electropop/trap music has, with its whispery lyrics, ethereal accompaniment, worldweary delivery and lyrics stunningly beyond her years (just 15 when she dropped her debut song “Ocean Eyes,” and still only 17).
So her seven gold or platinum hits could have evaded you, and while other singers use overt sexuality to promote themselves, the asexual Eilish realistically rasps, “I’m that bad type/Might seduce your dad type/I’m the bad guy, duh.”
So by the the time Eilish finally dropped her debut album, “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go,” in March, she already was a phenomenon. The disc debuted at No. 1, and her new single, “Bad Guy,” topped the chart.
7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 15, with Denzel Curry, The Met Philadelphia, 858 N. Broad St., Philadelphia. Sold out, but resale tickets available, www.livenation.com, 800-745-3000. Leave it to iconoclast Todd Rundgren to tie his latest tour to the release of his memoir, “The Individualist: Digressions, Dreams and Dissertations.” The book consists of Rundgren “reflecting on both his phenomenal career as well as his roller coaster of a personal life,” and stops with 1996. And even though the prolific Rundgren has released a dozen albums since then, the tour setlist also ends with that period.
Of course, that means fans will hear hits such as “Hello,
It’s Me,” “We Gotta Get You a Woman,” “Can We Still Be Friends” and more — as well as Rundgren’s expected multimedia offering — this time rare video and photos.
8 p.m. Friday, June 14, Penn’s Peak, 325 Maury Road, Penn Forest Township (near Jim Thorpe). Tickets: $34-$39, www.pennspeak.com, 800-745-3000. There’s no question Craig Finn has done his best work with his alt-rock band The Hold Steady. But that group’s output has left Finn plenty of time to do solo work. And since his debut solo disc “Clear Heart Full Eyes” in 2012, his three solo discs have been consistently great. But his new album “I Need a New War” may be his best. Its rich, evocative lyrics are full of characters and stories and lessons. And the music — enhanced by his new band The Uptown Controllers — finally approaches the broad soundscape of The Hold Steady, from the dirty groove of “Blankets” to horns and backing vocals of “Something to Hope For.”
8 p.m. Friday, June 14, with Laura Stevenson, Ardmore Music Hall, 23 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore. Tickets: $25 adv., $28 day of show, $39 seated, www.ardmoremusichall.com, 610-649-8389.