This week’s concert calendar builds slowly to an action-packed Thursday with MTV-era icons, country hitmaker, a sizzling indie band and a heavy metal package.
The new-release list is just as wide-ranging, with fresh music from the Afghan Whigs, Brandon Flowers and Sam Smith, plus unexpected albums from Anthony Hopkins and William Shatner.
Tuesday
Six Feet Under, Flesher, Leprosy, Bloody Run, Ametropia (Preserving, New Kensington): Death-metal veteran Chris Barnes leads Six Feet Under into Preserving behind “Next to Die,” the band’s 15th album and latest collaboration with former Cannibal Corpse guitarist Jack Owen. The bill also includes Pittsburgh death-metal bruisers Flesher and Bloody Run.
Wednesday
American Aquarium (Thunderbird Music Hall, Lawrenceville): The Raleigh alt-country road warriors are on the road with “New Ways to Lose,” a collection of small-town stories produced by Shooter Jennings. It’s the band’s 20th album in 20 years, a testament to the work ethic of frontman BJ Barham, who’s a little Springsteen, a little Southern rock.
Thursday
Billy Idol/Devo (The Pavilion at Star Lake, Burgettstown): This throwback to the MTV finds the newly minted Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Billy Idol pounding out hits like “Rebel Yell,” “White Wedding” and “Dancing With Myself” with longtime guitar hero Steve Stevens. Akron art-rock provocateurs Devo continue a farewell tour that began in 2023.
Zach Top/Marcus King Band (PPG Paints Arena, Uptown): The Grammy-winning neo-traditionalist has broken through by sounding like he stepped directly out of a ’90s country radio playlist: smooth baritone, Telecaster twang and songs about cold beer and busted hearts. He brings along Marcus King, the powerhouse South Carolina singer-guitarist who blends country, blues, Southern rock and soul on his latest album, “Darling Blue.”
Down/Helmet/Spirit in the Room (Stage AE, North Shore): New Orleans sludge-metal supergroup Down — featuring members of Pantera, Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar and Eyehategod — returns to the road with its first album since 2014 reportedly completed. The Strap It Down Tour adds heavy hitters Helmet and the dark, theatrical Los Angeles industrial-rock project Spirit in the Room.
Cloud Nothings (Bottlerocket Social Hall, Allentown): This is the 15th anniversary of “Attack on Memory,” the Steve Albini-produced album that made Dylan Baldi’s lo-fi project into indie-rock force. They’ll do the album in full — including the nine-minute eruption “Wasted Days” — along with selections from the more melodic “Final Summer.”
Priscilla Block (Jergel’s, Warrendale): Block broke through on TikTok with her witty country-pop and turned it into the platinum hit “Just About Over You.” She returns behind second album “Things You Didn’t See,” which balances rowdy songs with more personal material about love, heartbreak and body image. Amanda James opens.
Ben Nichols/Cory Branan (Crafthouse, Baldwin): Nichols steps away from his long-running Memphis band, Lucero, for a full-band tour behind the rugged solo album “In the Heart of the Mountain.” Opening is fellow Mississippi songwriter Branan, described as “a country boy with a punk-rock heart.”
Friday
Koe Wetzel (Petersen Events Center, Oakland): The Texas country outlaw leads the Night Champion World Tour, named for the new album on which he takes stock of the hard living that fueled his rise. It’s a deep Red Dirt bill with Shane Smith & the Saints, rising singer-songwriter Bayker Blankenship and Logan Jahnke.
Aaron Lewis and the Stateliners (Meadows Casino Event Center, Washington): The Staind frontman continues his second career as a gravel-voiced country singer with the 2026 American Tour. Backed by the Stateliners, he mixes songs from his latest country albums with unplugged versions of Staind staples such as “It’s Been Awhile” and “Right Here.”
Saturday
Dylan Scott (Timber Rock Amphitheater, Farmington): The Louisiana country singer brings a deep baritone and a catalog topped by the No. 1 hits “My Girl,” “Nobody” and “New Truck.” He followed last year’s “Easy Does It” — a polished mix of romance, heartbreak and small-town nostalgia — with the new single “Dear Big City.”
Dominic Fike (Stage AE, North Shore): The genre-hopping Florida artist broke through with the breezy “3 Nights” and has continued moving between indie-rock, pop, hip-hop and acoustic confessionals, most recently on last year’s “Rocket.”
Sunday
Citizen, Anxious, Hotline TNT, Rocket (Stage AE, North Shore): Ohio post-hardcore band Citizen headlines behind “Halcyon Blues,” another dose of emo, grunge and post-punk. Connecticut emo-hardcore standouts Anxious open with fuzzy shoegazers Hotline TNT and rising Los Angeles alt-rock band Rocket.
REZN, Lume (Preserving Underground, New Kensington): Chicago heavy-psych band REZN creates a massive, immersive swirl of doom metal, psychedelia, shoegaze and saxophone. The quartet arrives behind the newly released “Cycles in the Infinite Dream,” its sixth album, with fellow Chicago atmospheric rock band Lume — a past REZN recording collaborator.
NEW MUSIC FRIDAY
Weezer, “Weezer (The Gold Album)”: Weezer adds gold to a self-titled color wheel that already includes blue, green, red, white, teal and black. It was produced by Klas Åhlund and Kenneth Blume, who noted that he wanted to make “the most violent Weezer album ever.” The opening single, “We Might as Well Be Strangers,” pairs Rivers Cuomo with Karly Hartzman of Wednesday.
The Afghan Whigs, “Soft Control”: Greg Dulli and the Afghan Whigs return with their 10th album and first in four years. Recorded in Cincinnati, Joshua Tree, New Orleans and East Hollywood, the 10-song set promises “stab-you-in-your-nose bone guitars and cubist refractions of soul and R&B.”
Brandon Flowers, “THRASHER”: The Killers frontman releases his first solo album in 11 years, trading the Vegas neon for Nashville twang. Recorded at historic RCA Studio A, the country-inspired set draws on the music his father loved and features top-flight players David Rawlings, Garth Brooks collaborator Bruce Bouton Bruce Bouton and harmonica player Charlie McCoy.
“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found my way back to my father’s music — ‘Country-Western’ (as he called it) — and discovered that the stories I carry really feel most at home in the skin of this beautiful American tradition,” Flowers said in a statement.
The Cramps, “Gravest Gravy”: This punk-rock archaeological find consists of 11 songs The Cramps recorded with Big Star’s Alex Chilton in 1977, before the release of their first singles. Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye helped prepare the long-lost tapes, with guitarist Poison Ivy approving the first official Cramps release since Lux Interior’s death in 2009.
Dan + Shay, “Young”: The sixth album from country duo Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney promises nostalgic snapshots with songs about family, personal growth and mental health, including the poignant “Say So.” “This is by far our most personal album yet, and gives a real-time snapshot of exactly where we are in our lives,” the duo shared on Instagram.
Ghost Hounds, “Justified”: The Stonesy band formed by Pittsburgh’s Thomas Tull and fronted by SAVNT returns with an 11-song set that includes originals alongside a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter,” featuring former Tina Turner stage performer Chanel Haynes.
The B-52’s, “Ancient Culture: Mesopotamia Revisited”: The B-52’s excavate their strange and wonderful 1982 collaboration with Talking Heads’ David Byrne. The deluxe set reconstructs “Mesopotamia” as the full-length album originally envisioned, adding unreleased songs, outtakes, alternate mixes and a 1982 concert recording to the six-song EP.
Grace Potter, “Trespasser”: Potter continues down the independent path she took with 2023’s “Mother Road” with this seventh album that brings her powerhouse voice to 10 songs blending soul, blues, country and rock ’n’ roll. It’s led by the defiant “Love Me Not” and open-road rocker “Run Baby Run.”
Keb’ Mo’, “The Breakdown”: The bluesman strips the music down to guitar and voice for the most personal album of his career. Written after life-saving heart surgery and the end of his nearly 20-year marriage, “The Breakdown” confronts upheaval and mortality while holding tight to faith and optimism.
Natalie Merchant and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, “Cabinet of Wonder”: Natalie Merchant reimagines Mother Goose for a new generation with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Children’s Theatre. Designed for young children, the multimedia project presents familiar nursery rhymes in a wide range of styles through 17 songs and accompanying videos.
Paris Jackson, “Happiest Day of My Life”: Jackson worked with 4 Non Blondes leader Linda Perry on her second album, a louder and more assured follow-up to the folk-rock of her 2020 debut. The 11-song set grew out of Jackson’s sobriety and increasing commitment to music, with the title reflecting where she now finds her greatest sense of purpose.
Sam Smith, “Hazel Eyes”: After building a career on heartbreak, Smith writes from the unfamiliar position of being happily in love. Their fifth album is named for the eyes of fiancé Christian Cowan and described as a love letter to the fashion designer, with “My Guy” and “Everlasting Love” celebrating a relationship that is actually working.
William Shatner, “Love & Other Mysteries”: At 95, William Shatner remains fully committed to the dramatic spoken-word delivery he applied to “Rocket Man” and “Common People.” Brad Paisley produces this 15-track meditation on love, aging and vulnerability.
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