Thursday, September 26, 2013

This week's hot concerts

Z.Z. Ward
Friday  7 p.m., Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave., $15-$18. www.visulite.com
A petite vocal powerhouse who grew up playing the blues on stage with her father, Ward rides the line between throaty blues singer and pop artist with songs that ache and bleed with emotion, but still appeal to mainstream radio. With Wild Feathers and UK singer James Bay.

Weenie Roast
Saturday  12 p.m., Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, 707 Pavilion Blvd. $24.50-$68.50. www.livenation.com
As buzz builds for a possible Oscar nod, actor Jared Leto’s other award winning day job - 30 Seconds to Mars - headlines WEND’s revived sayonara to summer with AWOLNation, Sublime with Rome, Filter, Airborne Toxic Event, New Politics, Manchester Orchestra, Biffy Clyro, Langhorne Slim, Matrimony, the Unlikely Candidates, and Leogun.

Oh No Fiasco with Ghost Town
Saturday  6 p.m., Tremont, 400 W. Tremont Ave. $12. www.tremontmusichall.com
The Knoxville pop-rock outfit, who combine new wave synth, hard hitting hooks, glossy choruses, and a female vocalist with a big voice fit for a frontwoman. They play midway through a seven band bill that includes L.A.’s Ghost Town as the night’s headliner.

Fantasia
Saturday  8 p.m., Bojangles’ Coliseum, 2700 E. Independence Blvd., $40.85-$52.15. www.ticketmaster.com
With an upcoming role on Broadway and three BET Award nominations for her latest R&B/Hip-Hop No. 1 album, “Side Effects of You,” NC’s first “American Idol” winner continues to prove her career longevity and musical individuality which combines classic Tina Turner-style rock with modern R&B diva. This show is rescheduled from August.

Cody Canada & the Departed
Saturday  8 p.m., Chop Shop, 399 E. 35th St., $15-$18. www.chopshopnoda.com
On its second album “Adventus,” the former Cross Canadian Ragweed frontman’s second act with bassist Jeremy Plato and a cast of star red dirt musicians evolve into a hard charging rock n’ roll act infused with ample gospel and soul without leaving the country base behind entirely.

Nervo
Saturday  10 p.m., Label, 900 NC Music Factory Blvd., $15-$25. www.labelcharlotte.com
Having built a career on writing and producing award winning tracks for other artists (Kelly Rowland, David Guetta), the sun-kissed, classically-trained Australian twin sister DJ duo keeps some of its most uplifting electronic dance tunes for itself while garnering a massive festival crowd overseas and an opening slot with Britney Spears.

Legendary Pink Dots
Sunday  8 p.m., Tremont, 400 W. Tremont Ave., $20-$25. www.tremontmusichall.com
The prolific 33-year-old experimental outfit led by Edward Ka-Spel and Phil Knight (whose musical arsenal includes un-rock instruments like woodwinds, strings, and Hawaiian guitar) brings its trippy psychedelic, avant goth back to Tremont for the first time in nearly a decade.

Surfer Blood
Monday  7 p.m, Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave., $16. www.visulite.com
The modern Florida surf rock band refines the weirder indie rock tendencies of its debut “Astro Coast” on its poppier follow-up “Pythons,” which solidifies those Pixies comparisons and adds a dose of Weezer while still wallowing in a thin veil of distortion.

The Weeknd
Tuesday  7 p.m., Ovens Auditorium, 2700 E. Independence Blvd., $59.85. www.ticketmaster.com
With a buzz-building, mysterious online identity, a voice that evokes the innocence, soul, and tone of Michael Jackson, and a chilly electronic musical template that samples disparate alternative rock and R&B sources, Canada’s Abel Tesfaye (aka the Weeknd) actually delivers on said buzz with his debut album “Kiss Land.”

Arturo Sandoval
Thursday  7:30 p.m., McGlohon Theater, 345 N. College St., $19.50-$74.50. www.blumenthalarts.org
Before the Grammy and Emmy award winning Cuban trumpeter, pianist, and composer receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom along with Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, and Dean Smith, he performs his timeless take on jazz, Latin, classical and tango in an intimate setting.

Mindy Smith
Thursday  8 p.m., Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St. $15-$18. www.eveningmuse.com
Best known early on for the hit “Come To Jesus” and her version of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” this Long Island-raised, Nashville-based singer-songwriter’s latest album is draped in haunting spirituality and a soulful mix of country, gritty blues, and adult pop that’s rich in maturity, self-reflection and guts.