Thursday, March 27, 2014

This week's hot concerts

Johnny Clegg Band
Friday  7:30 p.m., McGee Theater at Batte Center, Wingate University, 403 N. Camden Rd., Wingate, $25, www.battecenter.org
With Juluka and Savuka, the English-born, South African musician tackled apartheid in the `70s and `80s with the country’s first biracial bands and a blend of Zulu and western pop that set the course for Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon’s forays into African music. Jesse Clegg joins his father on the young African alt-rock artist’s first North American tour.

Zach Myers
Friday  7:30 p.m., Amos’, 1423 S. Tryon St., $12-$14, www.amossouthend.com
The Shinedown guitarist’s loose acoustic shows take a low-key “VH1 Storytellers”-style approach with he and sideman Justin Moore revisiting Shinedown songs with a stripped-down twist as well as delivering several familiar covers.

Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn
Friday  8 p.m., McGlohon Theater, 345 N. College St., $19.50-$64.50, www.blumenthalarts.org
The progressive bluegrass and jazz fusion banjo legend and his accomplished singer-songwriter/banjo player wife, whose music and theater pursuits have long bridged her interests in American folk and Chinese culture, language, and art, embark on their first duo tour with baby boy Juno (born in May) backstage.

Jon Linker Band
Saturday  9 p.m., The Saloon, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd., $5, www.thesalooncharlotte.com
This Charlotte band etches out an original, but accessible sound by delivering distinctively Southern country-rock like “PBR Kinda Night” and “Bourbon Bound” with a gravelly, deep voice that provides a direct line to `90s rock and grunge era Pearl Jam and Collective Soul.

American Authors/Wild Cub/Oh Honey
Monday  7:30 p.m., Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave., $12-$15, www.visulite.com
The former’s single “Best Day of My Life” (which since writing this on Monday I've heard playing at Harris Teeter, Concord Mills, and Target) and the latter’s sunny new EP point to the next chapter in the “hey” and “woah” indie-roots acts that followed bands like Arcade Fire and Of Monsters and Men, while Nashville’s Cub mine similar ground but with a darker nod to new wave.

Company
Tuesday  10 p.m., Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St., Free, www.snugrock.com
Two years ago “Paste Magazine” hailed this Charleston band as the No. 1 SC act folks should be listening to for good reason. Its live show is downright hypnotic as the group bridges snappy Weezer-like rock with pensive Band of Horses-style vocals and moody, psychedelic edge.

Combichrist
Thursday  7:30 p.m., Tremont, 400 W. Tremont Ave., $16-$19, www.tremontmusichall.com
With its fusion of catchy buzzsaw industrial, death metal growls, and futuristic electronics the Norwegian group’s new album, “We Love You” alternates between the soundtrack to a space-age, war-torn apocalypse and the house music at the sort of exclusive European fetish clubs you only see in spy movies.  

Kris Allen
Thursday  8 p.m., Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St., $18-$20, www.neighborhoodtheatre.com  
After a rollercoaster of a 2013 - a new baby and a car wreck that shattered the guitarist’s wrist - the “American Idol” season 8 winner is working on the follow-up to 2012’s commercially ignored “Thank You Camellia” with producer Charlie Peacock (Civil Wars, Switchfoot) in Nashville. Expect him to play poignant new tracks triggered by fatherhood.