A look ahead at shows worth seeing (and hearing) this week …
THE AFGHAN WHIGS
Reunited and rarin’ to go, Cincinnati’s roguish gentlemen acquitted themselves admirably at Lollpalooza in August and now continue mining their grunge and grooves on a new tour. Older than their years during their mid-’90s heyday, Greg Dulli and his mates are now grown into their own sound, coming off like fine Corinthian leather flecked with cigarette ashes.
Wussy opens at 9 p.m. Oct. 26-27 at Metro, 3730 N. Clark. Tickets: $36 (Oct. 27 is sold out). Call (800) 514-ETIX; metrochicago.com.
LURRIE BELL
A great talent derailed years ago by personal problems, Lurrie Bell might have made the record he was born to make. The son of harp master Carey Bell, the Chicago guitarist released “The Devil Ain’t Got No Music” last spring, a Satan-taunting set (titled for one of Mavis Staples’ favorite interview quips) that tries to reclaim blues from the depths, or bring gospel down to earth, or both. Expect his concert to be a religious experience.
At 6:30 p.m. in the Myron R. Szold Music & Dance Hall at the Old Town School of Folk Music, 4545 N. Lincoln. Tickets: $20. Call (773) 728-6000; oldtownschool.org.
FATHER JOHN MISTY
Singer-songwriter/drummer Josh Tillman bolted from Fleet Foxes and reinvented himself as Father John Misty. It’s a project that’s akin to his former folkiness, but also deeply different. The debut album comes off like Harry Nilsson after a drug-addled vision quest, and last week he stunned folks at the ACL Fest in Austin, Texas, delivering a performance-art set in which he howled, crawled on the floor and slapped himself. Gram Parsons meets the Lizard King?
La Sera and Jeffertitti’s Nile open at 8 p.m. Oct. 30 at Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln. Tickets: $16 advance, $18 door. Call (773) 525-2508; lincolnhallchicago.com.
JACKSON BROWNE
The acclaimed ’70s soft-rock singer-songwriter boasts a career that started high (“Doctor My Eyes,” “These Days”), sank low (“Lawyers in Love”) and boomeranged back to elder statesman status in recent years. Earlier this year he even played a Woody Guthrie tribute show backed by the Flaming Lips. This tour finds Browne stripped down to solo acoustic guitar and piano.
At 8 p.m. Oct. 26 at the Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State. Tickets: $66-$86. Call (800) 745-3000; ticketmaster.com.
