Jerry Paper
On his latest album, last year’s Like a Baby, Los Angeles-based singer and producer Lucas Nathan, who records and tours under the name Jerry Paper, delivers one infectious synth pop tune after another. Album opener “Your Cocoon” features wonky vocals and funky bass riffs, and laid-back tracks such as “Grey Area” and “My God” come off as yacht rock for indie rockers. Expect tonight’s show at Mahall’s to feature mellow grooves that you can sway to. A disco ball wouldn’t be out of place either. (Jeff Niesel) 9 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Mahall’s 20 Lanes.
Acid King “Busse Woods” 20th Anniversary Tour with Wizard Rifle/Warish
Though singer-guitarist Lori S. started the stoner rock/doom metal band Acid King after moving from the Chicago suburbs to the Bay Area, her days in the Windy City’s ‘burbs inspired the band’s 1999 album Busse Woods. She took the title from a park where she and her friends used to hang out and blast heavy metal tunes. Think Heavy Metal Parking Lot meets Dazed and Confused. Twenty years on, the album still holds up, and the band brings its tour celebrating the its 20th anniversary to the Grog Shop tonight. Songs such as the sludge-y, Sabbath-derived “Electric Machine” and the desert rock anthem “Drive Fast Take Changes” stand the test of time. The group will play the album in its entirety and then, assuming the crowd is hungry for more, will return to play a lengthy encore featuring tunes from its other albums. (Niesel), 9 p.m., $20 ADV, $22 DOS. Grog Shop.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 28
David Liebe Hart/Whatever Your Heart Desires/Heavenly Queen/ESP
Known for his appearances on Adult Swim, David Liebe Hart brings his unclassifiable live show to the Happy Dog tonight. The press release for the tour states: “We put on a real weird performance that some would describe as comedy, or avant garde music, or a puppet show, but it’s really not easily describable.” Hart does a bit of everything, but he mostly sings his strange songs about alien abductions and failed romantic relationships. Opener Whatever Your Heart Desires includes him in its act. (Niesel), 9:30 p.m., $8-$30. Happy Dog.
Wish You Were Here
For a decade now, Wish You Were Here, the locally based Pink Floyd tribute act that started way the hell back in 1995, has put on a special holiday show at House of Blues. Usually, the guys adopt some kind of theme for the gig, and this year is no different as the group, which celebrates its 24th anniversary this year will perform Pink Floyd’s greatest classics with “musical and theatrical highlights” of The Wall to celebrate that album’s 40th anniversary. (Niesel), 9 p.m., $18.50 ADV, $21 DOS. House of Blues.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 29
Dream Theater
Formed in 1985 in Boston, Dream Theater is the progressive metal band that just won’t die. Earlier this year, the band dropped its 14th studio album, Distance Over Time, which it recorded at an upstate New York cabin. The disc features meticulously composed tunes that include off-kilter time signatures and ornate guitar solos (“Barstool Warrior” is a perfect example), showing just what great musicians these guys are. Tonight’s show will feature songs from it as well as songs from Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From a Memory, the band’s first concept album. That album turns 20 this year. (Niesel), $45-$65. Canton Palace Theatre.
Les Filles de Illighadad (in the Supper Club)
A group like Les Filles De Illighadad doesn’t come to Cleveland every day. The Niger-based group features Fatou Seidi Ghali, a pioneer of guitar in West Africa who is one of only two known Tuareg women guitarists in her native country. This marks their first-ever U.S. tour, and it supports the two very atmospheric albums the band has issued on the Sahel Sounds label. (Niesel), 7 p.m. Music Box Supper Club.
Sign up for Scene’s weekly newsletters to get the latest on Cleveland news, things to do and places to eat delivered right to your inbox.
This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2019.
