Pittsburgh's Can't Miss Concerts in September
This month's lineup includes “Weird Al” Yankovic, Yo La Tengo, Rascal Flatts and Graham Nash.
photos: shutterstock
Sept. 16/ 2016 is proving itself to be the year of the cultural callback. Amid the reemergence of Pokemon, Ghostbusters and a Clinton candidacy, it’s reassuring to have an artist as consistently present as “Weird Al” Yankovic. The Mandatory World Tour will bring the comedian’s decades-long collection of novelty pop songs to the stage at a time when parody seems more real than reality. More than 30 years since the release of his first song, Yankovic remains as relevant — and irreverent — as ever. (Benedum Center, 237 Seventh St., Downtown; 412/456-6666, trustarts.org)
In Concert
Sept. 12/ Angel Olsen is hard to pin down. Lyrically, she is simultaneously lovelorn and annoyed, and her vocals swing between lo-fi casualness and operatic trilling. Olsen’s new album, “My Woman,” drops on Sept. 2, and — judging by the singles released so far — it promises to be a further evolution of the self-contradictory sound that made her previous work so dynamic. (Mr. Smalls, 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale; 412/821-4447, mrsmalls.com)
Sept. 14/ It’s hard to decide which of the two bands on this double bill excites me more: critical darlings Yo La Tengo, with its eclectic mix of spare melancholy and experimental indie-pop, or “Special Guest” Lambchop, the genre-bending band fronted by Kurt Wagner; his smooth and low-key voice lays over the band’s highbrow alt-country pop with just the right amount of polished dissonance. Luckily, we don’t have to choose. Along with performing their respective original songs, the bands will be “collaborating” on one another’s material. (Carnegie Music Hall, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland; warhol.org)
Jeremiah Clark — Club Cafe, clubcafelive.com Sept. 1
River City Brass Band — South Park Amphitheater, alleghenycounty.us Sept. 2
The Mountain Goats — Mr. Smalls, mrsmalls.com Sept. 3
Butch Walker — Mr. Smalls, mrsmalls.com Sept. 6
Celtic Thunder — Benedum Center, trustarts.org Sept. 7
Young the Giant — Stage AE, stageae.com Sept. 8
Rascal Flatts — First Niagara Pavilion, livenation.com Sept. 9
Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown — Diesel, dieselclublounge.com Sept. 10
The Felice Brothers — Club Cafe, clubcafelive.com Sept. 11
Blind Pilot — Mr. Smalls, mrsmalls.com Sept. 13
Slayer — Stage AE, stageae.com Sept. 15
Dan Bubien — Pittsburgh Winery, pittsburghwinery.com Sept. 16
Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey — Benedum Center, trustarts.org Sept. 17
Sun Ra Arkestra — New Hazlett Theater, newhazletttheater.org Sept. 18
Aoife O’Donovan — Club Cafe, clubcafelive.com Sept. 19
Dee-1 — Smiling Moose, smiling-moose.com Sept. 20
Roots of Creation — Spirit, spiritpgh.com Sept. 21
Black Violin — Elsie H. Hillman Auditorium at the Kaufmann Center, hillhouse.org Sept. 22
Billy Price Band — Club Cafe, clubcafelive.com Sept. 23
An Evening with Graham Nash — Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall, librarymusichall.com Sept. 24
Mountain Stage with Larry Groce, featuring Billy Bragg and Joe Henry — Byham Theater, trustarts.org Sept. 25
Thrice — Stage AE, stageae.com Sept. 27
Built to Spill — Mr. Smalls, mrsmalls.com Sept. 28
The Music of John Williams — Heinz Hall, pittsburghsymphony.org Sept. 30-Oct. 2
