Longwood Gardens, Open Air Theater, US 1, Kennett Square, 7:30 p.m. Friday (weather permitting), free with gardens admission, $25, $22 (seniors), $11 (students), children under 4 free, 610-388-1000. longwoodgardens.org.
Off The Wall Pop
First fueled up with a spirit of spacey adventure at the University of Vermont, Alex Toth (trumpet, band leader) and Kalmier Traver (vocals and saxophones) started making good music together in the reggae band John Brown's Body. Now their current project, Rubblebucket, is all that and more, with zonked-out imagery and edgy, off-kilter arrangements fusing Bjork-like indie pop, dance grooves and English prog-rock flourishes. Could be your favorite new band. Dinosaur Feathers and Cheers Elephant add more to the party.
TLA, 334 South St., 8 p.m. Friday, $18, 800-745-3000, livenation.com.
Pop-Corn
Too bad Tin Angel has a 21+ policy, 'cause there's a younger set that would be especially entranced with Risa Binder, the visiting girly pop triller in the opening slot for our own Antigone Rising.
Tin Angel, 20 S. 2nd St., 8:30 p.m. Friday, 215-928-0978, tinangel.com.
His True Self?
TV actor ("Community") and comedy writer ("30 Rock") Donald Glover created Childish Gambino as an outlet for a personal and provocative style of hip-hop. There's lots of self-deprecating joking and singing about his life as a New York prep-school scholarship outsider, a "role model" who looks black but talks white and acts "mean like a Looney Tune." So maybe he's not the coolest, he adds, but he's got passion. And lotsa testosterone. Danny Brown opens.
River Stage at Great Plaza, Columbus Boulevard at the foot of Chestnut Street, 7:30 p.m. Friday, $38, $25 (each, in 4 pack), 800-745-3000, livenation.com.
Classic Jazz Treat
With her rich vocal tones and confident, knowing delivery, Jackie Ryan seems like a throwback to the classic jazz singers of the past — Sarah, Chris, Ella. She gets us, good with sambas in Portuguese, standards like "Speak Low" and bemused story songs like "Dat Dre." Here, she'll be working out with the Larry Mc-Kenna Quartet.
Chris' Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St., 8 and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, $15-$25, 215-568-3131, chrisjazzcafe.com.
Bern Treatment
Sensitive (and conservative) souls, beware. The caustically funny, lefty/liberal singer-songwriter Dan Bern is back, and taking no prisoners. With Common Rotation.
Tin Angel, 20 S. 2nd St., 7:30 p.m. Saturday $22, 215-928-0978, tinangel.com.
Time Martsch's Own
Personnel around him may change, but as long as Doug Martsch is steering the ship called Built to Spill with pensive, emo tunes and flanged vocals (in the boyish Neil Young vein), the band's built to last. With Caveman, Junebug Spade.
Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St., 8:30 p.m. Saturday, $22, 215-232-2100, www.utphilly.com.
Prog Rockers Unite
They were one of the true originals of prog rock and (with Soft Machine and King Crimson) among the most daring — with lots of loose, free-form jazzy improvisational jams. But since reuniting in 2005 with three originals again on board, Van Der Graaf Generator has tempered some of those excesses, focused more on the songs and vocal stylings of Peter Hammill to also connect the dots between their music and that of, say, a Pink Floyd or Genesis.
Sellersville Theater, Main and Temple streets, Sellersville, 8 p.m. Saturday, 215-257-5808, st94.com.
All Revved Up
Although they didn't start their engines till the mid-1970s, The Fleshtones were very much of the '60s garage-rock era. And today among the genre's most important caretakers. The likewise notable Steve Wynn and Miracle 3 are also up for grabs on this club date.
North Star Bar, 27th and Poplar streets, 9 p.m. Saturday, $15, 215-789-0488, northstarbar.com.
Block Party
Philly's pride and joy Jill Scott brings her especially poetic and intimate style of self-empowered neo-soul 'n jazz to the Park, along with the smoldering stylings of Kem. Another local legend — DJ Jazzy Jeff — is hosting.
Mann Center for the Performing Arts, 52nd and Parkside, 7 p.m. Saturday, $99.75, $79.95, $49.75, $39.75 (lawn), 800-745-3000, www.livenation.com.
Soul-2-Soul
Two more titans of creamy urban music make for a great bill. The handsome Eric Benet is riding high with the eclectic (and ever polished) sounds of his new album, "The One." And an equally versatile Ledisi ignites everything in her path.
Keswick Theatre, Easton Road and Keswick Avenue, Glenside, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, $53-$63, 215-572-7650, keswicktheatre.com.
Kimmel classical
The Philadelphia Orchestra returns this weekend to the Academy of Music, led by its new music director, Yannick Nezet-Seguin. Friday's 2 p.m. concert replicates the orchestra's first program in 1900 (Brahms and Wagner), and an audience-request program follows at 8 p.m. Saturday, with some familiar pieces accompanied by projections of the 1940 Disney classic "Fantasia."
Academy of Music, Broad and Locust streets, $10-$100,215-893-1999, philorch.org.
Hail to ‘The King'
The "True Voice of Elvis" will be heard in the exurbs this weekend as veteran tribute artist Doug Church gigs in South Jersey and Bucks County.
Church, regarded as one of today's top Presley impersonators, does his King thing at the Broadway Theater of Pitman, N.J. The next evening he's at the Sellersville Theater.
Broadway Theatre of Pitman, 43 S. Broadway, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, $40 and $30, 856-384-8381, thebroadwaytheatre.org.
Sellersville Theater, 24 W. Temple Ave., Sellersville, 7:30 p.m., $29.50, 215-257-5808, st94.com.
60 years a star
The word "legend" is, far and away, the most overused and abused word in the showbiz lexicon. But is there anyone who would argue that actress-singer Debbie Reynolds doesn't qualify?
Since her career-making turn in the beloved 1952 film musical "Singin' In the Rain," Reynolds has been a star of the first magnitude. She is also one of last survivors of the "golden age" of the Hollywood star system, and we simply won't see the likes of her again. These are just two reasons why she is worth checking out Saturday at Resorts Atlantic City.
Resorts Atlantic City, Boardwalk at North Carolina Avenue, 9 p.m., $40 and $30, 800-736-1420, ticketmaster.com.
— Compiled by Jonathan Takiff. Tom Di Nardo and Chuck Darrow
