Brad Paisley with the Band Perry and Scotty McCreery play at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Susquehanna Bank Center, 1 Harbour Blvd., Camden. Tickets: $25-$80. Information: 1-800-745-3000, www.livenation.com.
Shawn Colvin
Busy lady, Shawn Colvin: Earlier this month she released her first studio album in six years,
All Fall Down, on the same day as her ultra-dishy memoir,
Diamond in the Rough, a book she calls her "keep-pushing-through survivor story." In the 15 years since the release of the South Dakota-bred/ New York-based Colvin's only major record - 1996's platinum-selling, Grammy-winning
A Few Small Repairs - she remains something of a word-of-mouth success.
All Fall Down is a relatively dark album lyrically, but there's unmistakable sonic energy in these 11 songs about loss and redemption. With longtime friend and guitarist Buddy Miller at the helm, the 56-year-old Colvin's gone for a more rocking, guitar-based sound for the new record - and it totally works. Miller has performed onstage with her in recent weeks, but Colvin's on her own in Philly, a move that will keep the focus on her agile vocals and between-the-songs banter.
- Nicole Pensiero
Shawn Colvin with the Royal You performs at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St. Tickets $50. Information: 215-222-1400, www.worldcafelive.com.
Japandroids
For those whose tastes run to punkish rock-and-roll made by dudes old enough to feel their innocence slipping away but still young enough to rock out with a desperate abandon that recalls, yes, the Replacements, the Japandroids are the band of the moment.
Celebration Rock (Polyvinyl), the second full-length by the Vancouver duo of Brian King and David Prowse, is entirely of a piece with, and a great leap forward from, the band's rough-cut, excellently titled debut,
Post Nothing, and it's also one of the best records of the year.
- Dan DeLuca
Japandroids with Cadence Weapon play 9 p.m. Friday at Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave. Tickets: $13. Phone: 215-739-9684, www.johnnybrendas.com. Umphrey's McGee
Like the first fans of Phish and the Grateful Dead, early adopters of Umphrey's McGee must have a closet full of quality bootlegs to go with their hazy but happy memories of concerts gone by. Though adored for rollicking progressive jam compositions, the South Bend, Ind., six-piece started life as a quartet in 1997, covering everything from Vince Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy" to Guns N' Roses. The UM wore its inspirations on its collective sleeve and waved a freak flag in devotion to the heaviest of heavy metal and prickly prog gods such as Frank Zappa and Robert Fripp. If that sounds like a mess, correct: a bloody good mess. Luckily, singer/guitarist Brendan Bayliss and keyboardist/vocalist Joel Cummins, UM's leaders from the start, have winnowed all those influences into a cohesive pop whole throughout their career, thrown big dollops of electronica and modern jazz into the mix, and come up with albums such as the now-classic studio album
Anchor Drops (2004) and 2011's
Death by Stereo. Beyond the boundaries of studio prowess, Umphrey's McGee does its best, most brazen work on stage. Philly's G. Love, no slouch when it comes to funky jams, opens the show.
- A.D. Amorosi
Umphrey's McGee and G. Love play at 8 p.m. Friday on Electric Factory's outdoor stage, 421 N. Seventh Street. Tickets: $29.50 in advance, $35 day of show. Information: 215-627-1332, www.electricfactory.info.
