With Silversun Pickups/Manchester Orchestra/Cage the Elephant, the Avett Bros., John Legend, Taylor Swift and the Dave Matthews Band headed our way in the next days, we’re about to embark on the fullest, big-name short-run of concerts I can remember ever coming this way.
But that doesn’t mean we can keep looking ahead!
Here’s what’s coming Halloween weekend:
The Gossip, Oct. 30, Vino’s, $15 adv., $20 d.o.s. Beth Ditto and Nathan Howdeshell come home for the first time since they became international celebrities. Bound to be bananas.
8Ball and MJG with Hill Country Revue, Oct. 30, Revolution, $15 adv. Memphis’ finest team with the North Mississippi Allstars side-project in what, at least on paper, sounds like the best rap/rock collabo this side of Jay-Z and the Roots. Piph and One Night Stand, Rockst*r and Dirtbag open.
The ACAC Cover-up, Oct. 31, ACAC space, $5-$7. A long, local tradition. The ACAC always puts together a diverse bill. This year, perhaps most intriguingly, folks from Style Guide and Hector Faceplant team to cover ABBA. There will be outfits. Also, an ad hoc group made up of folks from That Thing That Always Explodes, the Evelyns and the STDs does Husker Du. God City Destroyers seem to have the chops to take on the Misfits and a group of UALR music students, who also play in bands like Ginsu Wives and Apples and Spades, do Blondie. Also, Jungle Juice covers Infest.
The Moving Front as R.E.M., Oct. 31, White Water Tavern, $5. In what’s become a rival annual tradition, White Water hosts one of Little Rock’s finest covering a band that everyone loves. Bet these dudes are getting deep into this. The Husker Du band is pulling double duty, too, and Matt White says he’s still searching for a third act. (The stupid Good Fear picked Fayetteville over Little Rock to reprise Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers).