Monday, April 1 at City Winery, Glen Matlock, Sylvain Sylvain, $15
Members of The Sex Pistols and The New York Dolls will perform acoustically at a wine bar that serves pricey appetizers. Is this so not punk that it turns the corner and becomes punk? Or does it then turn another corner and go back to not being punk at all? Eh, at least the stage banter will be memorable. (And those appetizers are pretty darn delicious.)
Wednesday, April 3 at 285 Kent Avenue, Waxahatchee, $10
Waxahatchee's Cerulean Salt has quickly established itself after just a few weeks of release as one of those albums that people didn't realize how badly they needed. A chronicling of bad hook-ups, small towns and hearts that bruise but never stop, it's an album of unassuming power that unfolds over time, until what seems like a collection of smart, sparsely arranged folk-indie becomes a reminder that sometimes the small emotions we can't articulate or even place are the ones that end up meaning the most.
Thursday, April 4 at Terminal 5, Frightened Rabbit, Wintersleep, $23
Pedestrian Verse, the new album from Scotland's Frightened Rabbit, is false advertising in the best possible sense. Scott Hutchinson is one of the smartest sad sacks around, able to deftly thread the line between delivering quality lyrics that you can dwell on when you're feeling mopey and also gently mocking himself for being so mopey all the time. He knows he's being ridiculous, and if he can't stop himself then he'll just revel in his abjection.
Sunday, April 7 at Barclays Center, Green Day, Best Coast, $25
The Scene
Many are the things we can chide Green Day for. Rushing out three undercooked albums when one decent album would have been enough, foisting a ridiculously unnecessary Broadway musical on the world, wearing eyeliner after a certain age. But you know what? They wrote Dookie, American Idiot and Kerplunk. This show will be filled with songs that, if you like rock music even a little bit, you cannot help but love. Plus, uh, Billie Joe Armstrong has been through a lot recently and we should probably stop doing things like this and be supportive.
