MUSIC
Pop & Rock
MELVINS+ NAPALM DEATH Two of extreme music’s most uncompromising veteran acts — hard-rock iconoclasts Melvins (presently featuring Redd Kross bassist Steven McDonald) and grindcore institution Napalm Death — are touring together, leaving mayhem, debris, and ringing ears in their wake. Melt-Banana, since 1992 one of Japan’s more charming and inexplicable exports, opens the show. April 16, 7:30 p.m. $22. Paradise Rock Club. 617-562-8800, www.crossroadspresents.com/paradise-rock-club
PRINCE RAMA A near-death experience on an Estonian island, a mountaintop album debut, a Central Park raccoon attack. . . hard to know where mythology ends and reality starts for psychedelic pranksters Taraka and Nimai Larson. One thing we know for sure: “Xtreme Now,” the Boston-born, Brooklyn-based sister act’s new sports-themed LP, is a black-diamond course for the dancefloor —
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2016 ROCK & ROLL RUMBLE Eight contenders take the stage for the Rumble’s semifinal round: Eric Salt & the Electric City, usLights, Abbie Barrett, and Worshipper on Friday; the Devil’s Twins, Analog Heart, Salem Wolves, and Weakened Friends on Saturday. The shows are bound to be hot since the stakes are high: Just three bands (two nightly winners, plus one last wildcard) will move on to the April 22 finale. April 15, 16, 8:30 p.m. $18, advance $13. ONCE Lounge & Ballroom, Somerville. 617-285-0167, www.oncesomerville.com
STEVE SMITH
Folk & World
CANTRIP Any outfit that bills itself as a “Scottish power trio” surely has to have a bagpiper in the band, doesn’t it? So it is with Cantrip, with Vermonter (by way of Ghana and Scotland) Dan Houghton blowing alongside Jon Bews on fiddle and Eric McDonald on guitar and mandolin. April 16, 8 p.m. Tickets: $20. Nunes Barn, Sudbury. 800-838-3006, www.brownpapertickets.com
SONGHOY BLUES; KOITÉ AND MAHLASELA A good weekend for Malian music: Saturday, Songboy Blues serves up its sinuous desert rock; Sunday, the latest “Acoustic Africa” installment pairs Malian Afropop star Habib Koité with Vusi Mahlasela, a man known in his native South Africa simply as “the Voice.” April 16, 8 p.m. Tickets: $15. Brighton Music Hall; April 17, 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $40. Somerville Theatre. 617-876-4275. www.worldmusic.org
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WACO BROTHERS Let loose a bunch like the Waco Brothers in a room the size of this Cambridge Street venue, and who knows what mayhem (or structural damage) may result? The Wacos ride up in the wake of a new album of original songs and a covers collection (“Interstellar Overdrive,” anyone?). April 18, 9 p.m. Tickets: $15 (at the door only). Atwood’s Tavern, Cambridge. 617-864-2792. www.atwoodstavern.com
STUART MUNRO
Jazz & Blues
PAT MARTINO TRIO The legendary guitarist suffered an aneurism and taught himself to play all over again by listening to his own records. Today he performs with even more depth than before. With Hammond B3 organist Pat Bianchi and drummer Carmen Intorre, Jr. April 15, 8 and 10 p.m. Tickets: $35. Scullers. 866-777-8932, www.scullersjazz.com
THE AARDVARK JAZZ ORCHESTRA Boston’s venerable progressive big band continues its 43rd season with a concert featuring works from its 14th record, “Passages,” plus new pieces, all composed by music director Mark Harvey, including the CD’s centerpiece, “Commemoration (Boston 2013),” honoring the victims and survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing. April 16, 8 p.m. Free. MIT’s Kresge Auditorium, 77 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. 617-452-3205, www.aardvarkjazz.com
KEVIN LOWENTHAL
Classical
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Many concerts later, music director Andris Nelsons and the BSO return to the agenda of their first meeting: the Ninth Symphony of Gustav Mahler. April 14-19, Symphony Hall. 617-266-1200, www.bso.org
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BOSTON BAROQUE Martin Pearlman directs his period-instrument orchestra and chorus in two semi-staged performances of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” With tenor Nicholas Phan singing his first Tamino, and soprano Leah Partridge as Pamina. April 15-16, 7:30 p.m., Jordan Hall. 617-987-8600, www.bostonbaroque.org
JERUSALEM STRING QUARTET The foursome is joined by pianist Inon Barnatan for a program devoted to Bartok’s Sixth Quartet, Beethoven’s Quartet Op. 18, No. 2, and Brahms’s celebrated F-minor Piano Quintet. April 17, 3 p.m., Jordan Hall, 617-482-6661, www.celebrityseries.org
JEREMY EICHLER
ARTS
Theater
BLACKBERRY WINTER Boston actress Adrianne Krstansky, who has few peers when it comes to crafting portraits of the Everywoman in extremis, excels as Vivienne, a middle-age baker forced to confront the decline of her mother from Alzheimer’s disease. Steve Yockey’s fine new drama is directed by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary and also features Paula Langton and Ken Cheeseman. Through April 17. New Repertory Theatre, Charles Mosesian Theater, Arsenal Center for the Arts, Watertown. 617-923-8487, www.newrep.org
MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY Anne Washburn’s fascinating, multilayered vision of a post-apocalyptic future in which an episode of “The Simpsons’’ looms increasingly large as a cultural totem is directed with gathering force by A. Nora Long. “Mr. Burns’’ asks us to consider how vital storytelling is to our survival, and how much the shape and meaning of our stories can change over time. Through May 7. Lyric Stage Company. 617-585-5678, www.lyricstage.com
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WE’RE GONNA DIE Obehi Janice stars in the New England premiere of Young Jean Lee’s cabaret-style song cycle, which blends pseudo-autobiographical storytelling with philosophical inquiries into the vagaries and mysteries of existence. Directed by Shawn LaCount, who has shown an astute touch with quirky plays like Annie Baker’s “The Flick’’ and Kristoffer Diaz’s “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity.’’ April 20-29. Presented by Company One Theatre in collaboration with American Repertory Theater. At Oberon, Cambridge. 617-547-8300, www.americanrepertorytheater.org
DON AUCOIN
Dance
HUBBARD STREET DANCE CHICAGO For nearly four decades, this talented, stylistically diverse repertory company has been a dynamic force in the creation and performance of contemporary dance. The program for the troupe’s Celebrity Series engagement features choreography by William Forsythe, Crystal Pite, and Penny Saunders. April 15-17. $35-$75. Citi Shubert Theatre. 617-482-6661, www.celebrityseries.org
COMPANHIA URBANA DE DANÇA World Music/CRASHarts presents the Boston debut of this impressively talented and spirited company of young dancers drawn from the impoverished favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Under the direction of choreographer Sonia Destri Lie, they blend urban street styles with capoeira, contemporary dance, and Brazilian social dance. April 15-16. $36-$40. Institute of Contemporary Art. 617-876-4275, www.worldmusic.org
DANCE SHORTS This concert by Jessica Smith, Jennifer Roberts, Maggie Foster, Caitlyn Schrader, Audrey MacLean, Katie McGrail, Colleen Walsh, and Heidi Henderson features original choreography designed to be time-limited and sharply edited, promising “short works, short show, average height dancers.” Sweet. April 15-16. $12-$15. Dance Complex, Cambridge. 617-547-9363, www.brownpapertickets.com
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KAREN CAMPBELL
Galleries
MARY ELLEN STROM:GREY EAGLE Strom’s video and 3-D works (and a live performance April 16) contemplate environmental degradation in the American West. Her tale infuses women into male-dominated industries, and asks how that might have changed things. Through May 14. 555 Gallery, 555 East 2nd St., South Boston. 857-496-7234, www.555gallery.com
BIRD: METAPHOR + MUSE We use birds as metaphors all the time, from the canary in the coalmine to snowbirds who fly south. Curator Holly Harrison suggests bird symbols are now taking flight in contemporary art. Through May 7. Concord Center for the Visual Arts, 37 Lexington Road, Concord. 978-369-2578, www.concordart.org
JAMES HULL: LIKENESS AND LEGACY Hull links early portraiture in two mediums: 19th-century photographs and 1st-century Roman sculpture. He pairs photos from an old family album with images of Roman busts, and finds eerie similarities in the formal, austere poses. Through May 22. Laconia Gallery, 433 Harrison Ave. 857-222-0333, www.laconiagallery.com CATE McQUAID
Museums
REVOLUTION OF THE EYE: MODERN ART AND THE BIRTH OF AMERICAN TELEVISION More than 260 objects open a window onto the ways in which avant-garde art affected the look of early television, and the ways in which TV in turn spread people’s awareness of modern art. Through July 31. Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover. 978-749-4015, www.andover.edu/museums/addison
ASIA IN AMSTERDAM: THE CULTURE OF LUXURY IN THE GOLDEN AGE A collaboration with the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, this exhibition of around 170 objects addresses the rich connections between luxury goods imported from Asia and paintings and objects made in response by the Dutch in the 17th century. Through June 5. Peabody Essex Museum, Salem. 978-745-9500, www.pem.org
OFF THE WALL: GARDNER AND HER MASTERPIECES Twenty-five of the museum’s most celebrated works of art, by masters such as Rembrandt, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Rubens, have been moved from Mrs. Gardner’s palace into the contemporary Hostetter Gallery while the leaking roof is repaired and an entire floor of the palace is closed for nine months. Through Aug. 15. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. 617-566-1401, www.gardnermuseum.org
SEBASTIAN SMEE
EVENTS
Comedy
SEAN SULLIVAN The comedian behind the “Comic vs. Comic” roast show headlines opening night at this new room in Needham, with Anthony Scibelli and Shaun Connolly. April 15, 7 p.m. $20. Ray’s New Garden, 40 Chestnut Place, Needham, 781-449-1698, www.raysnewgarden.com
NICK CHAMBERS ALBUM TAPING Worcester native Chambers is one of the funniest up-and-coming comics in Boston, and he’ll take two nights to record his first album. Presented by Anderson Comedy’s The Gas and hosted by Rob Crean. April 15-16, 7 p.m. $5. Great Scott, 1222 Commonwealth Ave., Allston. 617-566-9014, www.greatscottboston.com
DONNELL RAWLINGS COMICS 2 CURE The former “Chappelle’s Show” and “Guy Code” regular headlines two shows to benefit the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown. April 17 at 7 and 10 p.m. $25-$35. Laugh Boston, 425 Summer St., Boston. 617-725-2844, www.laughboston.com
NICK A. ZAINO III
Family
Science Carnival and Robot Zoo A few highlights from the dozens of exhibitors this year: virtual reality with Google Cardboard, magnetic levitation with Boston College, and artificial intelligence with IBM Watson. April 16, noon-4 p.m. Free. Cambridge Rindge and Latin Field House, 459 Broadway, Cambridge. 617-349-4040. www.cambridgesciencefestival.org/2016Festival/SciCarnivalAndRobotZoo.aspx
Boston Renegades Home Opener Undefeated this season, Boston’s full contact women’s football squad comes home to take down the DC Divas. Even if it weren’t the offseason, why bother driving to Foxborough? Come out and support your local girl gang. April 16, 7-10 p.m. $10. Dilboy Stadium, 110 Alewife Brooke Parkway, Somerville. www.bostonrenegadesfootball.com
Stories Under the Stars Another Cambridge Science Festival production, this star-striking spectacle combines multimedia storytelling, scientific showmanship, and, hey, a planetarium. There’s no going wrong. April 20, 9-10 p.m. $12. Museum of Science, 1 Science Park. 617-723-2500. www.mos.org/public-events/stories-under-the-stars
Joe Incollingo
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
April 22 Good Charlotte at Paradise Rock Club www.ticketmaster.com
April 23 Pete Davidson at The Wilbur www.ticketmaster.com
May 3 Santigold at House of Blues www.livenation.com
May 5 Babymetal at House of Blues www.livenation.com
May 6 Wayne Brady at The Wilbur www.ticketmaster.com
May 7 Ben Folds at Orpheum Theatre www.ticketmaster.com
May 10 Justin Bieber at TD Garden www.ticketmaster.com