THE REPLACEMENTS, YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS
(Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside) All the indie-rock folks—maybe with their progeny in tow—who fancied themselves losers and underdogs in the ’80s are in for a walloping nostalgia wallow tonight. It’s kind of funny that the Replacements—who comported themselves as loveable, shaggy fuck-ups during their heyday—are now playing big rooms like the Crystal, at $49.50 a pop (not including fees). It’s testament to frontman Paul Westerberg’s über-relatable songwriting style and knack for indelible melodies that range from weepily poignant (“Unsatisfied,” “Here Comes a Regular”) to rambunctiously anthemic (“I Don’t Know,” “Take Me Down to the Hospital”) that the Replacements still compel three decades after their peak. Only Westerberg and bassist Tommy Stinson remain from the original lineup, but few will mind, as they tear through everything from their early ramshackle punk blowouts to their major-label ballads, their middle-aged savvy tempering their former youthful tempestuousness. Just try not to mar “Alex Chilton” with your off-key singing, okay, Replacements fan? DAVE SEGAL Read our article on the Replacements and the Young Fresh Fellows.
CHRIS TOMLIN
(Moda Center, 1 Center Ct) Chris Tomlin is headlining the Moda Center, which may cause godless Mercury readers to wonder, “Who is Chris Tomlin?” Fair enough. Tomlin is arguably the most successful Christian musician of the past dozen years. He’s placed 19 songs in the Top 10 of Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart, which is a thing, and is an ever-present force on Christian radio. He’s the master of modern worship music: Five of Tomlin’s tunes are among the 25 most popular worship songs in churches right now, according to CCLI, a Christian-music licensing company. He’s won 19 Dove Awards (AKA the Christian Grammys—the “Christ-ies”!) and one actual Grammy. And his 2013 album Burning Lights became the fourth Christian album ever to debut atop the Billboard 200. If soaring pop-rock with faith-focused lyrics is your thing, Tomlin’s your man. If it’s not, Tomlin’ll be okay, as he consoles himself with the sound of an arena full of people singing his songs back at him. Jesus. BEN SALMON
HIS NAME IS ALIVE, CYNTHIA NELSON BAND, WL
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Good luck finding a catalog as nonsensical as the one belonging to His Name Is Alive. Over the course of two decades, bandleader Warren Defever has employed a revolving ensemble that’s crafted 4AD-approved goth-folk, twisted psych-pop, soulful R&B, blues, noise, and even a tribute album to free-jazz saxophonist Marion Brown. On the 1993 classic Mouth by Mouth, they hit pretty much all these modes at once. And since there’s no such thing as a “His Name Is Alive sound,” Defever is free to do pretty much whatever he wants. And since there hadn’t been an HNIA concept album in the vein of Yes and King Crimson, he decided to make one with last year’s Tecuciztecatl. MATTHEW W. SULLIVAN
EZZA ROSE, BALTO, WHITE GLOVE
(Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water) See My, What a Busy Week!
LOREN CONNORS
(Yale Union, 800 SE 10th) The organizers at Yale Union continue their peerless run of performance bookings with a very rare appearance by Brooklyn-based guitarist Loren Mazzacane Connors. The 65-year-old musician is one of the most fluid players around, willing to bend his shimmering, droning electric tones and pinsharp acoustic work to suit anyone that shares his exploratory spirit, be it noiseniks like Keiji Haino and Thurston Moore or folk picker John Fahey. Though his concerts are becoming more infrequent due to Connors working against the unstoppable effects of Parkinson’s disease, he fights on with the aim of playing and documenting his efforts until it becomes physically impossible for him to perform and record. Let’s rage against the dying of the light with him. ROBERT HAM
JUNIOR BROWN, THE EASY LEAVES
(Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie) It took a little while for people to catch on to Junior Brown when he came onto the scene in the early ’90s. He didn’t fit snugly into country music’s pop-lite aesthetic at the time; Brown was too much of the real deal. There was something sorta campy about a guy with a 10-gallon hat playing a “guit-steel”—the electric guitar/pedal steel hybrid Brown invented—so it took a British label to release his 1990 debut, 12 Shades of Brown. Of course, now Brown is known worldwide. He’s an accomplished player, and he’s got a silky deep voice to boot. And while country music has morphed over the past 25 years, Brown just keeps plugging away, leaving naysayers in the dust. MARK LORE