Concert Previews

It's been 35 years since Pere Ubu, the Cleveland avant-garage experimental rock group founded by David Thomas and named after the rotund protagonist of Alfred Jarry's infamous Dadaist 1896 French play Ubu Roi, set the punk-rock world on its ear with its debut, The Modern Dance. This year, the outfit released its 15th studio album and best in a decade, Lady From Shanghai, which the always compellingly peculiar Thomas claims is out to fix the "problem" that "dance music encourages the body to move without permission." Be sure to stand still at the North Star Bar on Wednesday, or you might be subjected to his wrath. Get there early for Philadelphia psychedelic garage-rock stalwarts Strapping Fieldhands.

- Dan DeLuca

Philadelphia's newest indie-rock venue is Boot & Saddle, a decade-old and long-closed-for-business country-and-western bar. It's the latest joint venture between Sean Agnew's R5 Productions and Avram Hornik's 4 Corners Management, who are already in cahoots at Union Transfer, Morgan's Pier, and elsewhere. With its neon sign relit on South Broad Street, B&S reopens for business on Monday with the Both. That's what longtime buddies and touring partners Aimee Mann and Ted Leo are now calling themselves when they play together. The indie songwriting siren and Jersey-bred punk rocker are just the first act at a promising season at B&S, with Black Prairie, Quasi, and Mad Professor all on the schedule in the coming weeks.

- Dan DeLuca

Mayer Hawthorne, who headlines Union Transfer on Tuesday, struts, slide-steps, and spins along the fine line between soulful sincerity and ironic revisionism. His blue-eyed soul can seem like a pastiche of Hall & Oates, Earth Wind & Fire, and the Motown of his native Detroit, and his penchant for jokey poses and geeky stage mannerisms can call into question his authenticity. But with his smooth, warm voice and his well-crafted songs, he sells it, and his shows are genuine dance-party fun. On this summer's Where Does This Door Go, Hawthorne merged his retro tendencies with a strong dose of contemporary R&B. He enlisted production help from Pharrell Williams and a cameo rap from Kendrick Lamar, among other collaborators. He has old-school fans, as well: Booker T. Jones drafted him for the lead track of his latest album.

- Steve Klinge