Concerts to See This Week

Heavy metal and lots of it.

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Sebastian Bach, the former lead singer of Skid Row, appears at TLA on May 19th.

Lincoln Durham @ Milkboy | May 18th

Merging the hoodoo of Southern gothic with the sounds of psycho blues, this one-man-band found his flair in the deep Southwest on hand-me-down fiddles and makeshift percussion instruments. His latest record, Revelations of a Mind Unraveling, has been acclaimed by pop matters as a “kind of record that Jack White wishes he could make, a record that is loose, unhinged by commercial limitations or stylistic allegiances.”

Parsonsfield @ Boot & Saddle | May 18th 

Ringing with the resonance of banjos and mandolins, the alternative folk band braids rock ‘n roll into bluegrass. “Weeds or Wildflowers,” a mountainside ditty from the band’s latest self-titled album, was featured in an episode of The Walking Dead last March.

Sebastian Bach @ TLA | May 19th 

The former frontman of Skid Row takes five from the Gilmore Girls revival shoot for this self-titled tour, featuring the progressive metal poundings on his fifth solo release, Give ’Em Hell.

The Obsessed @ Kung Fu Necktie | May 19th 

With roots stemming back to the ’70s, the on-again/off-again doom metal band recently reconciled their stoner-rock differences once again for a national tour and a new album in the works.

Frankie Ballard @ TLA | May 20th 

With a Tim McGraw tone and a Ryan Gosling gaze, the country singer-songwriter has been belting his current single, “It All Started With a Beer” (doesn’t it always?), a preview to his third studio album, El Rio,, which is set to release on June 10th. He’s been hailed as having a “timeless” sound, because nothing says everlasting like the lyrics “You had a Corona, I was drinking Bud Light.”

The Sword @ Union Transfer | May 20th 

More heavy metal, you say? With music fostered by the sounds of Black Sabbath and Sleep, yet another stoner rock band invades Philly this week. Their slow-tempo yet easily tempered rumbles have landed them on Billboard’s 200 album chart more than once, including for their newest body of work, High Country. When the album released in 2015, it also came in a generous — or should we say ganja — deluxe edition featuring a wooden “stash box,” wood grain dugout, grinder card, and rolling papers.

Zac Brown Band @ BB&T Pavillon | May 20th 

As if our current unseasonably chilly temperatures weren’t already a drag, “Colder Weather” sustains this week as the Grammy Award–winning group stops in Camden for their Black Out the Sun tour.

Steve Aoki @ Drexel (Lot F) | May 21st

The Billboard-charting techno virtuoso and his turntables take over campus for the university’s Spring Jam. The rave features Rain Man and Philly’s own Jahn Rome.

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