Welcome to “Seven in Seven,” where each Friday we take a look at shows coming to the region over the next week. Whether your musical tastes are rock and roll, jazz, heavy metal, singer-songwriter or indie, there’ll always be something to check out in the coming days.
Here are seven of the best for the week beginning Oct. 8:
Third Eye Blind – Oct. 8 at Sand Bethlehem Event Center
Third Eye Blind is one of those bands from the 90s who could’ve gone the way of Eve 6, Sugar Ray or Smash Mouth, known for a song or two and then showed up on package nostalgia tours 20 years later. Instead, they had this crazy resurgence among fans old and new with their songs “Jumper,” “Graduate” and “Never Let You Go.” Their mix of guitar based pop sensibility mixed in with alternative rock has proved to be a winning combination that resonates across generations.
Guns N’ Roses – Oct. 8 at The Wells Fargo Center
Ten or 15 years ago, if you said that not only would Guns N’ Roses be back with singer Axl Rose, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan reunited, getting along, showing up each night on-time for a year and half long trek around the world, you’d be called crazy and maybe committed. Against all odds though, it’s happened. The rejuvenated outfit is back with a vengeance, and having spent last summer playing stadiums across the country – including Lincoln Financial Field on a sweltering July night – and now they’re back for round two, playing more intimate spots like the WFC.
Bruno Mars – Oct. 10 at The Wells Fargo Center
The 24K Magic World Tour marks Bruno Mars’ first full-length tour since 2013’s hugely successful Moonshine Jungle World Tour, an international blockbuster that sold two million tickets worldwide across 155 sold-out dates. It’s celebrating his album 24K Magic, which had the highest selling debut of his career with first-week album sales equivalents exceeding 231,000 when it came out last November. The record also took the No. 1 slot on both the Top Digital Albums chart and the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Mars truly is a one-of-a-kind talent; he’s a singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist and not too shabby of a dancer either. Expect this to be one of the most entertaining of the year.
The Psychedelic Furs – Oct. 10 at Union Transfer
If you sit and talk to many of the alternative rock artists dominating today’s music, you’ll find that many of them pay homage to the The Psychedelic Furs. Led by front man and songwriter Richard Butler, the Furs won over fans and critics alike by combining poetic lyrics, innovative rhythms and melodies driven by an aggressive, punk desperation. Through it all, the band scored major hits with “Love My Way,” “Pretty In Pink,” “Heaven,” “The Ghost In You,” and “Heartbreak Beat” – in all releasing seven studio albums. And the fact that they’re still around isn’t bad for a band who came out up in the punk-infused scene of England in 1977.
Paramore – Oct. 10 at Underground Arts
Paramore formed 15 years ago in what was then the much quieter town of Nashville, Tenn. Still in junior high, music made all of their free time. Eventually, they all left for tour in the middle of a school year and luckily the whole thing worked out for them, even though few understood how a band so un-country could be from Nashville, nor how a bunch of kids so small could play their angst-filled alternative rock songs so proudly. They still reside in their hometown, which isn’t so quiet these days with the mass migration of artists large and small trying to grab a piece of the pop country pie that has gotten so popular over the past decade.
Adventure Club – Oct. 13 at The Fillmore
Sound can often conjure color; it’s an acute phenomenon that adds another dimension to music – not just hearing, but also seeing. Montreal electronic music duo Adventure Club, made up of Christian Srigley and Leighton James, managed to architect a similar sensory experience on their full-length debut, last year’s Red // Blue. The record is rooted in the deft balance at the heart of their signature style. Ultimately, the album welcomes full immersion of all the senses and kicks off the duo’s brightest phase yet, evident in songs like the shuffling synth drive of “Dreams” through the single “Firestorm” which features Sara Diamond on vocals.
Tom Keifer – Oct. 13 at The Block at Harrah’s Philadelphia
While the region waits less than patiently for the return of beloved local blues rock heroes Cinderella, who’ve been on a hiatus for entirely too long, the best we’re going to get is band frontman Tom Keifer and his solo sets. His solo debut The Way Life Goes is a noble enough effort, and though it came out in 2013, a deluxe edition will be released later this month. Also, expect some of his hits from back in the day with Cinderella like “Nobody’s Fool” and “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone).”