Welcome to Seven in Seven, where we look at shows coming to the region over the next week. As always, whether your musical tastes are rock and roll, jazz, heavy metal, R&B, singer-songwriter or indie, there will always be something to check out.
Here are seven of the best on the docket for the week of Aug. 25:
Omari Banks — Friday at The Loft at City Winery
It’s not very often the opportunity arises to see a former professional cricket player for West Indies perform in concert, let alone one The New York Times once touted as sounding like a cross between Bob Marley and Bob Dylan. Born and raised on the beautiful island of Anguilla, in the British Caribbean, Omari Banks found his musical calling at the tender age of 5 when he first took the stage in Milan, Italy, to sing alongside his father, Bankie Banx. Omari’s passion for music never waned as he found success as a cricket player, so in 2010 he made the decision to return to his first love, music, finding his inspiration through an eclectic array of genres including traditional Jamaican reggae accentuated with rock and blues backbeats.
Alvvays — Saturday at Dell Center
Alvvays’ 2014 self-titled debut, released when many of the members were still in their early 20s, offered speculation about a distant future and touched on topics like marriage, professionalism and interplanetary citizenship. Three years later, “Antisocialites” wrestled with the woes of the now, especially the anxieties of inching toward adulthood. Named for the sugary alcoholic beverage Rankin and MacLellan used to drink as teens on rural Cape Breton, last October’s “Blue Rev” looks both back at that country past and forward at an uncertain world, reckoning with what we lose whenever we make a choice about what we want to become. One thing is for sure, no one can say the Canadian indie pop group doesn’t approach things head on, much like they will be sure to at the Dell Center this weekend.
Jimmy Eat World + Manchester Orchestra — Saturday at The Skyline Stage at The Mann
This is one of those co-headlining tours that just makes sense in every way. Emo legends Jimmy Eat World are celebrating 10 albums and three decades of existence in 2023. The Mesa, Ariz., four-piece’s commercial breakthrough came with the release of several singles from their album “Bleed American,” with the single “The Middle” hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart and peaking at No. 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Alt-rockers Manchester Orchestra, meanwhile, continue to push themselves into fascinating new realms with their latest release “The Valley of Vision,” a reinvigorating record and awe-inspiring film that immerses the viewer in 180 degrees of 3D virtual reality. Note that for the Mann show, Jimmy Eat World will be going on first with Manchester Orchestra closing. And be sure to get there early for openers Middle Kids, an Australian indie rock trio who have made it a habit of dispensing supremely catchy songs with ease.
Greg Sover — Saturday at 118 North
This weekend in Wayne, singer, songwriter and guitar slinger Greg Sover will be performing songs from his latest LP, “His-Story,” which features eight blues, roots and rock-tinged originals. He’ll also be dipping into his catalog for other choice cuts from over the years. A first-generation American of Haitian descent, Sover has long been an integral part of the local Philly music scene. He has two previous full-length albums, 2016’s “Songs of a Renegade (S.O.A.R.)” and 2018’s “Jubilee,” along with 2020’s six-song EP, “Parade.” He’s also played the XPoNential Music Festival and made appearances at the Philadelphia Folk Fest and the Lancaster Roots and Blues Fest.
Shinyribs — Sunday at Sellersville Theater 1894
Bringing a sonic melting pot of Texas blues, New Orleans R&B and funk, horn-driven Memphis soul, country twang, border music, big band swing and roots rock, it’s hard to pin down Shinyribs under the thumb of a single genre. The Austin-based nine-piece — though sometimes it’s a 10-piece — supergroup is led by Kevin Russell, a charismatic frontman in colorful suits and extravagant shoes who routinely swaps out an electric guitar for a ukulele and never falls short of creating a cinematic experience with onstage antics that might include him donning a light-up cloak or even leading a conga line through the crowd.
Jai Wolf — Wednesday, Aug. 30, at Brooklyn Bowl
On top of a career that already includes hundreds of millions of streams on indie-dance anthems like “Indian Summer” and “Starlight,” blockbuster festival sets from Indio to India, and regular co-signs from the likes of Skrillex and ODESZA, Jai Wolf has curated his own lane of music as one of the most successful Bangladeshi-American artists. His debut album, “The Cure to Loneliness,” exceeded expectations, and now audiences get to hear all of Wolf’s hits and music from a new era in his career that he is dubbing “Blue Babu.”
Iris DeMent — Thursday, Aug. 31, at City Winery Main Stage
Confronting the here and now on her new LP, “Workin’ a World,” Iris DeMent summons various social justice warriors, both past and present, to deliver messages of optimism. The folk singer-songwriter looks at a land with its climate catastrophe, pandemic illness and epidemic of violence and social injustice and not only asks us how we can keep working toward a better world, but pleads for us to love each other, despite our very different ways of seeing. Her songs are her way of healing our broken inner and outer spaces, and she’ll be looking to some of that healing next week at City Winery.
Soundcheck
• Omari Banks: “Naturally”
• Alvvays: “Adult Diversion”
• Jimmy Eat World: “23”
• Manchester Orchestra: “Shake It Out”
• Middle Kids: “Edge of Town”
• Greg Sover: “Temptation”
• Shinyribs: “Poor People’s Store”
• Jai Wolf: “(I Dread the Day He Takes You To) Paris”
• Iris DeMent: “The Sacred Now”
Source: Berkshire mont
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