Nakia & the Never Not Now
Friday 30, Waterloo Records
Earlier this month, when Shinyribs serenaded Waterloo Records, emotions ran heavy in the knowledge of the group’s final live appearance at that location. Expect no less from Nakia. A semifinalist on The Voice and perennial Austin City Limits television show attendee, the South Austin soul man runs deep through the local scene lore. No surprise, then, that his swan song at Sixth and Lamar – Waterloo will relocate several blocks north this summer – services one of his finest recorded moments. Signal, inspired by Eighties synthpop, pulses his rich and deepening croon atop a lithe bed of electro delectables for maybe the best fit in decades, as aided by new band the Never Not Now. – Raoul Hernandez
Simple Minds
Friday 30, Moody Center
The eternal popularity of Eighties hits “Alive and Kicking” and “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” means Scotland’s elegantly bombastic Simple Minds has maintained their lighter-waving popularity around the world. Nearly 50 years on, singer Jim Kerr, guitarist Charlie Burchill, and their comrades hit U.S. arenas for their most extensive North American tour in four decades. As displayed on superb new album Live in the City of Diamonds, Big Music standards like “Promised You a Miracle,” “Book of Brilliant Things,” and the peerless “Waterfront” still have the power to stir souls and lift hearts. – Michael Toland
iLLfest
Friday 30 – Sunday 1, Travis County Expo Center
Back to test local seismographs, music and street art celebration iLLfest looks to rattle the Capitol. Producing big, brash dubstep with elements of jungle, trance, and trap, PEEKABOO arrives with anthems like “Babatunde” and his latest, “leaving (dont tell me).” Tape B brings heavy nostalgia, reimagining classic hip-hop into festival smashes. Wooli’s dark melodic bass is reminiscent of Flux Pavilion’s early work. In an interesting fusion, Dallas rapper BigXthaPlug (breakout hit “Mmhmm”) and Bay City lyricist That Mexican OT, best known for his 2023 Paul Wall-featured single “Johnny Dang,” will also perform. Belgian drum and bass producer/DJ Netsky comes as this year’s truly legendary figure. – Kahron Spearman
Metropolis With Live Score by David DiDonato
Saturday 31, Hyperreal Film Club
By playing original music live in a movie theatre to accompany the action onscreen, David DiDonato isn’t reinventing the wheel here; that’s just how things were done back in the silent film era. But they weren’t doing it on a double-neck electric guitar, that’s for sure. (Point DiDonato!) The Austin musician cycles through synthwave, dream pop, black metal, and more in his lively score for one of the all-time greats: Fritz Lang’s enduring sci-fi vision of a world where autocrats and automation conspire to keep the working class down. Hmm. If only there were some contemporary resonance there… – Kimberley Jones
Röyksopp
Saturday 31, the Concourse Project
If Röyksopp’s Melody A.M., twinkling with the breezy beauty of tracks like “Eple” and “Remind Me,” dances in your memory as a top life experience from the early 2000s, you may also consider the Norwegian duo a gateway drug to electronic music. That Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland could lure the unsuspecting down a downtempo, ambient path as much as to the club at midnight is clear. Their own live sets inspired them to create a studio album, True Electric. Robyn and Alison Goldfrapp, among others, make it shine brighter. The Concourse is the penultimate stop of their North American tour. – Christina Garcia
Spirit Adrift
Saturday 31, Empire Control Room
When Nathan Garrett purchased acreage just outside of Bastrop and relocated there from Phoenix on March 1, 2020, the heavy metal hero closed a lifelong loop. Visiting here during elementary school, growing up on ZZ Top and Waylon Jennings, and touring through Austin more than Oklahoma, where the singer-shredder was raised, Spirit Adrift’s astral projectionist identified as a Lone Star decades before arriving. Fifth and most recent full-length Ghost at the Gallows furthers his and drummer Marcus Bryant’s ascension metallurgy, while last year’s Hot & Heavy: Live in Tejas cements it. “Dazed and Confused is a huge reason why I’m here,” revealed Garrett that pandemic year. “Billy Joe Shaver: I listened to his self-titled album every day. It’s why I’m here, people like that.” – Raoul Hernandez
KLKT’s One-Year Anniversary
Sunday 1, Lockhart’s Commerce Hall
Two things Austinites love: community radio and neighboring small towns. Radio Lockhart 107.9 FM checks both boxes with this event, which celebrates the first anniversary of our southern neighbors’ 100% volunteer-driven station. Commemorative merch, a photo booth, and a birthday cake mark the occasion, which features performances by Americana singer-songwriter James McMurtry and psych duo Gran Moreno plus DJ sets by Hippie Scum, Adrian Quesada, and Giant Hornets From Japan. $15 advance tickets go up to $20 at the door. – Carys Anderson
Drive-By Truckers and Deer Tick
Sunday 1, Stubb’s
Three decades and 2,500 gigs deep, Drive-By Truckers still pull no punches, mixing front-porch brutality and political fury into a live experience that hits like gospel soaked in gasoline. Fresh off Patterson Hood’s first solo album in 12 years (Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams), the Southern rockers bring their “Charm & Decadence” tour to Stubb’s, co-headlining with Deer Tick’s unruly folk-punk swagger. Nashville’s Thelma and the Sleaze open with equal parts sludge, strut, and sweat-soaked swagger. Expect a night where truth, distortion, and heart collide in three distinct voices of the American underground. – Tim Stegall
Swamp Dogg
Sunday 1, Antone’s
Swamp Dogg is an artist so original, he coined his own genre – or so he claims. “Swamp music” is R&B, heavy on the funk, with an extra helping of soul and a hearty side of experimentation. The original D-O-double-G made a name for himself writing country and blues music before adopting his Swamp Dogg moniker and character in the 1970s. He’s since amassed a cult following behind his soulfully irreverent, socially conscious lyrics and his refusal to slow down or be categorized. Make it a whole Swamp Dogg spectacular and catch a showing of the new documentary Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted, opening Friday at AFS Cinema. – Caroline Drew
Perfume Genius
Monday 2, Emo’s
Seven albums and 15 years into the Perfume Genius project, songwriter Mike Hadreas shows no signs of slowing his pursuit of baroque perfection. Queerness burns at the core of his artistry – a transcendent and spiritually/sonically curious approach to pop music marks each new release. Acclaimed March LP Glory serves as no exception. From the tense, fingerpicked poetry of opener “It’s a Mirror,” Hadreas tackles loss, existential dread, and chronic illness with an impeccable balance of bravado and tenderness. Few contemporary artists wring catharsis from turmoil so masterfully. – Genevieve Wood
Greer
Monday 2, Antone’s
I’m unsure of which indie god to thank, because Greer has reemerged from an “indefinite hiatus,” or as they say in the industry, the alt-rock graveyard. With a sound that more closely resembles your favorite Nineties grunge band than its very own on 2021’s Happy People, Greer’s March LP Big Smile salvages 6-year-old songs unburdened by the expectation of timely choruses and sweet-sounding guitar melodies. Not only will seeing the group live at Antone’s motivate you to peek into those neglected notebooks, but perhaps you’ll also take the cue in breaking up with your preconceived, and certainly pretentious, notions of fixed scene or genre. – Levi Langley
Raveena
Wednesday 4, Scoot Inn
In press for her latest album, Raveena said, “Butterflies are so delicate that they have to hide in leaves and flowers until the rain passes so that their wings don’t get crushed in the rain.” Where the Butterflies Go in the Rain channels that delicate beauty in sound and subject matter. On a lush, polished R&B record, the Punjabi singer-songwriter fuses funk bass with cinematic strings and her stacked, choirlike vocals to ponder love, loss, and grief – from confessional “Pluto” to Palestinian freedom song “Rise” – with a buoyancy that keeps her lyrical depths afloat. Bangalore-born singer Renao opens. – Carys Anderson
Mount Eerie
Thursday 5, Paramount Theatre
The adamantly DIY stylings of Phil Elverum became a cornerstone of the Northwest’s independent music scene in the early 2000s, first behind the Microphones and now primarily as Mount Eerie. The auteur continues to push multimedia artistic edges through his various projects under the house label P.W. Elverum & Sun – including the soundscapes of last year’s hauntingly atmospheric LP Night Palace, which unravels a tension of beauty and terror in his haltingly soft and intimate vocals. The equally enigmatic Dagmar Zuniga opens behind the mesmerizing new lo-fi album in filth your mystery is kingdom / far smile peasant in yellow music. – Doug Freeman
Music Notes
by Derek Udensi
The Marc’s 11th Anniversary
Thursday 29, the Marc
San Marcos locale celebrates 11 years with EDM DJ Steve Aoki.
JahleelFaReaL
Friday 30, Flamingo Cantina
When I saw this chill Austin-based rapper during South by Southwest this year, he creatively threw $100 bills printed with his face on them. He released his new single, “Never Ever,” earlier this month.
Kisses From the Diaspora
Saturday 31, Cheer Up Charlies
Local record label mHart, which claims to be Austin’s “first and only Asian American label,” closes out Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with a showcase featuring its roster. Performers include 2025 Austin Music Awards Best Hip-Hop nominee promqueen and Francene Rouelle.
Angel White
Saturday 31, Still Austin
This genre-fusing, charismatic cowboy from Cleburne released his debut studio album, GHOST OF THE WEST: THE ALBUM, back in March.
Hail the Sun
Sunday 1, Come & Take It Live
California-based post-hardcore/progressive rock band Hail the Sun (“Rolling Out the Red Carpet”) is in the middle of two concurrent tours: a headlining tour of their own and a supporting trek for Ice Nine Kills. They’re headlining this particular show, with support from Austin act Euphonia.
Want to see all of our listings broken down by day? Go to austinchronicle.com/calendar and see what’s happening now or in the coming week.
This article appears in May 30 • 2025.