Mipso
Wednesday, June 28
Hailing from Chapel Hill, NC, there is a true Southern bluegrass charm to indie folk band Mipso. While combining traditional folk string instruments with uplifting gospel-like vocal harmonies, a hint of deep drum maintains the band’s progressive agenda. Starting as a 4 piece string band, playing shows around the UNC area, Mipso has expanded the texture of their sound in the past few years, adding electric organs and banjo. In 2016, their album Old Time Reverie topped the Billboard’s bluegrass chart, and in the same year the band was recognized as Rolling Stone’s favorite festival performance. Released in April of this year, Coming Down the Mountain is Mipso’s latest album full of striking steel guitar riffs and beautifully accented fiddle and mandolin melodies, all in the background to the band’s harmonious vocal range. The new album sees guest appearances by fellow Chapel Hill bluegrass musicians like Mandolin Orange’s Andrew Marlin. Tap your toes to Mipso’s deep catalogue of indie folk songs. $7-$30, Wednesday June 28, Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E Grayson St., (210)223-2830, samsburgerjoint.com — Kimberly Rivera
Band Merch Night Vol. 1
Friday, June 30th
In an effort to support local musicians, Limelight has announced its first ever Band Merch Night, where fans can buy all the different kinds of swag from their favorite local artists –from hats to band T’s, stickers, and art. As the first of many more to come, this event is an opportunity to mingle with some favorite local acts, show support and explore the various genres that make up the local music scene. Three of the night’s 10 featured bands will take the stage to entertain guests as they peruse the different pop-up shops. San Antonio’s own post-punk posse Hiawatha, Austin-based metal outfit Ten Foot Beasts, and local psych, mind-melters Verisimilitude will all perform live on the Limelight stage. Band Merch Night Vol. 1 is just the cornerstone of upcoming efforts supporting San Antonio-based and other local musicians. Don’t miss out. $3.00, 9:00pm, The Limelight, Fri, June 30, 2718 N St Mary’s St, (210) 735-7775, thelimelightsa.com — KR
Roger Waters
Saturday, July 1
When he's not treating Radiohead to a grandfatherly lambasting over playing a show in Israel, Roger Waters, a founding member and principal creative force behind prog/art-rock juggernaut Pink Floyd, occasionally releases solo music and/or tours behind Pink Floyd classics. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer dropped his first new album in twelve years this year, with the thematically-pointed yet largely lackluster Is This the Life We Really Want?, having dropped only four proper albums of solo material in total since his 1984 debut. But dude still knows how to put on an arena-sized psychedelic odyssey of a show, and you can bet that, at his San Antonio show this weekend, you'll hear plenty of the old stuff, especially from The Wall, which has become depressingly relevant again in 2017. $33.00-$2129.00, 8:00pm, AT&T Center, One AT&T Center, (210) 444-5000, attcenter.com. — James Courtney
Jungle Boogie Vol. III
Saturday, July 1
Bouncing their audiences into waves and vintage electro drum beats, Dolphin Dilemma aims to convince us to not take life so seriously and to get lost in the magic that is funky electronic music. Equipped with a mini Korg synth and an RC-300 loop station, Zachariah Applebaum, who makes up one third of the local psychedelic prog-rock band Verisimilitude, pulls us through a soundtrack of 1970s future soundscapes for “Jungle Boogie III” which will feature artists Parallelephants, Daph Funk, and Wayne Holtz and a cash prize dance contest. If you’re looking for an excuse to get down and dirty on the dance floor – here’s your shot. 8pm, $3-$6, Ventura, 1011 Avenue B. — Chris Conde
Ryan Bingham
Saturday & Sunday, July 1-2
Steeped in the traditions of Americana, but with a Los Angeles ear for sweaty riff-rock, Ryan Bingham has straight-up put in work. Bingham’s rollicking Americana-rock mash ups and his craggy voice translate into a live show that ratchets up the energy level and dynamism of his compositions, accentuating the rock sound in places and then dampening it down in others. With his most recent studio record, 2015's Fear and Saturday Night, getting further in the rear-view, fans can likely expect Bingham and band to preview some new shit and trot out the favorites. Also on this fine bill of Americana fare is San Antonio-born country lifer and celebrated songwriter Steve Earle. A crotchety old dude these days, just as you would want him to be, Earle has spent a lifetime as a true student of the craft of country. Always keeping busy, Earle released the excellent So You Want To Be An Outlaw album earlier this month. $32.33-$960.74, 7:00pm, Whitewater Amphitheater, 11860 FM 306, New Braunfels, whitewaterrocks.com. — JC
Bush
Monday, July 3
The band Bush, yet another 1990s alt-rock nostalgia act visiting SA this summer, won its place in the pantheon of rock gods on the strength of its first three albums Sixteen Stone (1992), Razorbalde Suitcase (1994), and The Science of Things (1999). Even though some hardcore fans may bristle at my inclusion of that last album as one of Bush’s defining statements, the band’s third album was the last well-received material it put out. Plus, Science kind of signaled what Bush could have become, but didn’t really: an evolving creative force, learning to use electronic elements alongside the reverb-drenched guitar that had characterized the grunge movement which birthed the band. Instead, Bush dropped one more (tepid as hell) album and took a long hiatus in the aughts. Now, having somehow released three albums since 2011 (including this year’s decent but lackluster Black and White Rainbows), Bush is out on tour. And, while the band’s recent output doesn’t quite live up to what it did in the 1990s, how could you miss a chance to hear classics like “Glycerine,” “Machinehead,” and “The Chemicals between Us” performed live? $45.00-$200.00, 8:00pm, Aztec Theatre, 104 N St Mary’s, (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre.com. — JC
Wayne Hancock
Monday, July 3
Wayne Hancock is the true heir to the throne of Hank Williams: a lonely, neon lit throne, made of heartsick and warbling croons, impossibly slow and slinky train songs, hard living, and clear night skies, that even Hank III concedes belongs to Hancock. Though he didn't drop his debut album until 1995, when he was 30 years old, Hancock has always seemed to belong to a bygone generation of country and western/swing purists. His music is severe, subversive, angsty, openhearted, and filled with the mercurial myths one makes of the moonlight with murder on their mind. Many of his songs, which can vary in sound from pure, classic country to furious rockibilly, deal with run-ins with the law, extra-marital escapades, and, generally speaking, the dark side(s) of American life. In the live setting, Hancock and his band come through like a trainwreck, taking no prisoners as they brandish their devilish gospel. $10.00-$15.00, 8:00pm, The Korova, 107 Martin, (210) 995-7229, thekorova.com. — JC
Santana
Tuesday, July 4
The thing about Carlos Santana is that he's had such a long and full career—which includes ten Grammy wins, countless formal recognitions of his genius, and five decades of rich and diverse musical output—that it's easy to sleep on him as one of the best of his generation still doing it. Not only are his singular guitar chops, which have consistently kept him in the electric guitar G.O.A.T. discussion over the years, still intact, but so is his groundbreaking knack for composition that fuses jazz, rock, and blues stylings with Afro-Latin rhythms and structures. In his esteemed career, Santana, with his eponymous band, as a solo artist, and in work with a staggeringly diverse array of talented collaborators, has released more than forty studio albums and a slew of live albums that document, in vivid color, exactly why you'll want to be at one of Santana's two San Antonio shows. $60.00-$225.00, 8:00pm, The Majestic, 224 E Houston St, (210) 226-3333, majesticempire.com. — JC