Music notes: Bret Michaels rocks the Arcada
Hair-metal hero
Bret Michaels — former leader of '80s metal band Poison and current reality show star — will bring his loud, swaggering, bombastic rock attack to the suburbs this weekend.
8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 23, at the Arcada Theatre, 105 E. Main St., St. Charles. $49 to $89. Go to oshows.com.
Tough and twangy
If rockin' country sounds are your thing, you'll do no better this weekend than the Ha Ha Tonka show at Chicago's Subterranean. The Missouri band combines the rootsy flavor of Ozark music with driving indie rock. Opening for them will be Lydia Loveless, a 21-year-old phenom (and fellow Bloodshot Records artist) who delivers country-punk songs with a caustic wit and a stunning howl of a voice.
9 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 24, at Subterranean, 2011 W. North Ave., Chicago. $12. Go to subt.net.
Who's still going
Like their contemporaries Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones, the surviving members of the Who continue to show almost superhuman endurance, embarking on a massive world tour as full-fledged senior citizens. Booming singer Roger Daltrey, 68, and windmilling guitar legend Pete Townshend, 67, are blasting through their classic rock opera “Quadrophenia” on the current tour, which brings them to the suburbs for two shows next week. Snarky age comments aside, the Who is a truly legendary band, responsible for some of the most daring and powerful rock of the 1960s and 1970s. If you haven't seen them before, why wait any longer?
7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Nov. 29-30, at the Allstate Arena, 6920 N. Mannheim Road, Rosemont. $39.50 to $129.50. Go to ticketmaster.com.