Upcoming concerts
The Deadstring Brothers with Cracklin' Moth and Farewell Captain, 9:30 p.m. today at the Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. $10. (773) 281-4444.
The Deadstring Brothers are not brothers but instead feature real-life couple Kurt Marschke and Marsha Marjieh sharing lead vocals. The Detroit band is deeply rooted in the bluesy country rock of the Rolling Stones, the Faces and the Allman Brothers, but on stage they kick it up higher to capture or even supercede those bands in their glory years -- enough to make you burn all those Ryan Adams records for good this time. This show is a CD release party to celebrate "Silver Mountain" (Bloodshot), a third album.
The Pat Metheny Trio, 8 p.m. Saturday at the Harold D. McAninch Arts Center Theatre 2 at the College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn. $65/$100. (630) 942-4000.
Fuzz-topped jazz guitarist Pat Metheny plays this show accompanied by bassist Christian McBride and drummer Antonio Sanchez. Metheny is one of the jazz world's most distinctive guitarists and also most open-minded collaborators, having worked on albums with everyone from Jerry Garcia and Bruce Hornsby to Ornette Coleman and Sonny Rollins.
Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the United Center, 1901 W. Madison St., Chicago. $45/$200. (312) 455-4500.
Actress, model, entrepreneur and sometime singer Jennifer Lopez has never staged a full-flung concert tour until this one. She is hitting the road with husband and singer Marc Anthony. Like Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, the couple plans to perform separate sets and duet together for what is already being described as a bilingual pop extravaganza. Her new album, out this week, is "Brave" (Epic).
Van Halen, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Allstate Arena, 6920 Mannheim Road, Rosemont and 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the United Center, 1901 W. Madison St., Chicago. $59.50/$149.50. (312) 559-1212.
The Van Halen soap opera is, by now, a cliche. You know the players: Eddie Van Halen and his battles with alcohol, faithful drummer brother Alex, outrageous lead singer David Lee Roth and his contentious party boy replacement Sammy Hagar. Throughout years, the parties have waged war in the media, culminating in this reunion tour minus Hagar and bassist Michael Anthony and including Van Halen's teenage son Wolfgang on bass. Van Halen was the most commercially successful hard rock group of the 1980s. Two decades later, it'll be worth it to see if Roth can truly jump on "Jump."