• Bear Hands

A couple concerts will put you in the thick of it downtown this weekend: Florence + the Machine, whose Monday night set should be punctuated by fireworks, and the three-day Rock and Roll BBQ, a showcase for mostly creaky rock bands that will play to different generations, depending on the night. More about both below, plus a Civil Wars in-store, Smokey Robinson's visit to a horse track and a free show at Sun King.

Thursday

Bear Hands at Sun King Brewing Company
This week’s cheapest show, hosted by My Old Kentucky Blog. The first 150 guests will get a complimentary copy of MOKB Shuffler, Vol. 2, which features artists playing MOKB Presents shows this summer. Admission is free, regardless of when you show up. But beer is not free, no, never. Brooklyn indie rockers Bear Hands will provide tunes. 6 p.m., free (but ticketed, follow instructions to obtain tickets), 21+.

Los Lonely Boys at The Vogue
The three brothers Garza continue to expand upon their core Tex-Mex rock sound on their latest album, Rockpango, which moves with ease from a hard rock opener critical of our inability to get along together (“American Idle”) to a mellow, funky acoustic ballad about the power of love (“Fly Away”). 8 p.m., $20 advance, $24 door (plus fees), 21+.

Days of the Dead kickoff show at Melody Inn
A few stars will get into town early to play this opening concert for this weekend's Days of the Dead horror festival. No, we're not talking Gary Busey or Ed Furlong, who will show up for the festival proper Friday. More like Ari Lehman, the guy who played Jason in the first Friday the 13th movie and who now leads a horror rock group appropriately titled First Jason. 9 p.m, $8, 21+.

Friday

The Civil Wars at Earth House
It’s been a busy couple years for Civil Wars, the girl-and-guy indie-folk duo whose debut record placed in the top ten on the Billboard Top 200, in large part due to buzz from all over the map, including tweets by country-pop superstar Taylor Swift and raves from the indie blogosphere. For more, check out Rob Nichols's interview with the duo. Concert at Earth House, 6:30 p.m., sold out, all-ages. Free in-store at Luna Music, 5:30 p.m., not ticketed, all-ages.

Laurie Morvan, Gene Deer at 8 Second Saloon
Illinois-born guitarist, singer and songwriter Laurie Morvan returns to the Midwest to celebrate the release of her new album Breath Deep. Her mixture of rockin' blues guitar and soulful vocals should please blues fans and 8 Seconds regulars alike. With three local openers, including hard-working acoustic blues dude Gene Deer and the Frank Dean-fronted Snakehandlers Blues Band. 7 p.m., $12 (plus fees), 21+.

Saturday

Mötley Crüe, Poison, New York Dolls at Verizon Wireless Music Center
Hugely influential proto-punk group New York Dolls, reunited since 2004 and still actively writing new material, might be the best reason to check out this metal nostalgia concert at VWMC. (For more, find your way to Nick Selm's interview with Dolls guitarist Sylvain Sylvain.) The Crüe attempted a return to form on 2008’s Saints of Los Angeles, which was received as competent but mostly irrelevant. And the Bret Michael's reality show empire overshadows his old band Poison these days. 7:30 p.m., $25-$99.50 (plus fees), all-ages.

Smokey Robinson at Hoosier Park
Septuagenarian though he may be, the general verdict is that Smokey’s still got it. He still has that smooth falsetto that can raise a quiet storm like nobody’s business. He still has the energy for a Vegas-style stage show, replete with costume changes and backup singers. And he keeps his work fresh, even the classics. The highlight of Hoosier Park’s Summer Music Track concert series. 7:45 p.m., $24-$68 (plus fees), all-ages.

The Coathangers, Deezen, Thee Pernicious Unicats at Radio Radio
Pitchfork filed a favorable review (7.6) of The Coathangers’ latest, this year’s Larceny & Old Lace, pointing out that while the Atlanta-based post-punk group may have formed as something of a joke, they’ve learned their craft over the course of five years. With Deezen (featuring Craig Bell of Rocket from the Tombs and The Down-Fi) and Thee Pernicious Unicats (long-time mod aficionado Mike Shimmercore on vocals). 9 p.m., $6, 21+.

Weekend

Rock and Roll BBQ
Our city’s newest rock ‘n’ rib festival will feature sets by Charlie Daniels and Kentucky Headhunters (Friday), Puddle of Mudd and Saving Abel (Saturday), and Soul Asylum and Gin Blossoms (Sunday). Rib Fest better watch its back. Note the affordable early admission price. In the west parking lot at Victory Field. July 1-3, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; July 1, free before 6 p.m., $8 after; July 2-3, free before 2 p.m., $8 after; discounts for children; all-ages

Monday

Florence + the Machine, Hanni el Khatib at The Lawn at White River State Park
Much like her fellow countrywomen Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen, Florence Welch mixes a lot of blues into her punk anthems, which have reached charts on both sides of the ocean since 2009. She’s been nominated for a trunkload of best newcomer-type awards in the past three years, winning a few lesser-profile ones while being passed over for this year’s Grammy for Best New Artist. 7 p.m., $25-$25 (plus fees), all-ages.

No matter where The Downtown Struts end up living, they will always consider an Indianapolis gig a homecoming show. The four-piece, currently moored in Chicago, is gearing up for a tour kick-off at Rock Lobster on Thursday.

“We grew up on the Northside of Indy” explained drummer Zach Byrne in a phone interview, “Dan (Cooper) and I started the Struts when we were 16. Still in high school. We sounded way different back then.”

After a few years of playing house parties around Indianapolis, the Cooper and Byrne decided to pack up and try their luck in Chicago. “We wanted to see what we could do in a bigger music scene.” said Byrne. “We also just wanted to get away from where we had grown up.”

While the band looked for new inspiration in a new city, they stumbled upon two Chicagolanders, Ryan Walsh and Ben Hjelmstad, who filled in some of the gaps in the band. And then, just as soon as they had settled in Chicago, it was time to move again.

Next, the band found themselves living in Phoenix, AZ together. “We didn’t really play many shows in Arizona”, Byrne said frankly, “maybe only two house shows in the time that we were there.” While the band might not have been moving any merch or winning over any new fans in Arizona, they were using their experiences traveling from city to city to help refine their songwriting style and develop their sound.

• DOWNTOWN STRUTS: Circle jam

“We spent most of our time in Phoenix just writing” said Byrne. “When we had started out playing in Indianapolis, we played mostly punk rock stuff ‘cause that’s what we were all listening to. But as were moved around and grew as a band we started experiencing different things and meeting new people and listening to different music. We started listening to a lot more straight rock ‘n’ roll and our music started to reflect that.”

After a year in Phoenix, the Struts headed further west to San Francisco where they continued not only writing music but playing it. Their time in San Francisco ultimately yielded a friendship with modern punk princes Dead To Me.

After a few months in SF, the band finally settled back in Chicago. From Chicago they are heading to Indianapolis to launch their summer tour. “We kind of have this reputation in Indianapolis” said Byrne “of appealing to solely the Johnny Thunders kind of punks. I see what that’s all about and I appreciate that those kids come out to our shows and support us so much but we’re not trying to make music for any specific scene or crowd. We don’t really like being stereotyped or pigeonholed like that. Dan and Ben are the main songwriters and their biggest influences are early Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and Paul Westerberg. I think those are some fairly diverse influences.”

At the end of the day, however, Byrne doesn’t feel like he needs to explain his band to his critics. “I always love playing Indy and I love seeing all my old friends come out and watch us but I really don’t care about people liking us or not. That’s really out of our control and we are just fine with that.”

The Downtown Struts
w/ The Perennials
Thursday June, 30
@ Rock Lobster
FREE, 21+, 9PM

• Junior Boys

Thursday

Junior Boys, Miracle Fortress at White Rabbit Cabaret
Ontario-based electro-pop duo Junior Boys simplified things a little on their latest album, this year’s It’s All True, which opened with a gesture towards high-concept ‘80s synth pop (the busy, aggressive but well-balanced “Itchy Fingers”) before settling back into a low-key, hook-y, bedroom pop sound that has always been one of the band’s core modes, even as it co-existed with a taste for contemporary R&B and Kraftwerk-style techno on past records. 9 p.m., $12 advance (mokbpresents.com), 21+.

Friday

Jookabox, Doog, Oreo Jones, DMA at Earth House
Word came down the pike in early February that Jookabox was no more, having broken up a couple months in advance of their final record, Eyes of the Fly, which released without a whole lot of fanfare in April on Asthmatic Kitty, for it is hard to drum up much attention without a release show. The band was always centered around David “Moose” Adamson, who has moved on from Jookabox to record as a solo artist under another name, DMA, derived from his initials. His first album as DMA, Drem Beb, releases in a limited, cassette-only run this Friday on Joyful Noise Recordings, at a release party at the Earth House that will also feature the final performance by Jookabox. Think of it as a funeral and an, er, bris — or christening, or whatever secular version of a birth celebration you people are celebrating these days. I chatted with Adamson this week about Jookabox's breakup and his new projects: have a gander at the results, if you're so inclined. 7 p.m., $5, all-ages.

The Last Good Year, Goliathon, The Glass Identity Crisis at Birdy’s Bar and Grill
A hard rock showcase headlined by 2007 Battle of Birdy’s champions The Last Good Year, who will record their performance for a live album. With fellow locals Goliathon and The Glass Identity Crisis. 8 p.m., $5, 21+.

Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s, Vacation Club, Caleb McCoach, Adam Kuhn at The Vogue
The guys in the Indy-born, now Chicago-based indie-rock band Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s were disinclined to go the direct-funding route before this year. Here’s how they put it on their pledgemusic.com page, in a letter signed by the imaginary Margot: “In the past, we haven’t attempted this model because, quite honestly, a lot of the campaigns we saw felt disingenuous and at times, distasteful.” But they finally came around, launching a campaign to raise money for a new record this April, full of the kind of incentives designed to bring the super-fan closer to the band. At the $1000 level, you’ll get the chance to record a two-song single with the band. For $250, band member Erik Kang will play violin or lap steel on your record. The campaign is ongoing at pledgemusic.com; 237 percent of the goal has been raised (!), with plenty of incentives still on the board. 9 p.m., $15 (plus fees), 21+.

Saturday

The Verve Pipe at Eagle Creek Park
If you only remember The Verve Pipe for their single “The Freshmen” — you know, drop your voice down to Scott Stapp territory and croon, “We were merely freshmen” — well, you’d be like a lot of people, but you’d have missed their sort-of left-field turn into the world of children’s music with 2009’s A Family Album, a listenable kids album in the vein of recent work by They Might Be Giants. And so, yeah, that’s why the alt-rock one-hit band is playing Eagle Creek Park at 10 a.m. Saturday morning. 10 a.m., $6, all-ages.

Umphrey’s McGee, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears at The Lawn at White River State Park
The Chicago jam band Umphrey's McGee has long enjoyed a huge local following. And they deserve it, not least because the guys in the band are good friends to local bands, having loaned the Twin Cats some gear after the Indy-based group was robbed last year in Chicago. Not to mention that a full-fledged live album, 2007’s Live at the Murat, was recorded at our local temple to the Egyptian gods. With soul dudes Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears. 7 p.m., $25 (plus fees), all-ages.

The Gateway Show, Indian City Weather at Earth House
No wonder this one is starting so early: J. Brookinz, Grey Granite and the small army of collaborators that brought you two albums worth of pot-themed hip-hop — The Gateway Drug, Vols. 1 and 2 — will perform the entirety of both albums Saturday night at the Earth House. 7 p.m., $5 advance, $7 door, all-ages.

Kenny Rogers at Murat Theatre at Old National Centre
Somewhere between press releases, the title to Kenny Rogers’s latest album, a collection of gospel tunes available exclusively at Cracker Barrel gift shops beginning in April, changed from For the Love of God to The Love of God. That’s really something of a shame, given all the fun I could have had in the Cracker Barrel gift shop, yelling the name of Kenny Rogers’s new album with just enough of an edge as if to make it sound like an expletive, all the time couched in such a respectful setting as to make people think twice, as in, “For the love of God!! Kenny Rogers’s new album is just so terrific, wholesome and filled with the spirit. Holy shit.” 8 p.m., $46.50-66.50 (plus fees), all-ages.

Sunday

The Monkees at Murat Theatre at Old National Centre
It’s not particularly thrilling news to hear that the Monkees are on tour again — they’ve reunited plenty of times over the past couple decades. But there is a fun twist to this year’s setlist: The band will play the soundtrack to their film, Head, in its entirety. A mostly humorless, mostly hitless production released after the TV show The Monkees had ended its run, Head is most remarkable for the way in which it ruthlessly deconstructs the image of The Monkees, who throw themselves off a bridge at the beginning of the film (to the strains of “Porpoise Song”). Read more about the reunion shows — and why The Monkees (the TV show) bears resemblance to Glee — on the other side of this link. 8 p.m., $63-73 (plus applicable fees), all-ages.

Monday

Duke Robillard Band at The Jazz Kitchen
Duke Robillard is a musician’s musician, a walking encyclopedia of music who shares his knowledge on the stage, and one of few artists whose epic solos are worth playing on the radio and seeing live. The guitarist/singer/songwriter was one of the founding members of Roomful of Blues, was a member of The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and has recorded with Bob Dylan, Ruth Brown, Jay McShann and Big Joe Turner, among others. The Blues Music Awards named him Best Blues Guitarist four times in a span of five years. And, to add one more piece to the pie, he’s also one of the most sought after producers in the business, working on albums for such artists as the aforementioned McShann, Jimmy Witherspoon and Billy Boy Arnold. 6:30 and 8:30 p.m., $15, 21+.

Das EFX, Marc Versus & Stone Messiah, Son of Thought, Ace One at Locals Only
While caricatured for their over-use of the suffix “-iggity” to end just about any word, Das EFX strongly influenced hip-hop in the early ‘90s with their rapid-fire, nonsense word-filled style, which included a lot of “diggities,” for sure, but also a dictionary’s worth of inventive neologisms and nonsense words. 9 p.m., $13 advance (brownpapertickets.com), $15 door.