Welcome to another week! Plenty of goodness awaits you. As always, we've got all of this week's shows listed in our concert calendar if you'd prefer to get a full view of what's going on. Otherwise, we've narrowed it all down and picked out the best shows that are the most worth checking out this week and listed them below. Keep reading to get a full rundown of the five best concerts this week.
See also: - Alex Edkins of Metz on making music that seems like it's about to fall apart - Asher Roth on legalizing marijuana and pre-album hype trumping the actual album
5. THE LAST WALTZ REVISTED @ BOULDER THEATER | FRI, 11/16/12 Since its first performance at Cervantes' in 2005, this annual show has become something of a Thanksgiving week tradition, and without fail it usually turns out to be among the most enjoyable outings of the year. Seven years ago, the members of Polytoxic tapped a bunch of their friends and deftly set about recreating The Last Waltz -- the Band's 1976 swan song, which took place on Thanksgiving day that same year at the Winterland Ballroom and was immortalized by Martin Scorsese -- in its entirety. The three-hour show is magical whether you're a fan of the Band or just want to see some of the finest local players losing themselves in the music and having the time of their lives. (A performance of the Last Waltz Revisited is also slated for Wednesday, November 21 at the Ogden Theatre.)
4. ASHER ROTH @ FOX THEATRE | TUES, 11/13/12 Say what you want about Asher Roth, the one thing you can't call him is insincere. After bonding with bros across the country in their love of beer pong, keg stands and Miller Lite with his smash hit single, "I Love College," Asher Roth seemed to enter a state of hibernation following the inauspicious release of his debut studio album, Asleep in the Bread Aisle. Since then, Roth has been trying to distance himself from his frat boy image. Though he has not fully regained the trust of the hip-hop community, he has reestablished his status as perhaps rap's best Birkenstock-wearing MC with help of one of 2011's best mixtapes, the super-relaxed Pabst & Jazz, placing him in the lofty company of up-and-comers A$AP Rocky, Big K.R.I.T., Danny Brown and Frank Ocean. (Asher Roth is also slated to perform at Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom on Wednesday, November 14.)
3. METZ @ LARIMER LOUNGE | MON, 11/12/12 Even though the band has been around for five years, Metz just released its self-titled debut full-length on Sub Pop this year. Prior to that, the Toronto-based trio released a few seven-inches. Mostly, though, these guys have spent their time focusing on developing as a group, and on touring and playing shows. Originally, they incorporated samplers and other electronics, taking a psychedelic approach to songwriting. Now, having stripped their instrumentation down to guitar, drum and bass, the players haven't gone bare-bones so much as they've found more creative ways to use basic elements. Often compared to Big Black and Fugazi, Metz definitely has a fire in its belly, and its ferocious soundscaping will make you wonder why you didn't hear about this group a long time ago.
2. JACKSON BROWNE @ PARAMOUNT THEATRE | WEDS, 11/14/12 Of all the fiercely talented singer-songwriters to emerge in the 1970s, even among the crowded field of fellow West Coast transplants like Joni Mitchell, Carole King and James Taylor, Jackson Browne has always stood out for his lyricism. Browne's words eloquently captured the heartache, resignation and bittersweet bewilderment of love lost, particularly on songs like "Late for the Sky," whose opening lines ("The words had all been spoken/And somehow the feeling still wasn't right/And still we continued on through the night/Tracing our steps from the beginning/Until they vanished into the air/Trying to understand how our lives had led us there") are poignant and profound. While Browne is probably best known among the masses for his bigger radio hits, such as "Doctor My Eyes" and "Somebody's Baby," it's the deeper cuts on albums like Late for the Sky and The Pretender that cut the deepest.
1. NAS/LAURYN HILL @ FILLMORE | FRI, 11/16/12 Nas and Lauryn Hill on tour together has to be the hip-hop equivalent of the sentiments expressed by the first person to ever combine chocolate and peanut butter: How did this not already exist? Each a legend in his/her own right -- Nas' Illmatic and Ms. Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill are classics of the highest order -- the duo are co-headlining the Life is Good/Black Rage Tour, which takes its name, respectively, from Nas's most recent record and a new song/spoken word piece by Hill, respectively. Missing from the music world for a number of years, Hill has been performing more regularly of late and debuting some new material this year. Nas, meanwhile, drops a new album every two years with flows as sharp and focused as ever. If seeing both of them sharing a bill wasn't enough already, their sets will be backed by a full band.
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