THURSDAY 3/09
Umphrey's McGee, Spafford
There's hope for all you cover band wannabes yet! Just look to Umphrey's McGee for inspiration. Now celebrating 20 years of creating music and mashups, the band recently released Zonkey (Nothing Too Fancy), an album that finds them replaying an unlikely set of songs—and a bizarre selection, at that. Somehow, they manage to mix '70s reggae, '80s pop and '90s heavy metal, in odd influential pairings that have Radiohead mashed with Beck, The Weeknd alongside Fleetwood Mac, Talking Heads stoked with Bob Marley and Metallica grafted to Gorillaz. Then again, with 10 eclectic albums, more than 100 shows a year and a devoted following, this jubilant jam band defies description. They're nothing if not daring—especially considering that just eight months after they first formed at Notre Dame in 1997, they released a debut album cheekily titled Greatest Hits Volume III. That's a band with balls! (Lee Zimmerman) The Depot, 400 W. South Temple, 9 p.m., $27.50-$30, 21+, depotslc.com

Friday & SATURDAY 3/10-11
Get Lucky 2017
Did you know that St. Patrick's Day was originally called the Feast of Bottled Water and Pretty Lights? It's not, actually—and it's also not the day marking when St. Patrick rid a town of serpents, like The Simpsons led so many of us to believe. But if St. Patrick was, in fact, an exterminator of things scaly and slinky, and dubstep existed back then, some well-timed bass drops would've definitely done the job. So Get Lucky 2017, V2 Presents' annual St. Patrick's Day nightlife event, is safe for all you ophidiophobes and herpetophobes. The massive party's lineup includes 3lau, Audiofreq, Fransis Derelle, Frontliner, Funtcase, Gammer, Joyryde, Junkie Kid, LNY TNZ, Morgan Page, Nero, Noise Controllers, Bad Company, DC Breaks, Loadstar, Skellism, Snails, Tuneboy, W&W and Yookie. And you can expect every last one of them to pump out jams that will keep them muthahumpin' snakes out of your muthafunkin' way. (RH) The Great Saltair, 12408 W. Saltair Drive, Magna, 7 p.m. (doors), $50-$150, 18+, getluckyslc.com

FRIDAY 3/10
The Lox, Murda, Erasole James (EP release)
This was supposed to be a headlining show marking the release of Erasole James' Memories de Miramar EP with a very special guest—but now it's flipped. The prolific hometown rapper, born Harrison Montgomery, recently departed from local hip-hop group Dine Krew, but is still dropping MdM, the joint he was inspired to write while on an ecotourism trip to Cuba. "I went down there to go save the mangroves in the lower southwest side of Havana [and also give] tampons to the poor people and give needles to hospitals and give money to farmers," Montgomery says. "Essentially, just a day in my life. Saving the world, one creation at a time." So, while he's still putting out new music tonight, he's the opening act, kicking things off for the VSG, who turned out to be The Lox, the hip-hop supergroup featuring Jadakiss, Styles P and Sheek Louch. If you're not gonna headline, that's the next best thing. Murda also appears. (Randy Harward) Metro Music Hall, 615 W. 100 South, 8 p.m., $25, 21+, metromusichall.com

SATURDAY 3/11
Minus the Bear, Beach Slang
Sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you. Seattle band Minus the Bear exists in an uncanny space where indie rock, jam-bandy experimentation, multiple-time-signature math rock, comedy and science overlap. They've also demonstrated a wry sense of humor; 2004's EP They Make Beer Commercials Like This (Arena Rock Recording Co.) included the song "Houston, We Have Uh-Oh" on its 2008 re-release. Even the band name is an inside joke, but their music is friendly enough that you don't have to catch every punchline to have a good time. I mean, they have a song referring, apparently, to physicist Michio Kaku ("Michio's Death Drive")—that's heady stuff. The band's sixth album, Voids (Suicide Squeeze), dropping days before this show in Salt Lake City, marks five years since their last, Infinity Overload (Dangerbird), and also introduces new drummer Kiefer Mathias. It's a slicker, more dance-oriented sound overall, though their prog moves are still intact. This Bear gets around. (Brian Staker) The Depot, 400 W. South Temple, 8 p.m., $20-$25, 21+, depotslc.com

SUNDAY 3/12
Joseph, The Marshall McLean Band
It might seem odd that a sibling trio chose the name Joseph, especially given the fact that they're all women. Nevertheless, with a critically acclaimed Mike Mogis-produced debut, I'm Alone, No You're Not (ATO), released last August, a No. 1 placement on Billboard's Heatseekers chart and a single ("White Flag") that garnered more than 15.6 million Spotify streams, who are we to quibble? Truth be told, Allison, Meegan and Natalie Closner named themselves after their grandfather Jo and the Oregon town he called home. Given their effusive sound, dramatic delivery and sisterly harmonies, they seem destined to become the most successful girl group since another family act—by the name of Wilson Phillips—became a radio rage, thanks to a similar sort of pop proficiency. Opening act The Marshall McLean Band tends to be a bit darker, but, like Joseph, remarkably captivating and compelling. (LZ) The State Room, 638 S. State, 8 p.m., $24, 21+, thestateroomslc.com

SUNDAY 3/12
Donavon Frankenreiter, Grant-Lee Phillips
Donavon Frankenreiter isn't the only singer-songwriter to express sentiments that are near and dear. Over the course of his 17-year career, he's made that a policy of sorts, and it's clearly served him well. That said, his latest expressively titled album The Heart is easily his most personal statement yet—one that finds him assessing his life as a son, father, husband and traveling troubadour. "All these songs are as close to me singing from the heart as I can," Frankenreiter says in his official bio. And you can feel the emotion he conveys in the songs—particularly on the final song of the set, "California Lights," which references his father's fight with leukemia. Grant-Lee Phillips shares the bill—but he should be a co-headliner, given his own exceptional career, which dates back to the late '80s with Shiva Burlesque, who released two acclaimed albums before morphing into the mighty Grant Lee Buffalo in 1991, signing to the storied Slash Records label. GLB released four brilliant albums of dark, dusty alt-rock Americana before disbanding in the late '90s. Now eight albums into a solo career, Phillips has scored for film and TV, and even done some acting. His presence on the bill guarantees a superb show. (LZ) Park City Live, 427 Main, 7:30 p.m. (doors), $20-$45, 21+, parkcitylive.net

WEDNESDAY 3/15
Save Ferris, Vista Kicks, Bombshell Academy, The Anchorage
What was in the water back in the '90s that sparked such a glut of ska-punk bands? Celebrating 20 years since inception, ska-punk unit Save Ferris went from southern California adulation to signing to Epic, for which the group recorded two fairly high-selling releases in the late '90s. They went on hiatus for 10 years, but not before playing the Winter Olympics here in 2002, followed by an acrimonious breakup. The band was beloved enough that they still had fans upon their reunion in 2013—although singer Monique Powell was, and is, the only remaining original member—demonstrating they still had enough pull to sell out shows on their soCal home turf. Last year, singer Powell led the group to run a Pledge Music online fundraising campaign for their first new release since 1999. The Checkered Past EP (Withyn Records) is a breezy return to form. And this bill, featuring touring and local acts in the same vein, will activate your '90s/third-wave ska nostalgia. (BS) Metro Music Hall, 615 W. 100 South, 7 p.m., $20-$25, 21+, metromusichall.com