THURSDAY, JUNE 18

Taking Back Sunday. Taking Back Sunday may not be newbies to the scene, but it has been a while since singer Adam Lazzara and company have rocked out in the front man's home state. With Lazzara's new marriage and yet another line-up change, we may be in store for a different, more mature TBS. Though, not even a wife, a few years and some new tunes could keep that microphone from swinging. Sass does not die with age, and that is something TBS will always possess. With Anberlin, Envy on the Coast. Amos' Southend (Sam Webster)

Sugarland They may be a duo instead of the trio they started out as, but let's face it, as long as Jennifer Nettles is singing, that's all that matters. Nettles won me over back in her solo days when she was more of a soulful, bluesy rocker. I'm not much of a country fan, but she's got the pipes to win over lots of people, and she's as friendly as can be, too, not losing any of her grounded personality to fame. People keep wondering when she'll go solo, but she already has – look up the Jennifer Nettles Band. Opening for Keith Urban at "The Cable Box." Time Warner Cable Arena (Jeff Hahne)

The Radiators Veteran N'awlins kurbmasters The Radiators never quite developed into the swampy, horn-inflected Little Feat/Allman Brothers hybrid some wags wagered back in the late '80s and early '90s, but who's counting? (As Randy "The Ram" Robinson grunts in The Wrestler, "Everything was fine until that Cobain pussy came along!") Simply put, they're longtime pros, and whether you find that professionalism merely workmanlike or wowsers is up to you. Regardless, they're a burn-it-like-Sherman live act, known for playing marathon shows with plenty of pacing besides. Visulite Theatre (Timothy C. Davis)

Villanova Bobby Dredd holds it down on slap bass for Villanova, a musical position that, in a funk band, is the NFL equivalent of the quarterback of a New England Patriots-style run-and-gun offense: You're counted on for a lot, and one missed assignment can ruin the whole thing. The music does veer into that Rage Against the Incubus territory occasionally, but there's hope: namely, passable radio-ready funk that doesn't abandon the musicianship in search of a hit. Wild Wing Cafe Epicentre (Davis)