Joe Jackson Plays Palace Theatre: Stage AE Hosts X Ambassadors (Tues., 5/28/24)

1) To baseball historians, Joe Jackson was the great outfielder accused of conspiring to fix the 1919 World Series in the Black Sox scandal. But there’s another Joe Jackson, active on the music scene today, and he’s a five-tool player. This modern Jackson writes, sings, plays keyboards and harmonica, and blows a sax. His genres include rock, pop, jazz, classical(!), and updated big-band swing. Jackson started performing in 1970 as a teenager, and is still creating new material at age 69. Over the years he has moved from his native England to New York to Berlin, released 22 albums, and collaborated with many other artists. Jackson’s newest album is last year’s What a Racket!, and he’s coming here on his Two Rounds of Racket Tour. Concerts feature a double set: Jackson singing solo from his repertoire, and Jackson with a band delivering “the first performance in 100 years of the songs of forgotten music hall genius Max Champion”—or so the story goes! The historical setup is rumored to be a hoax but the songs are quite interesting anyhow. Catch Joe Jackson at The Palace Theatre. 8 p.m. 21 W. Otterman St., Greensburg. (M.V.)

2) X Ambassadors started in Ithaca, New York, but Virginia gave them their first break. Imagine Dragons’ frontman Dan Reynolds heard X Ambassadors’ “Unconsolable” on a local radio station while at a hospital in Norfolk, Virginia. He helped the band get signed to Imagine Dragons’ label, Interscope. Members of Imagine Dragons played on cuts like “Fear” and “Low Life” from X Ambassadors’ sophomore album (and major label debut), 2015’s VHS. They’ve shared the stage with not only Imagine Dragons, but also The Lumineers and Panic! at the Disco. Pittsburgh isn’t foreign territory for these genre-bending, narrative-rendering ambassadors. The group is touring in support of their latest LP, Townie. Special guests are New West and Rowan Drake. Doors open 6:30 p.m. Stage AE, 400 North Shore Dr., North Shore. (C.M., R.H.)

X Ambassadors in concert. (Photo: Abby Gillardi and Wikipedia)

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