Casting Crowns and For King and Country at PPG Paints; City Hosts The Skivvies ‘Sleigh My Name’ (Fri., 12/15/17)

1) Casting Crowns and for KING & COUNTRY will co-headline the PPG Paints Arena for A Glorious Christmas Tour. From student-worship band to arena act, independent albums to Billboard’s top-selling Christian music act since 2007, Casting Crowns have risen meteorically since forming in 1999 in Daytona Beach, Florida. Meanwhile the members, now based in Georgia, haven’t forgotten their roots. Every one still works “in ministry in their respective churches,” according to the band’s website. This includes frontman Mark Hall. “Oh My Soul,” from 2016’s The Very Next Thing, addresses his earlier cancer diagnosis. Casting Crowns broke with their self-titled 2003 album, which went platinum. They released an EP, It’s Finally Christmas, this year.

For KING & COUNTRY were in Pittsburgh last year when they co-headlined Winter Jam, an annual Christian music tour. The duo is Australian brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone. 2014’s Run Wild. Live Free. Love Strong, their sophomore album, addresses marriage, parenthood, and a life-threatening illness suffered by Luke. They also released a Christmas album this year, Christmas: Live in Phoenix. 7:30 p.m. 1001 5th Ave., Uptown. (CM)

The Skivvies in their holiday finest! At least their heads will be warm.

2) The last time they came to Pittsburgh, singer/actors Lauren Molina and Nick Cearley performed in their underwear. They’ll do it again this time. They always do. The Skivvies, as they’re called, have become sensations on the New York club scene by doing bizarre musical “covers” while uncovered. Samples of their repertoire range from “Hardbody Hoedown,” a mashup of obscene rap lyrics done country-and-western style, to “Twerking in the USA,” a medley of classics such as “I’ve Been Twerking on the Railroad” and “Whistle While You Twerk.” For this month’s visit The Skivvies will undress Christmas songs in a show titled Sleigh My Name. Further, since their numbers feature special guests—Lin-Manuel Miranda once bared his soul with The Skivvies—they’ll be joined here by a bevy of stripped-down local talent, including the duo babyGRAND, a.k.a. Missy Moreno and Connor McCanlus. 8 p.m. tonight and tomorrow night. At City Theatre, 1300 Bingham St., South Side. (MV)

3) Pittsburgh rock royalty Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers—who have remained a constant on the Pittsburgh music scene as the city has changed from steel mills to high-tech foundry—are playing a gig tonight at Headliners at The Meadows. Grushecky is a consummate singer/songwriter and has a new album coming out with The Houserockers, More Yesterdays than Tomorrows. 8 p.m. No cover. 210 Racetrack Rd., Washington.

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