David Crosby, Macklemore, and Regina Spektor in Pittsburgh Concerts (Tues., 11/7/17)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYwo0ZhzFLM

1) Singer-songwriter David Crosby, the veteran performer, of The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash fame, promises to draw on music from throughout his long career, from both solo albums and collaborative works. He is a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee; for The Byrds and also for Crosby, Stills, & Nash. At 76, Crosby hasn’t lost his urge to create new music. His latest, and sixth solo effort, Sky Trails, was released in September. His son James Raymond, with whom he’s collaborated before, adds to his dad’s efforts on this album as well. Raymond played a variety of instruments and supplied some vocals. The David Crosby & Friends Sky Trails tour visits the Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall. 7:30 p.m. 510 E. 10th Ave., Munhall. 

2) Macklemore is one half of the hip-hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. Although they are on hiatus, Macklemore has forged ahead. His second studio album, Gemini, dropped this year, and he is stopping at Stage AE. He began making music in his hometown of Seattle in 2000. 2009’s The Unplanned Mixtape caught some buzz, and that same year, he and DJ Ryan Lewis began collaborating. Their careers took off with the single “Same Love,” an anthem for marriage equality, and then “Thrift Shop.” Both songs were featured on their debut album, 2012’s The Heist. They followed it with 2016’s This Unruly Mess I’ve Made, which spawned “Downtown.” The single combines lyrics about mopeds with a hook reminiscent of Men Without Hats’ “The Safety Dance.” Oh, and the music video includes four motorcycles pulling a chariot. Ridiculous, yes, but somehow still cool. Doors open 7 p.m. 400 North Shore Dr., North Shore. (CM)

Macklemore (front) performing at Sasquatch Music Festival in 2011 with his main musical collaborator Ryan Lewis. Photo: Christopher Dube and Wikipedia.

3) Regina Spektor opened for the Strokes and Kings of Leon in the early aughts. These days, she headlines. The Palace Theatre is treating fans to a “special solo performance” of just her and a piano. Spektor is a refugee who was born in the Soviet Union. In 1989, when she was nine, she and her family emigrated to escape discrimination against Jews, settling in the Bronx. The move meant abandoning her piano, but she improvised on tabletops until she discovered a piano in her synagogue’s basement. You can’t go wrong with a Regina Spektor album, but 2004’s Soviet Kitsch and 2006’s Begin to Hope are great places to start. Her lyrics seesaw from the silly to the political, sometimes in the same song, all over Chopin-meets-the-Beatles instrumentation. Her latest album is 2016’s Remember Us to Life. She also wrote “You’ve Got Time,” the theme song for Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.” 8 p.m. 21 W. Otterman St., Greensburg. (CM)

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