Eric Church in Concert at PPG Paints Arena; Pixies Play Stage AE (Fri., 9/12/25)

Friday, September 12

1) Country star Eric Church will headline PPG Paints Arena. He created an eye-opener with his Heart & Soul album, which he released as three records (Heart, &, and Soul) over three different days in April 2021. & was released exclusively to his fan club, the Church Choir, as a vinyl record. Church is from North Carolina, but like many country artists before him, he pursued his musical dream in Nashville. He released his debut album, Sinners Like Me, in 2006. His first song to enter Billboard’s Hot 100 Top 20 was “Springsteen.” You bet a song named after the Boss is going to have crossover potential. It helped that the tune told a vivid story over uplifting guitar chords, just as the Boss’s songs do. The video’s pretty good too. Church’s latest LP, Evangeline vs. the Machine, was released in May and reached No. 5 on the Billboard U.S. Top Country Albums. Special guest is Elle King. 7:30 p.m. 1001 Fifth Ave., Uptown. (C.M., R.H.)

2) Congratulations on your taste if you are a fan of the Pixies. The Boston-based alternative rockers have been praised as inspirations and influences by other artists and bands ranging from Bowie to Bono to PJ Harvey, Radiohead, Arcade Fire, and more. Reportedly they call themselves Pixies because lead guitarist Joe Santiago found a dictionary entry that defined the term as “mischievous little elves.”  Although the band members aren’t little, the core guys—Santiago, Black Francis, and drummer David Lovering—have been around since the Pixies’ heyday in the 1980s to early ‘90s, reuniting after a breakup that left the world Pixie-less for several years. Currently the band includes its third in a series of female bassist-vocalists, Emma Richardson. She’s on their ninth studio album, last year’s The Night the Zombies Came. The Pixie sound is best described as one you shouldn’t try to describe, but rather just hear. And lo, an opportunity arises. The Pixies visit Pittsburgh for a concert at Stage AE. Guest mischief-makers are Spoon and Fazerdaze. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., so maybe plan an early supper. 400 North Shore Dr., North Shore. (M.V.)

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