Kendrick Lamar and SZA Play KeyBank Pavilion; Hermans Hermits at Medaows; Stage AE Hosts The Clarks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeFwtA3p4Mw

1) Top Dawg Entertainment’s Championship Tour comes to KeyBank Pavilion. Reigning among the record label’s signees is Kendrick Lamar. Just when it seems Lamar’s career is about to plateau, it reaches new heights. This April, the rapper’s fourth studio album, DAMN., became the first non-classical or non-jazz album to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music. It follows two other classics: 2012’s good kid, m.A.A.d city and 2015’s To Pimp a Butterfly. Lamar, a native of Compton, California, also collaborated with other artists on The Black Panther soundtrack this year. Many of those artists, such as R&B-singer SZA, are on Top Dawg and will perform on this tour. SZA’s 2014 EP, Z, flew under the radar, but 2017’s Ctrl, her debut LP, received the attention that it deserved. As its title suggests, the album is all about control. On “Love Galore,” SZA both spurns and asserts sexual dominance over an abusive lover. Also on the bill are Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, SiR, and Lance Skiiiwalker. 7:30 p.m. 665 Rt. 18, Burgettstown. (CM)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cly_2pGTNw

2) Herman’s Hermits was the most British-sounding group of the British Invasion. (“Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” sounds like it was recorded by John Cleese in a Liverpool pub while trying to imitate Wallace of Wallace and Gromit.) They’re still touring, even if lead singer Peter Noone is the only remaining member of the original lineup that recorded classics like “I’m into Something Good” and “I’m Henry the Eighth, I Am.” And lo, Herman’s Hermits re-occupy our fair land for a concert at The Meadows. 8 p.m. 210 Racetrack Rd., Washington. (EC, MV)

3) The Clarks, one of Pittsburgh’s top rock bands, gained a strong local following in the early ’90s gigging at clubs like the notable Graffiti, and have remained together and active long after nearly every other band on the scene during that era called it quits. After 30 years, 17 albums, countless gigs and zero line-up changes, The Clarks have gone from being a regional favorite to a local institution. And the band members, who formed at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, have never forgotten their home turf. The Clarks just released their latest album Madly In Love at the End of the World on June 8. It is a  more rootsy, alt-country type of sound for the group. They have added pedal steel guitar and Hammond organ to their guitar rock signature sound. The album was produced by Dave Hidek at The Church Recording Studio in Overbrook. June is also the 30th anniversary of The Clarks’ first album I’ll Tell You What Man. To celebrate that auspicious occasion rocker/producer Rod Schwartz (11th Hour) has organized an opening program where several of Pittsburgh’s top musicians will perform a track from that album. On the bill are Joe Grushecky, Paul Luc, Jon Belan, Bill Deasy, Jay Wiley, Kelsey Friday, and more. Doors Open 6:30 p.m. Stage AE, 400 North Shore Dr., North Shore.

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