The 10 Best Concerts in New York This Week, 7/7/14

These are the best concerts of the week, according to the meticulous research of a staff made of music experts. For more shows, check out our Concert Calendar, which is updated daily and is also the best.

XOXO

Glass Animals
Bowery Ballroom
9:00 p.m., $13/$15
Glass Animals only released their album debut Zaba earlier this month, but one look at the album cover–shadowy illustration of a purple anteater and wild jungle creatures lurking amidst an exotic wilderness backdrop–gives the viewer a pretty detailed indication of the Oxford hypnotronic band’s plush, rich, velvety sound. Echoes of Nina Simone, Portishead, and, fittingly, UK electronic dance band Jungle, create the experience of floating on The African Queen, or of listening to Heart of Darkness if the novel were an album instead. Despite half of their lyrics floating in a viscous puddle of literary references or unintelligible terms of endearment, the grooves are smooth and Zaba is one of this year’s most striking debuts. Their live performance should be a hypnotizing adventure too, even if it is through a man-made wilderness. — By Erin Manning

Laced
The Glasslands Gallery
8:30 p.m., $10.
The darker subtleties of the most recent album by Beach Fossils – 2013’s Clash The Truth — showed a more tense and post-punk-inspired side to the Brooklyn band’s breezy dream pop, revealing singer/guitarist Dustin Payseur’s roots in punk and hardcore bands. It’s hard to say for sure whether those creative impulses surface in Payseur’s new band Laced (who played their first show in March and have no recordings just yet), but the line-up of Ian Judd (of Couple Skate Records) on bass and vocals, and Ryan Naideau (of Nude Beach) on drums seems very promising regardless. Find out for yourself on Monday, when the trio plays Glasslands with Friend, EZTV, Greenfield, DJs Katie Garcia & Pam Garavano of Captured Tracks, and a comedy set by Matt Kallman of Real Estate. — By Liz Pelly

‘MetroStar Talent Challenge’
Metropolitan Room
7:00 p.m., $20-$115.
For the seventh year running the room has made a July-August point of ferreting out up-and-coming cabaret talent. Sometimes you wonder why anyone would want to make a career doing this. It’s that difficult and often only intermittently rewarding. But still they come, the gifted and the not so gifted, to vie for a chance at a week’s engagement in the venue if they win and some guaranteed performances if they finish in second or third place. There’s a panel of judges who know what’s what or should, and the audience gets to vote, too. So go pick a winner. — By David Finkle

Tuesday, 7/8:

Crosby, Stills and Nash
Beacon Theatre
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, 8:00 p.m., $46-$156
“Teach your children well. Their father’s hell did slowly go by,” Graham Nash wrote in his pacifying 1970 lyrical anti-war anthem, “Teach Your Children.” Little did he know how prescient he would be that “their children’s hell will slowly go by.” Nor did he realize that he would still be around to sing it to them in three-part harmony. Yet the folksy troubadour trio is still strumming away to the plangent “Guinevere,” “Helplessly Hoping,” and the kaleidoscopic “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” albeit with slightly receding hairlines, though the hirsute Crosby looks more like Gimli from Lord of the Rings than ever. — By Aidan Levy

Ryan Keberle & Catharsis
Barbes
7:00 p.m., $10
There’s a mess of bobbing and weaving in the trombonist’s foursome, and at its most aggressive, it can have an edge-of-your-seat vibe. The jabs Keberle and trumpeter Mike Rodriguez throw at each other on the new Music Is Emotion remind that, on some level , jazz is about dazzling interplay. Factor in the cagey swing of the rhythm section and you’ve got a quartet resolute in its restlessness. Pretty damn tight, too – but you’ll hear that instantly in this cozy Park Slope bar. — By Richard Gehr
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Wednesday, 7/9:

Katy Perry
Madison Square Garden
7:00 p.m., $29.50-$160.50.
There are few things catchier than a Katy Perry song. Whether she’s your #1 pop icon or you really can get enough of her, she dazzles her audience of millions with that vivacious yet lighthearted voice. Katy Perry has had nine #1 singles on the Hot Top 100 and her songs heard nearly every hour on the hour on FM radio’s top stations, setting her above the bar as an iconic pop presence. After having synthpop indie band Capital Cities as her opener, the show will 100% live up to the amazing, bedazzled, candy-land fantasy…so go live it up and, yes, dance until you die. — By Eleanor Lambert

Sky Ferreira
Music Hall of Williamsburg
8:00 p.m., $25.
Could there be anything more Williamsburg than a concert presented by David Lynch featuring Sky Ferreira? For now, let’s say this is as Brooklyn as it gets and appreciate the concert’s purpose. Besides being a surrealist cult-film director responsible for classics like Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, and the TV show Twin Peaks, Lynch is a major advocate of Transcendental Meditation and has established the David Lynch Foundation to fund the teaching of the practice in at-risk schools and various support programs for the underprivileged, disabled, and the terminally ill. For his NYC benefit show, Lynch is featuring the frequently- discussed, oft-controversial, “It Girl” of pop music fresh off her gig as opener for the even more frequently discussed and controversial “It Girl” Miley Cyrus. — By Brittany Spanos

Snoop Dogg
The Capitol Theatre
8:00 p.m., $45-$65.
Snoop Dogg–who’s currently taken the name Snoop Lion–needs no introduction. Snoop’s been the man since he was first introduced to the world on Dr. Dre’s 1992 debut album The Chronic. Since then, Snoop has sold more than 30 million albums globally and boasts a 12 solo album catalog. He continues to make music with a Wiz Khalifa collab on the way, scheduled for a 2014 release. And what should you expect when seeing Snoop? Him rocking out with a blunt in one hand and a bottle of gin in the other. — By Tara Mahadevan

Friday, 7/11:

Romeo Santos
Yankee Stadium
8:00 p.m., $43.40-$249.50
Romeo Santos is a hero to many kids beyond just the Bronx for his lush, R&B-textured bachata music. Setting out on his grand adventure two decades ago, Santos ventured forth from the shadows of Yankee Stadium on a quest for fame and glory. Working his way into the hearts and car stereo systems of millions, first as the lead-singer of the groundbreaking bachata boy-band Aventura, and now as a solo artist, Santos has come full circle and will headline a two-night stand in Yankee Stadium this Friday and Saturday-the first Latin artist to perform at Yankee Stadium since the Fania All Stars graced the old grounds in 1973. This is a huge boon to his hometown community in NYC, where his two Formula albums have been on heavy bump in the summer heat, cooling hot heads with slices of Quisqueyan breeze. For two nights, Romeo’s claim to be the King of Bachata will be absolutely undisputed. — By Winston Groman

Phish
Randall’s Island
7:00 p.m., $60
The popular Vermont quartet spend three days here, giving everyone a chance to make themselves at home. Younger fans will lap up every note of these seasoned rock stars of the weird-go-pro ilk. Older aficionados will savor the chutes-and-ladders quality of the group’s post-breakup rebirth. Expect them to develop material from Fuego, their latest and arguably most conservative album. — By Richard Gehr