Show of the Week

Crystal Castles and HEALTH, Feb. 27, 9 p.m. at Abbey Pub

Well, these two aren’t for everyone, that’s for sure. Crystal Castles melt thrash down with old Nintendo systems to create strange, danceable songs overloaded with blips and bleeps. If you loved the start menu music at your local arcade, but though Asteroids wasn’t dancey or chaotic as it could be, give Crystal Castles a whirl. HEALTH, meanwhile, channel Liars instead of Atari, opting for heavier sounding stuff. Plus, they are from Los Angeles, so I have to support them. Definitely different, but definitely awesome. Tickets cost $15.

Best of the Rest

Andrew Bird, Feb. 28, 7:30 p.m. at Hideout

NU’s favorite son returns to the Windy City! He wowed you on campus, now check out his regular show in the city. I bet the sock monkey will still be there, don’t worry. Tickets cost….I don’t know this is some sort of charity event, so a $100 donation is urged. Yikes, uhhhh, maybe not.

The Hives, Feb. 29, 7:30 p.m. at Riviera Theater

How else would you possibly celebrate the rare-but-awesome-sorta event that is an extra day in February? Get wasted? Well…I guess, but c’mon, The Hives! They are a fun, rockin’ band from Sweden (!) that emerged from that whole garage rock revival business a few years back. And unlike a lot of the other bands from that time (coughcoughStrokescough) they still make good music. Tickets cost $22.50. And heads up, nothing wrong with coming a little late….The Donnas open.

Black Lips, March 1, 8:30 p.m. at Logan Square Auditorium

You know, we actually wrote about a Black Lips concert at this exact same venue a while back. If this read doesn’t convince you to go, I can’t help you. Tickets cost $15.

Avoid at All Costs

Angels and Airwaves, Feb. 24, 6 p.m. at Riviera Theater

Remember that guy from blink-182? You know, the annoying one, who wasn’t on the drums? Yeah, him. He went out and decided songs about aliens and his dick weren’t serious enough, and started Angels and Airwaves, a band so desparate to try and be important they made their latest album cover look like a Star Wars poster. I realize a lot of bands I like are pretentious, but these guys take the epic-sized cake! Plus, how can you support anyone in blink-182? Tickets cost $26.