Welcome to Seven in Seven, where we look at shows coming to the region over the next week. As always, whether your musical tastes are rock ’n’ roll, jazz, heavy metal, R&B, singer-songwriter or indie, there will always be something to check out. Here are seven of the best on the docket for the week of Dec. 5.
Rockers Spiritbox will take the stage at Freedom Hall on Friday. (Alex Bemis)
Spiritbox — Friday at Freedom Hall
Since their explosive 2021 debut album “Eternal Blue” crashed into the Billboard 200 at No. 13 and dominated rock charts, Spiritbox has carved a path of innovation. Earlier this year, the Canadian prog-metal outfit released a long-awaited second LP, “Tsunami Sea,” which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Hard Rock Albums and No. 26 on the Billboard 200, affirming Spiritbox’s status as one of the most innovative and genre-fluid acts in modern music. Across 11 tracks, the album balances power with precision, led by vocalist Courtney LaPlante’s genre-defying range and guitarist/producer Mike Stringer’s craftsmanship. The Lancaster show will be the third to last of the second leg to this year’s North American tour.
Pure Prairie League — Saturday at Music Hall at World Cafe Live
Pure Prairie League, a seminal outfit during the ’70s and ’80s movement that brought mainstream success to the country rock and Southern Rock genre, is riding the revival wave with “Back on Track,” the group’s first studio album in nearly two decades. Released exactly one year ago come Saturday — the night of the World Cafe Live show — the LP takes the classic PPL sound and gives it a fresh spin. Throughout a dozen cuts, it’s the sound of a rejuvenated band that pays homage to its signature sound while still injecting fresh sonic air, resulting in something simultaneously classic and contemporary.
The Beths — Saturday and Sunday at Union Transfer
Earlier this year, The Beths — the New Zealand-based quartet of vocalist Elizabeth Stokes, guitarist Jonathan Pearce, bassist Benjamin Sinclair, and drummer Tristan Deck — released their new album, “Straight Line Was a Lie,” to rave reviews. It began as Stokes broke out a Remington typewriter every morning for a month, writing 10 pages worth of material, mostly streams of consciousness. The resulting stack of paper was the primary fodder for an extended writing retreat to Los Angeles between tours, where Stokes and Pearce also leaned heavily into the singular creative atmosphere of L.A., going to shows, watching Criterion classics from Kurosawa, and listening to Drive-By Truckers, The Go-Go’s, and Olivia Rodrigo. Opening themselves up to a wave of creative input, plus Stokes’ free-flowing writing routine, proved therapeutic for what is hands down one of the best indie rock LPs of the year. Fans certainly agree, with multiple cities across North America having to add a second date, including Philly.
Phoebe Rings — Monday at Johnny Brenda’s
Opening for The Beths will be fellow New Zealanders Phoebe Rings, who released their debut album, “Aseurai,” this past spring. Following the two support shows, the group will be doing a headline gig at Johnny Brenda’s on Monday. “Aseurai” finds the band continuing to explore their disco and city-pop influences while staying true to the dream-pop sound of their previous self-titled EP. Originally a solo project, led by singer/songwriter Crystal Choi, the new LP represents contributions from the whole band.
J.I.D — Tuesday at The Fillmore
Since breaking out with his 2017 major-label debut “The Never Story” and its acclaimed follow-up “DiCaprio 2,” Atlanta rapper J.I.D has steadily evolved into one of hip-hop’s most technically gifted and creatively ambitious voices. His star rose quickly through scene-stealing turns on Dreamville’s “Revenge of the Dreamers III” — a Billboard No. 1 compilation that earned him two Grammy nominations — and then skyrocketed with his Imagine Dragons collaboration “Enemy,” a global smash that racked up billions of streams and multiple Platinum certifications. Already having the reputation as a ferocious live performer, catching J.I.D in The Fillmore is the chance to see him in a space that might be soon outgrown.
Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band — Tuesday at Johnny Brenda’s
Over the summer, Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band — the project of Louisville-based visual artist, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter Ryan Davis — released their new album, “New Threats from the Soul,” garnering praise from fans and critics alike. A masterclass in reducing the sublime to the simple, immense to digestible, and vice versa, the record functions in parallel with Kafka’s winking statement that there is an infinite amount of hope in the universe, just not for us. Thankfully, Davis and his band bring it live, which makes an overall lack of optimism a bit easier to swallow.
King Mala — next Thursday at Nikki Lopez
Alt-pop firebrand King Mala — the moniker of Areli Castro — comes to town in support of her debut album, “And You Who Drowned in the Grief of a Golden Thing,” a cinematic whirlwind released this past spring. The LP draws from a heady mix of influences, including brutalist architecture, Robert Eggers’ “The VVitch,” Catholic ritual, Egyptian death lore, and Renaissance art, all coiled into a dark, gleaming exploration of obsession, desire, and the thin line between human and monster. Expect a fever-dream atmosphere at Union Transfer, emotionally charged theatrics, and the kind of genre-blurring intensity that’s quickly made King Mala one of the genre’s most compelling rising voices.
Soundcheck
• Spiritbox: “Perfect Soul”
• Pure Prairie League: “I’m the Lucky One”
• The Beths: “No Joy”
• Phoebe Rings: “Astronaut”
• J.I.D: “WRK”
• Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band: “Better If You Make Me”
• King Mala: “Devotion”