End of the Road Festival 2018
photo by Christopher Jesse Juare

What's going on Wednesday?

End of the Road Festival 2018 photo by Christopher Jesse Juarez
Penelope Isles @ End of the Road 2018 (more by Christopher Jesse Juarez)

You can browse our full NYC show calendar for all of tonight’s shows, but here are some highlights…

Penelope Isles, Toledo @ Baby’s All Right
Brighton, UK’s Penelope Isles mix complex (but not complicated) pop songwriting, musicianship and explosive energy. There’s a real grandeur to their music, big and swelling, with ebbs and flows, and lead vocals often traded between siblings Jack and Lily Wolter.

Steely Dan (‘The Royal Scam’) @ Beacon Theatre
We miss Walter Becker, but Donald Fagen is brining the Steely Dan band back to Beacon Theater for another run of shows, most of which are centered around a theme or single album. The run continues tonight with their terrific 1976 album The Royal Scam, plus a second set of other favorites.

SPELLLING, Zah, Rare dm @ Elsewhere
Chrystia Cabral released Mazy Fly, her second album as SPELLLING, back in February. It’s a cool, hazy mix of pop, soul, synthpop, trip-hop and postpunk — all of which she makes her own. She just wrapped up a tour with Boy Harsher and plays this headline show tonight.

David Byrne’s American Utopia @ Hudson Theatre
David Byrne has retooled his acclaimed “untethered” 2018 for the Broadway stage and while the setlist and arrangements are much like what they were on his tour, songs are now threaded together with new monologues from Byrne, making for a much more theatrical experience.

Telefon Tel Aviv, Ulla Straus @ National Sawdust
Joshua Eustis brought Telefon Tel Aviv out of retirement in 2016, which was the first time since the tragic death of his musical partner, Charlie Cooper, back in 2009. He’s now back with the first new TTA album in 10 years, titled Dreams Are Not Enough and celebrates with this special show tonight.

New Sounds Live @ Winter Garden at Brookfield Place
It’s very sad news that John Schaefer’s long-running WNYC series New Sounds and Soundcheck are going off the air at the end of the year, which should make this two-day New Sounds Live — which celebrates the great Steve Reich — all the more poignant. Free, 7:30 PM.

Kacey Musgraves, Lucius @ Radio City Music Hall
Kacey Musgraves is still riding very high off the strength of last year’s much-loved Golden Hour, which feels as fresh as it did the day it came out a year and a half ago. She’s bigger than ever, and concludes a two-night stand at the iconic Radio City Music Hall tonight.

Rick Ross @ Gramercy Theatre
Rick Ross remains very prolific and this year he released Port of Miami 2 (home, among other things, to his popular new Drake collab “Gold Roses”). This is his second of two consecutive nights at Gramercy Theatre.

Remo Drive, Samia @ House of Independents
Remo Drive progressed from their relatively straightforward emo/pop punk roots into glistening guitar-pop territory on this year’s Natural, Everyday Degradation and its companion EP Natural, Everyday Extended Play. They’re now on tour with indie popster Samia, which is a cool double bill.

Robert Glasper & Esperanza Spalding with Justin Tyson @ Blue Note (two shows)
Jazz/hip hop blender Robert Glasper continues his Blue Note residency tonight, and this is his second of two consecutive nights that find him joined by another great jazz genre-defier: Esperanza Spalding. They’ll be backed by Justin Tyson, who has drummed for both Glasper and Spalding.

Esperanza Spalding @ BUILD Studio (noon)
During the day, before joining Robert Glasper at the Blue Note, Esperanza Spalding will make a free appearance at BUILD Studio to discuss her 2018 album 12 Little Spells and play a few songs.

Taylor McFerrin, Raia Was @ Rough Trade
Taylor McFerrin recently followed his Brainfeeder-released 2014 debut album Early Riser with Love’s Last Chance, which marks the first time he’s writing and singing his own lyrics. The result is a very cool, jazzy neo-soul record, and he’ll bring those sounds to life tonight.

Mayhem @ Rough Trade NYC (signing) & Duff’s
Norwegian black metal legends Mayhem are releasing their new album Daemon on Oct 25, and they’re signing posters at Rough Trade in Brooklyn tonight before heading to Duff’s for a listening party.

A Conversation with Ali Wong & Michelle Buteau @ Town Hall
Ali Wong, who you may have heard on the new season of Big Mouth, talks about her new book, Dear Girls, with fellow comedian Michelle Buteau.

Wah Together, Audios Ghost, Safer @ Union Pool
Wah Together are a bit of a ’00s Brooklyn supergroup with  Phil Mossman (ex LCD Soundsystem), Vito Roccoforte (The Rapture), Steve Schiltz (Longwave), and Jaiko Suzuki (who has sung on records by The Crystal Ark and Shit Robot). Making it even more of that kind of night is opener Safer…aka former Rapture bassist/vocalist Mattie Safer.

Mondo NYC
The 2019 edition of the Mondo NYC, the annual “festival and global business summit of music and tech industry insiders and innovators, emerging artists and their fans,” started by the founders of CMJ, get underway today. The showcases, which focus on new emerging artists, happen at Arlene’s Grocery, Berlin, Bowery Electric, Brooklyn Bowl, The Delancey, DROM, Knitting Factory, and Pianos.

For all of tonight’s shows, and tomorrow’s, check out our NYC concert calendar.

For laughs, check out the NYC Comedy calendar too.

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Browse our ‘Tickets On Sale‘ tag for more recently announced NYC shows.

Browse our NYC Concert Calendar for shows happening today and every day – comedy shows, heavy metal concerts (courtesy of our heavy metal blog), and free shows included.