It’s been over 40 years of Gipsy King magic. “Historia” is the new single. They’ve sold 26 million albums and have had over two billion streams. Their “Bamboleo” and “Djobi Djoba” are anthems. Their music has been used in Hollywood films. Their Catalan rhumba and Flamenco lineage are but a base for the wild excursions of jamming brothers Cosso and Mikeal Baliardo as they move and groove in support of their dad, guitarist Tonino Baliardo. Expect a party as it’s the last show of the tour.

The septet known as The Pink Floyd Project features two lead singers, lead guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, sax, video and “Sound FX.” Founder/Band Director/Lead Guitarist/Technical Director Leo Madrazo started the band during the Covid lockdown “transforming isolation into inspiration,” as he likes to say. It took six months but now they’re something all Pink Floyd fans should see. But do they do “See Emily Play”?

Florida Guitarist-Vocalist-Composer Selwyn Birchwood’s “Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues” tour hits Tuckerton Mar. 28 at Lizzie Rose. The Alligator Records recording artist is one of Joe Bonamassa’s favorite bluesmen. He’s 6’4, plays barefoot, and totally commands the stage. As he says, “you would be hard-pressed to find an album or a band that sounds exactly like mine and that has been and always will be the goal. I pride myself in writing songs so that when you hear a band like us, you hear a band that sounds just like…US!”

Those in Hudson County should consider themselves lucky as the hotly anticipated documentary film Billy Preston: That’s The Way God Planned It will be screened at WFMU’s Monty Hall in Jersey City March 28. Preston died in 2006 at 59 after a turbulent, tragic, fascinating life filled with his onstage and in-studio joyousness profoundly affecting (and improving) the music of The Beatles, Stones, Streisand and Clapton.

Bassist-Composer-Arranger-Producer-Blues Man Mike Griot knows no boundaries when it comes to genre. Thus, his latest project, “The Soul of Burt Bacharach,” comes complete with a 17-piece orchestra performing the music of composer Burt Bacharach [1928-2023] whose work with Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones, BJ Thomas, Herb Alpert and The Carpenters has been well-documented. It’s been reported that over a thousand singers have recorded his compositions. WBGO Radio Personality David Popkin hosts.

Guitarist Geoff Thorpe says, "In your face! Catchy riffs! Blistering solos, with a heavy metal and punk rock attitude! The new Vicious Rumors single 'Abusement Park' from The Devil's Asylum album has the band at the top of its craft! Imagine a nightmare theme park gone horror with machine gun guitars and kick drums with a melodic and harmony-filled chorus in true Vicious Rumors style. After being forced to push back the tours due to my broken shoulder, the guys and I are looking forward to getting the band back on the road. So come and celebrate Heavy Metal with us performing classics, deep cuts and new album tracks.”

Oliver Wakeman—son of the legendary Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman—is supporting the 20^th Anniversary Edition of his Mother’s Ruin album by touring with his dad. They hit Englewood March 25 and then close the tour in Red Bank at The Vogel March 29. Oliver, 53, and Rick, 76, should do material from Yes and Strawbs as the son was in both bands.

Happy Birthday to Rodney Green, the drummer/owner of this Teaneck club. To celebrate, Freddie Hendrix and Jeb Patton will jam it on out with Green. Trumpeter Hendrix, a graduate of William Paterson University in Wayne, and performed and recorded with Christian McBride and Wynton Marsalis. Pianist Patton is the longtime collaborator of the legendary Heath Brothers. 

George Baier continues his Tuesdays at Mama’s Café in Hackettstown on March 19. This is the venue where Jake Thistle, at nine years old, got his start. Now that Thistle has made it into the American Idol Top 20, a lot more attention will be focused on singer-songwriter Baier who mentored the younger artist during his formative years.

Singer-Songwriter-Producer Josh Joplin has transformed the boundaries of indie-rock into confessional territory. He’ll be celebrating the 2001 release of Useful Music—produced by Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads—as well as performing selections from his five other albums on a solo tour that will land him in Hillsborough March 18, and also in Montclair March 21 (with Jeffrey Gaines) at Outpost In The Burbs.

Tommaso Perazzo, the Italian pianist-composer-organist, graduated from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam before getting his Masters in jazz piano at the Manhattan School of Music. In studying with Camden’s legendary Buster Williams, 87, and Miguel Zenon, he combines two schools of pianistic flourish, trad plus Latin.

This promises to be a blow-the-roof-off gig for Juke lead guitarist Glenn Alexander and his Shadowland featuring The Asbury Juke Horns and Special Guest Bobby Lynch. Lynch is a piano-thumping blues-rock cat who should add immeasurably to Alexander’s multi-genre approach.

New York City husband-wife team St. Lucia have been at it for 13 years. They’re touring in support of their fifth album, Fate Morgana: Dawn, described in a press release as “a sprawling psychedelic pop journey that explores themes of isolation, escapism and personal growth, weaving together elements of dance music, cinematic scores and bold experimentation.” 

Joe Bonamassa’s new album, BB King’s Blues Summit 100 (KTBA Records), is out and his tour is under way. He’ll stop in Red Bank March 8 at the Count Basie PAC. Joe is a true blues hero as 29 of his 50 albums—including with Black Country Communion and Rock Candy Funk Party—have hit #1 on the Billboard Blues Chart. Breakthrough is his current studio album and it’s a doozy. He produces other artists, has started numerous indie labels and even runs his own management company.

He played sax and flute in the Smithsonian Orchestra and the Mingus Big Band. He’s been in bands with Rufus Reid and Chick Corea. He currently teaches at William Paterson University on Pompton Road in Wayne where the Shea Center is nestled right on campus, and you can “Meet The Artist” in a special 2:00 p.m. Q&A session the day of the show.

The duo known as Tiny Cities will be going back to school when it opens for the Sarah Borges Band at The Old Franklin Schoolhouse in Metuchen on March 1.   Melissa and Dennis will be debuting songs off their Beginning Of The End EP on Hidden Tracks Records. Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive as they’ve been called “best new artist of 2025” and “one of the most compelling indie voices of the moment.” 

Fifty years on, Pilobolus has stretched the creative limits of interpretive dance into its own image, that of a rebel arts organism that knows no limits. They go where professional dance troups do not dare. The new presentation, Other Worlds Collection, inhabits acrobatics, sensuality and humor. As directed by playwright Aaron Posner, with music composed by podcaster Aaron Posner and multi-instrumentalist Stuart Bogie, Pilobolus will also do a deep dive into its own past.

The all-original Monmouth County band known as December Morning will be playing songs from its Stolen Days EP which they describe as “hard rock with a splash of progressive.” Its five songs include a cover of the 1990 Alice In Chains song “Man in the Box.”

Get ready to reggae when Cheezy brings his salty Crackers to the Hard Rock balcony with a wild mash-up of classic hits and modern favorites, all done with their syncopated brand of Caribbean Rhythm. Having already opened for ZZ Top, they know how to wow a crowd. This night is part of “Garden State Live,” a monthly series of shows with Jersey bands only. Future shows in the series will key in on blues, soul, pop, rock, country and punk. Opening will be LNJ Sessions and P-Funk North.

Playing Alienation songs, Three Days Grace will headline down the shore with Prevail and The Funeral Portrait opening. They’ve sold millions of albums and have played to sold-out arenas across the country, garnering 19 #1s on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. Plus, they’re in the esteemed Spotify “Billions Club” when “I Hate Everything About You” was streamed over a billion times.

Bergen County singer-songwriter Rory D’Lasnow will bring his special brand of artistry to the legendary stage of The Stone Pony on Feb. 27 when he opens for Tom Vincent.  Also on the bill will be The Azures and Shattered Signal. Maybe he’ll do “Maybe Tonight,” his gorgeous song on meeting someone after you’ve already given up on love. 

WPU has a beautiful venue with great acoustics right on campus. The Shea Center for the Performing Arts will host sax man Branford Marsalis from the First Family of New Orleans. He came out of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers to join Clark Terry’s bigband before leading the NBC Tonight Show Band and then Sting. His string of brilliant albums as leader is as long as your arm. In fact, he’s in the conversation of greatest living sax men.

Down to a three-piece of Nini, Tyler and John, Asbury Park’s Starikova will hit Madison at the Community Arts Center on Kings Road for a 7:00 p.m. show of its new mix of alt-rock, ska and punk. It’s an all-ages BYOB show

There is nothing more musically sensuous than Argentine tango.  It is, after all, the dance of love. International tango superstars German Cornejo and Gisela Galeassi make their New Jersey debut Feb. 21 at the Victoria Theater within the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. They bring a cast of eight to make Tango King Astor Piazzolla’s compositions come to life. Between the live music and the choreography, you’ll think you were in Buenos Aries!

The bluegrass brainchild of Rutgers prof Alex Dawson, the five performances of The Devil & Daisy Dirt will start Feb. 20 until Feb. 22. Expect to meet “The Jersey Devil” in the Pine Barrens of this combination vaudeville show/horror fairy-tale. Mark and Marc of Weird NJ magazine call it “the most original, Jersey-centric and downright weird presentation in our state’s theatrical history.” 

Want to blow your horn? Feel the need to take the stage and sing? NJPAC’s Jazz Advisory Committee and the Rutgers Institute for Jazz Studies are teaming up to present this jam session at Clement’s Place on Washington Street downtown Newark at 7:30 p.m. Pianist James Austin is the band leader and sometimes they go all night.

Such a nice neighborhood in which to see some loud music! Plenty of great restaurants in and around Bloomfield Avenue. Archers—out of Wisconsin—has the kind of metalcore with room for melodic pop precision. They first showed their Cuts & Bruises in 2015. The pandemic had them stay home in 2020 to release “Black Market Monkey Magic” and it cracked the million-stream mark off the New Normal EP. All That I Have Left in 2024, with fan favorite “Stay This Sober,” cracked the 10-million stream mark.  And they’re still riding on last year’s Temporary High. Also on the bill—Nothing More, Catch Your Breath and Doobie.

Boys Noize will open for Nine Inch Nails at the Prudential Center in Newark as he celebrates the release of “HYYTUP/ShSb0mbe” on his own OAZ label. After producing Ty Dolla $ign, Kungs and the Tron: Ares soundtrack, he disappeared into his man-cave studio for this 22-track compilation of dark detuned stomping-and-punching 107 BPM buzzsaws. This intense psychedelic visceral wall-of-sound is like nothing else out there now or ever.

This all-female Asian-American Dance Company will celebrate “The Year of the Horse” on the afternoons of Feb. 14 and 15 at 2:00 by premiering “Mongolian Harvest.” The program also includes “Lion in the City,” a dialogue between Chinese folk music and American hip-hop that “is a prayer for peace and harmony symbolized by a child playing freely with a ferocious beast,” according to NJPAC. “Festival (Dragon Dance)” should be spectacular as the dragon itself—beset with colorful ribbons—descends from heaven to bless the earth.

New Yorker Mark Whitfield, Jr. is a Berklee College of Music alum who has been in-demand on drums since he starred in the family band of his guitarist father and pianist brother. A regular at Dizzy’s Club and Smoke, he’s dynamic in his full-force exploration of percussive sound, going out there on a limb but always returning right on time.