This week’s 5 best bets for music in Las Vegas
Gojira
As heavy and far out as the flying whales they occasionally sing of, these environmentally aware Frenchmen have evolved from forward-thinking death metallers to melodically refined progressives. Their latest album, the excellent “Magma,” is both musically and emotionally eruptive. See Gojira at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay. Tickets are $25; call 702-632-7600.
The Surfragettes
There was a time — and it was a sad time — when the world lacked an all-female Canadian surf rock band that played instrumental covers of, among other things, Britney Spears’ “Toxic.” But then the Surfragettes were born, and all was right in the universe again. See them at 9 p.m. Tuesday at The Bunkhouse Saloon. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 day of show; call 702-982-1764.
Buddy Guy
“The Blues Is Alive and Well,” Buddy Guy proclaims in the title of his most recent record, released last summer. As long as the man whom Eric Clapton dubbed the greatest guitar player of all time remains at it, those words will ring true. See him at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay. Tickets are $49.50 to $149; call 702-632-7600.
“Weird Al” Yankovic
Prepare for “Mandatory Fun” when this squeezebox-abetted satirist performs with a full symphony orchestra on his “Strings Attached” tour. Finally, “My Bologna” shall get the cello accompaniment it so richly deserves. See “Weird Al” Yankovic at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at The Smith Center. Tickets are $39.50 to $115; call 702-749-2000.
This Will Destroy You
These Texas post-rockers are atmospheric enough to have some of their more ambient numbers soundtrack scenes in films such as “Moneyball,” “World War Z” and “Foxcatcher,” but they’re just as fond of disrupting moods as sustaining them, working up an instrumental lather as vigorous as it is meditative. See them at 9:30 p.m. Thursday at The Bunkhouse Saloon. Tickets are $13 in advance, $15 day of show; call 702-982-1764.