Mike D’s Top Five: Can’t Miss Shows of August

#1 Saturday, August 10: Foo Fest 2013 featuring SSION, 14Foot1, Atlantic Thrills, Black Pus, Dylan Sevey & The Gentlemen, Littlefoot, Lolita Black, Neutral Nation, Saint Jude, Vudu Sister, Vulgarrity, Whore Paint and many more. $7. 1pm to 1am. All ages. Empire St. Providence, RI. Foo Fest these days to me is less about who’s playing when, and just going down to Empire Street and enjoying some of the best local food and bands that Rhody has to offer.  Two years ago, Andrew WK put on the worst set I have seen from any national in years, but I still left walking on air from all the other great sets I saw. With 21 or so acts playing, there is something for everyone. The local band standout this year for me would be Littlefoot. Littlefoot describes themselves as dream pop / surf and remind me of Dum Dum Girls. Give it a year or so and they should be the best band in Providence.

#2 Saturday, August 10: Del Tha Funky Homosapien, Symmetry and Dox, Eddie Rap Life and music by DJ Nook. $10 advance / $15 day of. 8pm doors / 9pm show. All ages. The Met, 1005 Main St., Pawtucket, RI. Deltron 3030’s self titled 2000 debut album is not only Del’s best outing, it’s arguably the best underground hip-hop album of the last 13 years.  A concept album set in the year 3030 made by producer Dan The Automator (Dr Octagon / Handsome Boy Modeling School), turntablist Kid Koala (Loveage / Gorillaz), and veteran rapper Del was a flawless album beginning to end. Thirteen years later, the sequel is coming, Event 2, on October 1. Del says, “I don’t know if you could even categorize this as a hip-hop album, it’s more like a rock opera, but using rap.” Sign me up. This is the can’t miss show of the month. Hopefully, Del performs some of this new material, but regardless of what he does, his catalog is stacked. This show also marks the return of local rapper Symmetry performing sans his live band, but back to the old days with a DJ with Providence’s Dox. Eddie Rap Life opens and my dude DJ Nook is spinning all night.

#3 Friday, August 23: The Upper Crust, White Dynomite, TOTAL BABES. $10. 8 pm. All ages. The Met, 1005 Main St., Pawtucket, RI. We might not be worthy. Boston’s premier princes of rock & roll pomp and circumstance, The Upper Crust, are back at it again and I am thankful. Part AC/DC and part Spinal Tap and maybe dressed a little bit like Jane Austin-era suitors, The Upper Crust rock and rule with no mercy.  I am a big fan of onstage banter, and they bring the A game. Boston’s White Dynomite are a great blend of punk as influenced with a touch of soul and R&B (think along the lines of the New Bomb Turks) and feature future PCL / Death Hawk Hall of Famer John Darga. And this show also marks the debut of TOTAL BABES and claim to be “but rock.”  That could mean many things, but likely that they are so focused on the rock they do not have time for the spell.

#4 Thursday, August 29: Diarrhea Planet, The So So Glos, Krill. $10. 9 pm. All ages. Great Scott, 1222 Commonwealth Ave., Allston, MA. Nashville’s Diarrhea Planet is my favorite band of the last year or two.  I caught them for the first time at SXSW in 2011, and they shred live. They can go from heavy riffs in the vein of Jay Reatard to three guitars soloing as if they are Van Halen on the drop of a dime. I’m Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams drops this summer on Infinity Cat Records. For an introduction, I recommend going to watch “Warm Riding;” I imagine these dopes break a lot of bones.  For advanced learning, check out “Ghost With A Boner.”  No, really. Brooklyn’s DIY indie punks The So So Glos support.

#5 Friday, August 30: Hope Anchor, Neutral Nation, Benny Sizzler, Tim Flynn’s Area 51. $8. 8 pm doors / 9 pm show. All ages. The Met, 1005 Main St., Pawtucket, RI. Hope Anchor will be celebrating the release of their brand new album Never Going To Let You Go. These Providence music scene veterans are currently performing at the best I have ever seen them. “After playing many, many years and recording music, me and Terry finally get to put our own necks on the line and call the shots, and this is the crazy pay off!” says Hope Anchor’s vocalist Paul Everett. Providence punk rock stalwarts Neutral Nation and Newport’s finest Benny Sizzler will also 100 percent satisfy you, and the elusive Tim Flynn’s Area 51 open.