Heavy Dates

WORCESTER

Heavy dates

On Thursday, it's a night of electric blues with Greg Hodde and the Blue Miracles at Gilrein's. Boston punkers Darkbuster join heavy hitters Tree, Quintaine Americana, Superkollider, and Brave New World at the Alley on Friday; the same night, it's pop rock bliss with Driftwood, Count Zero, Inhale Mary, and Cloud Art at the Lucky Dog, and guitar heaven with Yngwie Malmsteen, Dio, and Doro Pesch at the Palladium -- all three will be interviewed prior to the show on www.electriceyeradio.com. Clutch Grabwell return home from three showcase dates in Los Angeles to play shows at the Plantation Club on Friday and Breakaway Billiards on Saturday. It's Slip into Winter time with Slipknot, Entrain, and the Arthur Dent Foundation at the Palladium on Saturday while less laid-back folks will rock with Dirt Junkie, Skulltoboggan, and Wunderlick at Ralph's.

-- Brian Goslow

BOSTON/PROVIDENCE

Part of the fun of hitting the Mighty Mighty Bosstones' "Hometown Throwdown" is seeing who they bring along. Even if you don't have tickets to this year's sold-out run at Boston's Axis, (617) 423-6398, which runs December 7 through Sunday, you can still catch a couple of the Bosstones' guests at other gigs around New England. The new local supergroup Sinners & Saints, who're being compared to the new wave of Scandinavian glam-flavored punk rock-and-roll bands (Backyard Babies, Gluecifer, etc.), join an eclectic bill with Hybrasil, the Banjo Spiders, and Pavementy indie-pop dudes Francine at the Middle East, (617) 864-3278, in Cambridge, on Friday before hooking up with the Bosstones and Jaya the Cat at Axis on Saturday. And before Dropkick Murphys-style Irish pub punks Flogging Molly team up with the Bosstones and Avail for the Throwdown's Sunday all-ages conclusion, they'll join Pittsburgh street-punk sensations Anti-Flag and Boston's own the Explosion at the Palladium, (508) 797-9696, on Friday.

They will, that is, if the Palladium reopens, as expected, following a small fire that forced the evacuation of a Ratdog gig there the Saturday after Thanksgiving. If the Palladium is indeed open on Friday, the scene outside the club should itself make for great entertainment: the old-school crust punks in line for the Anti-Flag show upstairs, the legions of old-school hair-metal kids waiting to check out (Ronnie James) Dio, Doro (Pesch), and Yngwie Malmsteen in the main hall. It'll be like 1985 all over again!

Meanwhile, more recent metal converts will want to make their way to the Worcester Centrum Centre, (508) 931-2000, on Friday night to check the WAAF-sponsored shindig with Megadeth -- who've been around for a while but play mostly their wimpier '90s material -- with Sevendust and Staind on Friday. On Wednesday, the Centrum hosts pretty fly guys the Offspring, pretty high guys Cypress Hill, and pretty white guys MXPX in a version of the active-rock radio trifecta: punk metal, rap metal, punk pop.

And radio-station Christmases abound this week. December 7 is Mix-98's "Mix-mas Divas" show at Avalon, (617) 423-6398, in Boston, with reunited '80s pop gals the Bangles and Eminem-sampled diva Dido. On Wednesday, Avalon hosts the "Kiss Jingle Ball" with 98 Degrees, Vertical Horizon, Jon Secada, Evan & Jaron, and "special guest host" Lenny Kravitz. And next Thursday, JAM'N brings Funkmaster Flex and Ludacris to the Palace, (781) 233-7400, in Saugus, while hot-jazz revivalists the Squirrel Nut Zippers join folkies Tegen & Sara at the Paradise, (617) 423-6398, in Boston, for WXRV's "Holiday Relief Concert" to benefit Toys for Tots.

-- Carly Carioli