Matchbox Twenty, Alanis Morrissette, Mute Math

Times Union Center, Thursday

That catchy little ditty you’ve been hearing on the radio isn’t an unreleased single from the golden days. Matchbox Twenty have, indeed, come back holding hands. Riding high on the success of that ditty (“How Far We’ve Come”), Rob Thomas and the gang are positive that their “reunion” will spawn a reunion of their old fans. It has been exactly five years since their last album of new material; their current album, Exile on Mainstream, has only six new songs, plus all 11 previously released singles. But the crowd is expected to forgive Rob for his “solo career” and croon along to new favorites and old loves like “3 AM” and “Push.” To tag the evening as a certifiable ’90s Nostalgia Jam, Alanis Morrissette also will perform; openers Mute Math weren’t around in the ’90s, but you’d never know that from their music. (Feb. 21, 7 PM, $34.50-74.50, 51 S. Pearl St., Albany, 487-2000)

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea 10th Anniversary Show

Valentine’s, Friday

What do you get for the album that has everything? That’s the question that will be asked this Friday, when local singing-saw bearers Sgt. Dunbar and the Hobo Banned and friends celebrate the 10th anniversary of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, the seminal 1998 disc by Neutral Milk Hotel. Aeroplane has been hailed by musicians and critics as a Sgt. Pepper’s for the indie-pop set; Magnet magazine went so far as to name it the best album of their first 10 years (1993-2003), ranking it above such zeitgeist-capturing discs as Radiohead’s OK Computer and Nirvana’s In Utero; even Pitchfork Media drank the Kool-Aid, boosting their assessment of the disc to a perfect 10.0 (from a comparatively paltry 8.7) upon the album’s reissue in 2005. Sgt. Dunbar’s free-for-all aesthetic should make them a perfect fit for Aeroplane’s peculiar and enchanting world of sound. (Feb. 22, 9 PM, $5, 17 New Scotland Ave., Albany, 432-6572)

Taj Mahal Trio

The Egg, Saturday

There has been no drought of performances by Taj Mahal in the Capital Region over the years. And for good reason: Any time the blues legend takes the stage, he’s sure to play to a devoted and full house, and he’s never short on surprises: At any time, he could draw from his folky, 1960s roots, from the songbag of trad-blues guys like Blind Willie Johnson or Sonny Boy Williamson, or from his series of children’s albums. Our own B.A. Nilsson, on the occasion of Mahal’s last regional appearance just a year ago, called the show “a triumphant journey for performers and audience alike.” So pack your suitcases: The Taj Mahal Trio is back in town this weekend. (Feb. 23, 8 PM, $29.50, Empire State Plaza, Albany, 473-1845)

Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk

Revolution Hall, Saturday

Dumpstaphunk were created when keyboardist Ivan Neville—of the New Orleans Nevilles, natch—needed backup for a solo gig at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2003. At the last minute, Neville gathered up his cousin, guitarist Ian, plus drummer Raymond Webber and bassists (yes, there’s two of them) Nick Daniels and Tony Hall. And the funk, it was good. They’ve since been called the best funk band in New Orleans, and they’ve appeared alongside such big names as the Rolling Stones, Dave Mathews, John Mayer and Bonnie Raitt. So they have some pretty funking popular friends. Feel the funk this Saturday at Revolution Hall. The Sam Kininger Band will open the show. (Feb. 23, 8 PM, $20, 425 River St., Troy, 274-0553)

Adam Rudolph’s Moving Pictures Octet

Sanctuary for Independent Media, Wednesday

That old wooden church in North Troy will be shaking come Wednesday evening with the world-music blast of a righteous band. Adam Rudolph’s Moving Pictures Octet are touring in support of their new album, Dream Garden, on the Justin Time label. They will, in typically heavy fashion, be laying down their thing—which is a blend of the “music forms, languages, instrumentation, and cosmologies of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the African Diaspora.” The instrumentation is diverse enough to constitute a kind of traveling museum of world music: congas, bendir, thumb piano, oud, dumbek, flugelhorn, bass clarinet, bansuri bamboo flute and, um, electric guitar. So dig it, man. (Feb. 27, 7 PM, $10, 3361 6th Ave., Troy, 272-2390)

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