Eli Howard & The Greater Good is crisscrossing the country promoting its months-old debut album β€œEnd of the Line.”

Tucson’s live music scene this weekend slingshots from heavy metal to cool jazzy world music to porch-pickin’ country/Southern rock.

In other words, our kind of weekend.

Get it started early with four-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter/world musician AngΓ©lique Kidjo at the Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St., on Thursday, April 7. Kidjo, who has recorded 13 albums in a career that just marked its 40th year, blends everything from tropical rhythms and jazz to Latin-spiced and pop and R&B.

She takes the Rialto stage at 8 p.m. in a show that is co-presented by the Rialto and Arizona Arts Live. Tickets are $40-$77 through ticketmaster.com

On Friday, April 8, a pair of local country singers β€” Tucson’s own Drew Cooper and Shane Britt from the hot Safford country rock band The Cole Trains β€” will open for the Oregon country rock band Eli Howard & the Greater Good at Club Congress. The 10-year-old band is criss-crossing the country promoting its months-old debut album β€œEnd of the Line.”

The tour was in Mesa and New River late last year and makes a pair of stops on this leg β€” at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St., at 8 p.m. Friday; and back to New River’s Roadrunner Saloon on Saturday, April 9. Admission for the Congress 21-and-over show is $10 through hotelcongress.com.

Kick off the weekend Thursday, April 7, with AngΓ©lique Kidjo at the Rialto Theatre.

End your weekend with a bang, and by bang we mean head-banging rock, with Megadeth and Lamb of God at the Tucson Arena, 260 S. Church Ave., on Sunday, April 10.

The pairing is called β€œThe Metal Tour of the Year,” and it fits, especially when you add in the guest artists Trivium out of Orlando, Florida, and the Swedish heavy metal band In Flames.

The show starts at 6 p.m. Sunday, and tickets are $27-$97 through ticketmaster.com.


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Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com. On Twitter @Starburch