Femi Kuti @ Potawatomi Bingo Casino Rock Stage, Summerfest, 10 p.m.
Afro-beat might sound like an obscure style of music (particularly for those who haven’t recently lived on college campuses, where it’s becoming especially popular), but it’s actually quite accessible. It’s a horn-fueled blend of African rhythms and up-tempo Femi Kuti funk, marked by political undertones but mainly known for its party-friendly grooves. One of today’s leading Afro-beat artists is Femi Kuti, the son of the man credited for inventing the genre, Fela Kuti. The elder musician was notorious for his dangerous opposition to Nigeria’s military regime, and Femi has followed in his father’s footsteps both musically and politically, speaking out against governments that others are too frightened to challenge.

No Doubt w/ Paramore and Bedouin Soundclash @ Marcus Amphitheater, 7 p.m.
In the video for No Doubt’s biggest hit, “Don’t Speak,” the guys in the band silently snub singer Gwen Stefani, resentful over the disproportionate attention she’s receiving from the press. If that video spoke to real tensions, it’s hard to imagine they’ve eased any during the past half-decade, given how Stefani’s solo career has established her as one of the world’s biggest pop stars, yet No Doubt returned this year seemingly unchanged by Stefani’s pop successes. At recent reunion performances, Stefani’s even shelved her high-fashion wardrobes in favor of her old trademark white tank top. Incidentally, openers Paramore have earned No Doubt comparisons for how their charismatic frontwoman Hayley Williams has garnered more coverage than her male band mates. The group’s sound is marked by a harder, more emo edge than No Doubt’s, though, and a younger lyrical focus, with Williams singing of clique politics, high-school crushes and other matters of adolescence.

The Paper Chase @ The Cactus Club, 10 p.m.
John Congleton’s brooding, gut-punching production has made him an in-demand studio guru for artists like Modest Mouse, The Thermals and The Mountain Goats, but he saves his darkest, most claustrophobic ideas for his own avant-indie ensemble, The Paper Chase. The Dallas band’s latest, Someday This Could All Be Yours, Vol. 1, is their most high-concept yet, an album themed around things that can kill you—from fire to lightning, blizzards, tornados, floods and epidemics, the clatter on each song loosely mirrors that of a different natural disaster. The Paper Chase shares this bill with Call Me Lightning and Red Knife Lottery, the Milwaukee band whose upcoming album, Soiled Soul and Rapture, was produced by Congleton.

Matisyahu @ Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard, Summerfest,
10 p.m.
In a success story that reads like a script for a bad Ben Stiller comedy, an Orthodox Jew named Matthew Paul Miller reinvented himself as Matisyahu, a crossover reggae superstar. That this white boy with ties to the feel-good jam circuit gravitated toward rough-edged dancehall reggae over more generically feel-good roots-rock reggae is interesting in itself, but much more ink has been spilled over the incongruity between Miller’s religion (which forbids marijuana use) and reggae tradition (which encourages it). Without apologizing for his beliefs—or exploiting them for the novelty value—Miller has carved out his own unique niche in the genre.

Friday, July 3

The Roots @ Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard, Summerfest, 10 p.m.
Has any talk-show host ever had an odder rapport with his house band than newly minted “Late Night” host Jimmy Fallon? The Roots not only soundtrack Fallon’s show, they also serve as a sort of surrogate for the viewer, silently staring at the host with thinly disguised bemusement whenever he makes a trite or failed joke, which is pretty often. Fallon seems uncomfortable with his band, at best, and on particularly bad nights he appears almost afraid of them. The show is the most unexpected chapter yet in the career of hip-hop’s most celebrated live band, who in between rehearsing with Conan O’Brien’s replacement have found time to record yet another album. How I Got Over, The Roots’ 11th album, is scheduled for a fall release, and promises a more carefree sound than their last record, Rising Down. That means they probably won’t film a music video of them beating a bound and gagged white dude this time around, so maybe Fallon can exhale a little bit.