Philly Folk Festival, Foo Fighters, and all the other best Philly music this week

It’s Philadelphia Folk Festival weekend, and Philly music this week also includes Snacktime on the Delaware River waterfront, a record release party at Chris’ Jazz Cafe, a Flo Rida concert after a Phillies game, and the Stray Cats and Booker T. Jones down the Shore.

Folk Fest weekend at the Old Pool Farm begins, as always — this is the venerable gathering’s 63rd iteration — with a camper’s-only concert on Thursday night. This year’s is a particularly good one, with three Philly bands with roots in rock and roll spirit: Ben Arnold & the 48 Hour Orchestra, Roberta Faceplant, and Lazy Villains.

On Friday, the Folk Fest as an all-day event gets going with highlights that include country-folk duo Kieran Kane and Reyna Gellart, blazing bluesy guitarist Eddie 9V (whose Down Here debut on the Easy Eye Sound label is due in November), Brooklyn bluegrass trio Damn Tall Buildings, Italy-born classically trained songwriter Valentina Sounds, plus contra dancing with Rose Clancy, Max Cohen & Friends.

Saturday standouts include Martin Stage headliners Leftover Salmon, as well as longtime Fest regular Tom Rush, Celtic roots group Runa, Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience, The Tisburys, and Sug Daniels. Plus, a Topical Songs workshop that features the always great and incisive Mary Gauthier, whose new album The Reckoning is due next month. Then there’s John Flynn, who will also serve as main stage emcee throughout the fest. (If you run into him, share your best dad joke, so he can tell it on stage, carrying on the Gene Shay tradition).

On Sunday morning, Sacred Steel with the Campbell Brothers provides excellent motivation to be at the Camp Stage in time for the 11 a.m. start. And the Campbells will also be on the Martin Stage later in the day, as will York, Pa.-native and “The Scrapple Song” composer Robbie Fulks, as well as Gauthier (who is also doing a Writers in the Row guitar pull with Flynn, Fulks, and Joe Jencks).

Before Flynn finishes off the fest with a benediction, the final main stage act is Sam Bush, the Kentucky mandolin and fiddle player and innovator who helped reshape bluegrass with his band, New Grass Revival. Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday at 8 a.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 9 a.m., Old Pool Farm, 1323 Salford Station Road, Harleysville near Schwenksville, folkfest.org.

Elegantly soulful jazz balladeer Gregory Porter has one of the most pleasing voices in pop music. The Bakersfield, Cal. native is one of the highlights of the Dell’s summer season. He is joined by Lalah Hathaway, daughter of Donny, whose 2024 album, Vantablack included guest spots from Common, MC Lyte, Michael McDonald, and Willow Smith. Carol Riddick and Jamison Ross are also on the bill. 8 p.m., Dell Music Center, 2400 Strawberry Mansion Drive, dellmusiccenter.com

The Foo Fighters is smack in the middle of its year-long “Take Cover” tour, which started in Mexico in January and ends in Australia next January. It’s the Dave Grohl-led band’s first tour with new drummer Ilan Rubin and its supports the band’s refreshingly punchy new album, Your Favorite Toy. All this month, the band is being supported by Queens of the Stone Age and Philadelphia’s own Mannequin Pussy, playing its biggest ever hometown show. 5:30 p.m., Lincoln Financial Field, One Lincoln Financial Field Way, lincolnfinancialfield.com

Philly five-piece band Wax Jaw put out one of the standout local releases of 2025 with It Takes Guts!, which indeed it does — as well as smarts — to craft high speed New Wave era tunes that also land with an unguarded emotional wallop. This free show is the Shane Morgan-fronted band’s last Philly appearance before it heads out on a European tour next month. 7 p.m. Spruce Street Harbor Park, 301 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd., delawareriverwaterfront.com.

Fresh from performances at two marquee festivals — Newport Folk in Rhode Island and Lollapalooza in Chicago — Philly R&B and soul party band Snacktime is back home for a free show. 7 p.m., Spruce Street Harbor Park, 301 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd., delawareriverwaterfront.com.

At least, that’s what this 1980s themed tour promises. The quadruple bill gathers together four British acts from the New Wave era, with Howard Jones, whose 1985 hit gives the tour its name. Plus, Modern English, the English Beat, and Wang Chung. 8 p.m., Borgata Event Center, One Borgata Way, Atlantic City, borgata.mgmresorts.com

Philly pianist and bandleader Orrin Evans, bassist Matthew Parrish, and drummer Byron Landham are old friends who have been playing together for 30 years. They’re celebrating their new album on Evans’ Imani Records label with two shows at Chris’ that will feature guests Bill McHenry and Caleb Curtis, and Duane Eubanks on trumpet

The shows will also spotlight the new Imani Records All-Stars album Stories and Flavors From the Garden. And if the music makes you hungry, the Imani crew will celebrate Evans’ wife Dawn Warren Evans’ new cookbook Summer Time Jazz Kitchen at Studio 176, at 2131 N. American St. from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Chris’ Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom St., chrisjazzcafe.com.

The band from Leeds, England fronted by vocalist James Smith, that bears the influence of post-punk acts like Gang of Four and the Fall, has a new album that is its most stylistically varied and yet called You’re Gonna Need A Little Music. They’re in town for two shows. Friday at Free at Noon, World Stage, 3025 Walnut Street, xpn.org and 8 p.m. Saturday at Underground Arts, 1200 Callowhill St., undergroundarts.org.

Stray Cats leader Brian Setzer is healthy after battling an autoimmune disease that prevented him from playing the guitar. The rockabilly revivalists are back on the road with the original lineup of Setzer, drummer Slim Jim Phantom, and bassist Lee Rocker. 8 p.m., Ovation Hall, Ocean Resort, Atlantic City, 500 Boardwalk, TheOceanAC.com

The Louisville, Ky. rapper, who broke big at the start of the decade with his Thats What They All Say debut and starred with Sinqua Walls in a 2023 White Men Can’t Jump remake, has taken a turn away from straight-up hip-hop into neo-soul on his newest, Monica. James Savage opens. 8 p.m., Fillmore Philly, 29 E. Allen St., thefillmorephilly.com

Still just 27, Christone Ingram has been a blue guitar sensation for a dozen years now. And while the Mississippi native’s playing still conveys plenty of flash, he shows growing confidence as a singer and songwriter on 2025’s Hard Road. Mathias Lattin opens. 6 p.m., Concerts Under the Stars, 175 W. Valley Forge Road, concertsunderthestarskop.com

The Miami rapper born Tramar Lacel Dillard scored a number of party anthem hits, such as “Low” and “Right Round” in the late 2000s. Hopefully, the Phillies will score some runs on Tuesday against the Miami Marlins, after which he performs. Games starts at 6:40 p.m., Citizens Bank Park, One Citizens Bank Park Way, mlb.com/phillies

The organist and leader of the great 1960s Memphis Stax / Volt instrumental soul band Booker T. & the M.G.’s also sings, plays guitar, and has stories to tell from a legendary life in music. With the Billy Walton Band and the Plaid Salmon Horns. Free. 7 p.m., Tony Marts presents Mardi Gras on the Boardwalk, Kennedy Plaza, Atlantic City, tonymart.com