Like a Rainbow

SUN 3/14

Two things you’d expect Darren Keen to have learned from his year touring the country as a cornhusking hip-hop destroyer: (1) Do not fight the opening act. Even if the group is called Dirty Virgin Deluxe. Even if the band members are being rude during your set. Even if you’re performing in Lubbock, Texas. Do not smack the bass player’s penis. (2) Don’t go back to Atlanta. Seems simple enough. But rules don’t apply to a guy who performs under the name the Show Is the Rainbow and believes he’s put on a good show when much of the audience leaves agitated. Keen likes to carry out his “one-man electrofunk experience” from within the audience, strutting and sometimes flopping around in what he calls a “quasi-Tom Jones” style.

The comparison isn’t entirely accurate. Whereas Jones’ audiences expect to swoon and even to be sex-bombed, they do not fear being poked, prodded, stalked, questioned, harassed or high-kicked by their paid entertainment. Show Is the Rainbow fans, on the other hand, must be on guard at all times. Particularly during “High Kick.”

Keen hits the road with his latest EP, Correcting Dog Behavior Problems Using Dog Radartron. If the title indicates an unwillingness to mature, so does the tour schedule. Later this month, Keen makes his brave return to Atlanta. Check him out at the Replay Lounge (946 Massachusetts in Lawrence, 785-749-7676) at 10 p.m. Sunday. Tickets cost $2.— Casey Logan

All a Dream

Fairies and sprites visit the Lyric.

3/13-3/21

You don’t have to read A Midsummer Night’s Dream to pass the big Shakespeare test. Go see it at the Lyric (1029 Central) at 8 p.m. this Friday or Saturday or catch one of the 7:30 p.m. shows on Monday or Wednesday. It’s an opera, so they’ll all be singing and stuff, but it’s cool — if you lose track of the words or whatever, electronic text will be scrolling across the top of the stage. Just make sure you pay attention, because the story gets complicated. In short, love and magic are in the air in Athens. The combination is causing problems for everyone, especially the queen of the fairies, who falls in love with an ass. Tickets are $10 to $57. Call 816-471-7344 for details.— Michael Vennard