Spotlight: From hard-to-define rock to the definitive classical Bach
Saturday, the innovative Luminary Center for the Arts will host Sharon Van Etten and War on Drugs, two musical acts “at the peak of their creative energies” - or so the press material says.

Trying to nail down Sharon Van Etten’s "genre" can be difficult. The Kentucky-born, Brooklyn-based 31-year-old occupies a space somewhere between rock and soft. On some tracks, she floats her personal and stoic lyrics over folksy guitars and minimal percussion, evoking small rooms and home recording. But other songs will wash away in crunching guitars and a medley of percussion, her voice almost straining, but never disappearing, over the building background of twangy goodness.
Van Etten will be appearing with War on Drugs, a Philadelphia based group that shares Van Etten’s embrace of Americana sound and subject (for bonus irony points, the band is signed to the recording label “Secretly Canadian”). Where Van Etten can seem dark and beautifully sparse, War on Drugs draw out a comparative bounciness that, at times, seems drawn from the '80s.
Where: Luminary Center for the Arts, 4900 Reber Pl. 63139
When: Doors at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 31
How much: $12 in advance, $14 at door
Information: Event Page
Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/211421
Tim Cunningham

Where: Jazz on Broadway, 554 E. Broadway, Alton 62002
When: 8 p.m. Friday, March 30
How much: $10
Beacon calendar: www.stlbeacon.org/#!/event/23067/tcunningham_033012
The venue: www.facebook.com/pages/Jazz-on-Broadway/246673992032079
Nicholas Payton
Where: Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Ave., St. Louis, MO 63103
When: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 30 and 31
How much: $35
Beacon calendar: www.stlbeacon.org/#!/event/23243
YouTube: Bags' Groove
Farshid Etniko
Where: Rue Lafayette, 2026 Lafayette Ave. 63104
When: 10 a.m. Saturday, March 31
How much: Free
Beacon calendar: www.stlbeacon.org/#!/event/22989/fetniko_33112
The venue: ruelafayette.us/
Bach: B-minor mass
Where: Powell Hall, 718 N. Grand Blvd.
When: 8 p.m. March 31, 3 p.m. April 1
How much: $20 up
Tickets: www.slso.org
Beacon preview article: www.stlbeacon.org/#!/content/23281
