This weekend features plenty of options for local live music. Let us help you make plans

For some, the weekends are all about getting out. Let's see if we can help you find a place to go. (And in the music world, the weekend really begins Thursday night.)

The South Shore and nearby towns will be filled with live music at venues big and small.

There's lots of music this weekend, with more than a few devoted to Halloween themes, and an especially busy Sunday and Sunday night. This week's highlights include multiple local appearances for Canadian bluesman Matt Andersen and performances by Jethro Tull and The California Honeydrops, who turned in a great performance at this past summer's Levitate Festival. If laughs are what you're looking for, longtime Boston comedian Steve Sweeney will be appearing in Quincy on Friday. Extending the weekend into Tuesday, Depeche Mode takes over the TD Garden in Boston to celebrate Halloween. And next weekend brings a three-night appearance by Bob Dylan at Boston's Orpheum Theater.

THURSDAY, Oct. 26, includes a local favorite and a rising country star 

Former Hanson and Marshfield resident Joe Merrick has been tied up with multiple projects but finally gets to uncork some of his own original music, at the Spire Center in Plymouth. At the other end of the area, the Narrows Center in Fall River welcomes back Canadian rock and bluesman Matt Andersen, who's built a loyal audience there over the years with his big voice and soulful original tunes.

The Z3 is the band at Soundcheck Studios in Pembroke, and that's a celebration of the music of Frank Zappa. The indie-folk stylings of Hiss Golden Messenger at The Sinclair in Cambridge. Comic and magician Leo Lins has two shows at City Winery in Boston. Alt-rock perennial Mudhoney sure to heat up Brighton Music Hall in Boston. Fast rising country star Jessie Murph and her Cowboys and Angels Tour hits the House of Blues in Boston. Andover rockers Boys Like Girls take over MGM Music Hall in Boston.

FRIDAY, Oct. 27, features a favorite from the Levitate Festival

The California Honeydrops – you loved them at The Levitate Festival – are back to headline Roadrunner in Allston. New Bedford's blues guitar player Quinn Sullivan has sold out his show at the Spire Center in Plymouth. Friends of the Brothers at Soundcheck Studios in Pembroke, is a multi-themed show, a celebration of the music of the Allman Brothers Band, but also a book release for Alan Paul, guitarist in the Friends who has a fine new history of the ABB out, and if that's not enough, Pat McGee is also part of the evening's fun. Sexmob takes over the Narrows Center in Fall River – relax, it's a jazz quartet.

Tampa's young popster Aidan Bissett tops the bill at The Paradise Rock Club in Boston. Songsmith Ben Howard sings at MGM Music Hall. Beloved Beantown comedian Steve Sweeney holds court at Fox & Hound Tavern in Quincy. Young guitar ace Troy Mercy, with drummer Marco Giovino, shakes up The Fallout Shelter in Norwood. Booty Vortex brings back disco at the C-Note in Hull. Space Casino rocks The Next Page Cafe in Weymouth. Suzanne McNeil sings at The Old Hitching Post in Hanson. Comic Pete Correale is at City Winery in Boston.

Quirky pop and jazz chanteuse Nellie McKay performs at The RegattaBar in Harvard Square.  Folkie Peter Mulvey opens a weekend at Club Passim in Cambridge. Scullers Jazz Club in Boston hosts a Messenger Legacy show, devoted to the memory of jazz great Art Blakey's signature group, and in this case celebrating the late Ralph Peterson Jr.'s stint in the band – the septet on hand includes stellar saxophonists Billy Pierce and Craig Handy.

SATURDAY, Oct 28, welcomes a flute-playing rock star and a band that's a Halloween natural

Soundcheck Studios in Pembroke features the South Shore combo Third Left performing what they call "Rage Against the Beatles," a show that will combine tributes to the Moptops as well as Rage Against the Machine – an inspired mashup, I guess. Fennario's topnotch Grateful Dead music at The C-Note in Hull. Paul Bielatowicz's 'Nosferatu Live' show is the Halloween-themed attraction at The Narrows Center in Fall River, where fans can expect prog-rock spiced up with scary costumes and spooky atmospherics. Jethro Tull, with the ageless Ian Anderson on flute and vocals, hits MGM Music Hall in Boston. Heritage – a pop/reggae band with Scottish origins – warms up Brighton Music Hall. Clown Core seems like a Halloween natural, and it's a funk duo at Royale in Boston. Actress/singer Renee Rapp headlines Roadrunner in Boston. Scullers Jazz Club in Boston welcomes pianist Benny Green.  Hardcore rockers Harm's Way rattles the Paradise Rock Club in Boston. The Halloween party at The Next Page Cafe in Weymouth is sparked by 19th Nervous Breakdown, the Rolling Stones tribute. Boston songwriter Christian McNeill and Friends jam at The Fallout Shelter in Norwood. Boston area folksinger favorite Antje Duvekot appears at Circle of Friends Coffeehouse in Franklin. Folk-rocker Suzanne McNeil is on at 3 p.m. at Cabby Shack in Plymouth.

SUNDAY AND BEYOND – Bob Dylan coming to Boston

Sunday is packed, and starts early, with Matt Andersen doing a noontime show at City Winery in Boston and a 5 p.m. poetry show at The Spire Center in Plymouth, featuring Maggie Smith and Steve Delbos. Sunday night gets rolling with local favorite Jay Psaros – just back from opening for Collective Soul in Kentucky and Indiana – at Boston Harbor Distillery in Boston;  while popster Joji is at TD Garden in Boston; while rapper Action Bronson has some new talent to introduce at Roadrunner in Boston; Li'l Skies brings ambient electronic vibes to The Paradise Rock Club in Boston; and Nai Palm, the Australian guitarist you might know from the band Hiatus Kaiyote, brings her solo jazz/funk sound to Brighton Music Hall; while Aussie jazz-funk octet The Cat Empire goes nuts at Royale in Boston.

Monday night has a cool option, as Atlanta native Victoria Monet, who has been working steadily as a pop singer/songwriter and earned a couple of Grammy nominations along the way, is playing at Royale in Boston on a weeknight.

On Tuesday night – Halloween – Depeche Mode grooves at TD Garden in Boston; while French DJ CloZee hits Roadrunner in Boston; and folk-rockers The Head and The Heart performs at Veteran's Memorial Auditorium in Providence, Rhode Island. Wednesday night has a big one, as "Cruel to be Kind" songwriter Nick Lowe headlines Brighton Music Hall, with Los Straitjackets – the surf rock quartet that plays in Mexican wrestling masks; while new wave rockers The Hives tear up The Sinclair in Cambridge; Rhode Island's beloved prog-rock quintet The Dear Hunter performs at The Paradise Rock Club in Boston; and actress/singer Eloise is at Royale in Boston. Nov. 2 has the popular South Shore Aldous Collins Band at Soundcheck Studios in Pembroke; while Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes take over The Narrows Center in Fall River; and impressionist singer/comic Joey Voices lights up Fox & Hound Tavern in Quincy. Nov. 3 is when electrifying blues singer/guitarist Dana Fuchs returns to The Spire Center in Plymouth.

Some guy named Bob Dylan opens three nights (Nov. 3-4-5) at Boston's Orpheum Theater.     

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Where to see live music near Quincy and Boston from Oct. 26-29, 2023