Critic's Pick — The Residents: 'Eskimo' Live

For more than half a century, fandom of The Residents has been a kind of not-so-secret handshake among folks who appreciate unfettered creativity turned up to the max with the knob ripped off. You also get an artistic lampoon of the dreck and bloat in mainstream culture that deftly blends high concept with earthy humor, with results that are always weird, sometimes extreme and never the same twice. In the early 1980s, the anonymous-by-choice ensemble began a tradition of touring floridly out-there happenings with fascinatingly bizarre and complex sets, costumes, movement and multimedia. (Watch the documentary Theory of Obscurity for the deep backstory, starting with their origins as Southern transplants learning how to make art in the post-hippie California of the early 1970s.) They’re making their debut in Middle Tennessee in the most natural place — the underground concert hall at The Caverns — and they’re performing a newly conceived stage show for their 1979 album Eskimo. The record, consisting mostly of electronic soundscapes and unnerving chants, is a companion to an over-the-top absurd faux ethnographic study of Inuit culture in the liner notes. The goal is to skewer those who like to say (or think) they understand cultures they clearly do not and cause a lot of harm in the process. Rushadicus the Cello Goblin will set the mood with an opening performance.

7 p.m. at The Caverns

555 Charlie Roberts Road, Pelham