Got any big plans this weekend? Consider checking out a concert. After all, there certainly are plenty of worthwhile ones happening around town.

Over the next few nights, music venues around the Valley will host performances by the Alan Parsons Live Project, Maps & Atlases, Collie Buddz, Justin Townes Earle, and Sleep.

And with it being a weekend, there are certainly plenty of electronic dance music events happening in the Valley. And with it being the summer, there are also pool parties worth checking out.

All of the aforementioned gigs can be found in our rundown of the best concerts happening in Phoenix this weekend. For even more live music happening in the Valley, hit up the Phoenix New Times’ online concert calendar.

Collie Buddz
Friday, June 8
BLK Live in Scottsdale

When you think of dancehall music, it's safe to assume that the island of Bermuda isn't the first locale that leaps to mind. In fact, though Bermuda is often mistaken as a Caribbean island, its closest neighbor is actually North Carolina. Other Bermuda oddities include the Bermuda Triangle, Bermuda shorts, and the alternative singer Heather Nova, a native.

You may now add to that list the dancehall anthem "Come Around," which is sure to receive the acclaim Damian Marley's "Welcome to Jamrock" did last year. The song is performed by a Bermudian who goes by the handle Collie Buddz. Oh, and did we forget to mention that Buddz is white?

No matter. The song is a monster, from the roots-infused horn intro to the pumped-up basslines. "Finally the herbs come around," sings Buddz, whose stage name doubles as slang for a seasonal high-grade marijuana. His voice resembles Jamaican dancehall staples such as I-Wayne and Wayne Wonder, with a booster shot of rudeboy swagger. Esther Parks

The Paladins
Friday, June 8
The Rhythm Room

One of the hardest-working rockabilly bands of the past few decades, The Paladins were formed by guitarist Dave Gonzalez and Thomas Yearsley at the height of the rockabilly movement in the early '80s. Over the next two decades, the trio toured with Stevie Ray Vaughan, Los Lobos, and the Blasters, and released 10 studio albums.

In 2004, The Paladins went on hiatus; Gonzalez subsequently started the Hacienda Brothers with Chris Gaffney and played with the country-soul Stoney River Boys. In 2010, Gonzalez reunited with the Paladins for some European dates, and the following year, the trio regrouped for their first American shows in seven years. They're still going strong these days and are scheduled to perform this weekend at The Rhythm Room. Local rockers Grave Danger will open. Jon Solomon

Ufomammut
Friday, June 8
Club Red in Mesa

The three musicians making up this Italian-born trio – who go by the monikers of Poia, Urlo, and Vita – specialize in hypnotically psychedelic doom metal. The repetitive drone of Ufomammut’s sludge riffage is laced with spaced-out fuzz effects that evoke a hallucinogenic trip, with just enough twists and turns to keep you a little on edge. Each song builds slowly, lulling listeners into a trance, before it crescendos into a powerful crash of beefy riffs and frantic drumming that leaves even the most hardened stoner-doom fan completely drained. Jason Roche

Alan Parsons Live Project
Friday, June 8
Celebrity Theatre

Alan Parsons became a household name around the world via the succession of gold and platinum albums that began with Tales of Mystery and Imagination in 1976, which were credited to The Alan Parsons Project. Although his partnership with co-founder Eric Woolfson ended in the ’90s, it did allow for us to finally enjoy the music the duo made in concert, starting with a 1995 European tour. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you ... The Alan Parsons Live Project.

“I do wish we’d done it sooner; the circumstances weren’t right,” Parsons says. “Eric wasn’t interested in touring, and it was only [when] we parted company after making the Freudiana album [a rock opera about Sigmund Freud] and all the legal wrangles that ensued after that, that we decided to put another band together to support another album that year called Try Anything Once [Parsons’ first solo album].”

Rightly or wrongly, the success of I Robot, Turn of a Friendly Card, and Pyramid earned Parsons his rep as the master of the concept album. Who better to ask if the overriding concept suggested the songs, or did the individual songs when collected form the overall concept? “I think a bit of both. Certainly with Tales of Mystery, the concept came first, and I Robot, the concept came first. Pyramid, there was one song called “Pyramania” that suggested a concept. That was originally going to be a witchcraft-based album, all things to do with voodoo, then we just zeroed in on pyramid power and the history of pyramids as being a really good concept.” Serene Dominic

Robert Randolph and the Family Band
Friday, June 8
Crescent Ballroom

If the sacred steel movement has a visionary leader, it's Robert Randolph, a ferocious, enormously talented steel guitarist who has deftly overseen his band's transition from the House of God Church in Orange, New Jersey, to the world's premier stages.

Randolph has always sliced and diced considerable secular influences into his fervid gospel sound, and that was even more the case with the Family Band's 2006 album, Colorblind. That album had a guest shot from Dave Matthews, an assortment of ballads amidst the rousing rave-ups, and a thorough airing of influences from the likes of Sly, Hendrix, and Stevie Wonder. Plus, Randolph's also proved he can go head-to-head with guitar greats such as Eric Clapton, who traded licks with him on Colorblind. Rick Mason