Thanks for ongoing support from Based in Lafayette sponsor Long Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Lafayette. For tickets and details on all the shows and events, go to longpac.org.
By Tim Brouk / For Based in Lafayette
In my many years of covering local arts and entertainment, there would be the occasional Purdue University home football weekend that would be so packed that you wish you had a clone or three to experience it all. With the Notre Dame Fighting Irish arriving to wage football warfare with their old Boilermaker rivals at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, both sides of the Wabash will be buzzing with live music events featuring hip-hop, thrash metal, punk rock, Celtic music and classical. And be sure to finish it all off by supporting area visual artists at Art on the Wabash.
Exhorder with Persevere, Karve and Intoxicated, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, North End Pub, 2100 Elmwood Ave., Lafayette — Lafayette metalheads must attend The Doom Room’s latest presentation — thrash and “groove metal” progenitors Exhorder. The New Orleans outfit first hit the scene in 1986 and had a profound influence on expanding thrash metal’s sound. Around the same time, a little band called Pantera was growing and were influenced by the sound. Phil Anselmo, Pantera singer and New Orleans native, took the sound to an even higher place. Still, Exhorder enjoyed some early 1990s national success with two classics, “Slaughter in the Vatican” (1990) and “The Law” (1992). The band was on Roadrunner Records, a metal label that was home to Sepultura, Machine Head and even baby Nickelback. Exhorder’s original run ended in 1994, but the band reformed in 2017 and has been going ever since, releasing new music like 2024’s “Defectum Omnium.” Exhorder is touring with Florida thrashers Intoxicated, and Greater Lafayette’s own Persevere and Karve will open. Failure Records also helped bring in this tour as well. Tickets.
Art on the Wabash, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, Tapawingo Park, West Lafayette— More than 40 local and regional artists will once again converge upon West Lafayette’s Tapawingo Park for Art on the Wabash, an annual outdoor art fair that also features live music, food trucks and beer from People’s Brewing Company. The event is a must for art fans — buyers and looky-loos alike.
DJ Diesel and T-Pain with DJ Navic, DJ Pain, Orville Kline and Stevie Mac, 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, Tippecanoe Amphitheater, 4449 Indiana 43 North — What started as a club show featuring the nation’s largest DJ with the most NBA rebounds — DJ Diesel, aka hall of famer Shaquille O’Neal — has grown into an outdoor hip-hop festival. When the king of Autotune T-Pain, aka Teddy Pain, was added to the bill, promoters moved the festivities from the Neon Cactus to the Tippecanoe Amphitheater in the outskirts of West Lafayette. T-Pain was one of the most featured singers in the late ‘00s with his vocals showing up on hits by Kanye West, Flo Rida and Chris Brown. His own music topped the charts as well with T-Pain’s second album, “Epiphany” reaching No. 1 in 2007 and his single “Buy You a Drank (Shawty Snappin’)” also reaching No. 1 on the charts. The tune was a follow-up to his previous top-5 release, the classic “I’m ‘n Luv (wit a Stripper).” O’Neal’s main gig is still the NBA, serving as co-host of “Inside the NBA” on ESPN, but the 7-feet, 1-incher has maintained his beat-making chops over the years at festivals and club gigs. Among the four opening acts will be Chicago area talents DJ Navic and Orville Kline, a brightly mohawked DJ, producer and guitarist. $40. Tickets.
Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, Long Center for the Performing Arts, 111 N. Sixth St., Lafayette — The Lafayette Symphony Orchestra will open its 2026–27 season with a program exploring the many vibrant and multifaceted identities that make up the American experience — and the ways music can bring those voices together. Under the direction of conductor and LSO artistic director Kellen Gray, “AutochthonoUS: Stories of WE the People” features music that reflects the complexity, energy and diversity of the American experience. The concert will showcase Leonard Bernstein’s lively “Candide Overture,” “Fanfare for Life” by Kimo Williams and William Grant Still’s “Symphony No. 4 Autochthonous,” a work that imagines America as a place shaped by ingenuity, individuality and shared possibility. The word autochthonous refers to peoples’ originating in the place where they are presently found, despite ancestral background or genetic origins. $18-$45. Tickets.
Flatfoot 56 with Criminal Record and Vicious Entry, Saturday, Sept. 26, People’s Brewing Company, 2006 N. Ninth St., Lafayette — Highland bagpipes and punk rock is a unique combination that has served Chicago’s Flatfoot 56 well for 25 years. The five-piece band sports a Celtic punk sound with Josh Robieson wailing on the pipes as well as mandolin during a typical set. Fans of Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly will be pleased with the Flatfoot 56 sound. The band is no stranger to Lafayette, however. Flatfoot 56 was lured down to Lafayette multiple times during Green Room Rockers’ epic late ‘00s peak, and Green Room was often tapped to play the Chicago area with them, even performing at Flatfoot vocalist and guitarist Tobin Bawinkel’s wedding. Very cool for Mom & Pop Productions to bring the band back after a decade-plus gap so that a new generation can witness bagpipes and punk rock together at last. Area punks Criminal Record and Vicious Entry will open this show. Tickets.
Tim Brouk is a longtime arts and entertainment reporter. He writes here (almost) weekly, tracking things to do for Based in Lafayette.
BONUS CUTS
Star City Nights returns downtown Lafayette from 6 p.m.-midnight Friday, Sept. 25. The festival, featuring two stages, food trucks, hands-on creative activities and assorted vendors, is in its second year on Main Street, between Fourth and Ninth streets, after rebranding the retired Starry Night in West Lafayette and moving it across the Wabash River. Acts on the main stage: THIS Band, 7:30 p.m.; The Silkies, 8:50 p.m.; and Happy Landing, 10:15 p.m. For a lineup of indie stage performers, along with more details, check here. Admission is free.
Catch the movie “Encanto” on the scoreboard from the Loeb Stadium field, starting at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25. Gates at the ballpark in Columbian Park open at 5 p.m. Tickets: $5.
Thanks, again, for ongoing support from Based in Lafayette sponsor Long Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Lafayette. For tickets and details on all the shows and events, go to longpac.org.
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