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This Week's Best Shows and a Spotify Playlist of the Bands

 The National, Ginger Baker and Elvis Costello are all playing New York this week.
This Week's Best Shows and a Spotify Playlist of the Bands
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Thursday, June 19
BAM's R&B Festival at MetroTech Center continues today with a daytime performance by
chart-topping '70s funk and R&B band The Ohio Players. The show takes place midday, on the lawn at MetroTech Commons between Jay Street and Flatbush Avenue where Myrtle Avenue ends. Free.

Celebrate in the open air with local heroes The National on the last NYC show on their "Trouble Will Find Me" tour. In support, local chillwavers MS MR perform. Tonight’s show is a fundraiser for Celebrate Brooklyn, at the Prospect Park Bandshell, at Prospect Park West and 10th Street. The show is sold out, but tickets are still available on Stub Hub.

Friday, June 20
UK rockers Kaiser Chiefs are in town for some shows in support of their fifth album “Education, Education, Education & War.” Q Magazine declared that, “after a decade as pop's court jesters, Kaiser Chiefs have finally found their true voice." Doors 7 p.m., Webster Hall, 125 East 11th St, East Village. $35.60.

Saturday, June 21
Make Music New York is a free city-wide music festival on the longest day of the year. With over 1,300 free performances throughout New York City, you won’t have to go far to find music today — music will most likely find you! Highlights include Mass Appeal — huge jam sessions in which a mass of musicians play one kind of instrument together (gongs, flutes and mandolins plus many others) and Punk Island — 90 punk bands play Staten Island’s enormous “Coast Guard” pier, 100 yards south of the Ferry Terminal in St. George. Mobile bands will also parade through Brooklyn as part of the festival. They converge on Grand Army Plaza at 4:30 p.m., where they will join Bhangra party band Red Baraat on the steps of the Brooklyn Public Library.

In Manhattan, look out for the Privia Piano Bar. From the back of the pick-up truck, pianist Simon Mulligan plays live music on a keyboard to accompany random singers on the sidewalk — anyone who’s ready to belt out Billy Joel songs like “Uptown Girl,” “Just The Way You Are” and “Only the Good Die Young.” The truck will drive through Manhattan, stopping for one-hour sets at four Joel-themed locations. At the end of the day, the truck will arrive at Madison Square Garden, where Billy Joel himself will be performing at 8:00 p.m. Head to Make Music New York for the full schedule of events.

Sunday, June 22
During their live show, Silencio perform music from all of David Lynch’s films, from “Eraserhead” to “Inland Empire.” They give a particular focus to the works from the “Twin Peaks” series, which were written with American composer Angelo Badalamenti. Silencio released an album of original songs in 2012 titled “Music Inspired by the Works of David Lynch & Angelo Badalamenti.” The record is infused with noir-cinema and echoes of latin jazz, lounge, rockabilly and ambient space rock. 6:30 p.m., le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village. $20.

Monday, June 23
Vancouver band The Courtneys' take on raggedy indie guitar pop is perfect for long summer road trips. Influenced by New Zealand indie label Flying Nun (The Chills, the 3Ds). The Courtneys are nearing the end of a three month North American tour. This gig is for all ages. Doors 6:30 p.m., Rough Trade NYC, 64 North 9th St, Williamsburg. Free.

Tuesday, June 24
Hailed by Rolling Stone Magazine as “a genre unto herself,” gifted guitarist Kaki King joins contemporary string quartet Ethel as part of the River To River Festival. 7:30 p.m., Brookfield Place, Winter Garden, 220 Vesey Street, TriBeca. Free.

Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park transforms into a huge open-air dance party — for pros and newcomers alike this evening for Midsummer Night Swing. Groove to the swinging sounds of Cécile McLorin Salvant backed by Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks. Live band sets are at from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., with a huge group dance lesson between 6:30 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. The dance floor opens at 6:00 p.m. Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Amsterdam Ave. and W. 62 St., Upper West Side. $17/$25.

Wednesday, June 25
Ginger Baker is best known for his work with rock bands Cream and Blind Faith. But he’s been a restless musical explorer since his late '50s debut, with projects encompassing hard rock, jazz fusion and afrobeat (with Fela Kuti). He plays B.B Kings Blues Club & Grill as part of the Blue Note Jazz Festival. 8 p.m. 237 West 42 Street, Midtown. $42.50.

Fresh from his recent collaborative album “Wise Up Ghost” with the Roots, master English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello plays Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, 8 p.m., 57th Street and Seventh Avenue, Midtown. $50 - $150.