W E I R D A L ” YA N K O V I C Thursday, July 29, Paramount Theatre, 303-623-0106.

“Weird Al” Yankovic’s zany parodies of hit songs like “Beat It” (“Eat It”) and “Like a Virgin” (“Like a Surgeon”) catapulted him to infamy in the ’80s, back when pop culture was in dire need of some deflation. He never got critical props for his oddball iconoclasm, though, and after his 1989 film, UHF — which, by the way, is one of the funniest movies ever made — tanked at the box office, most wrote off Yankovic as a washed-up novelty act. He’s had the last laugh, though: Beginning with successful parodies of Nirvana and Coolio in the early ’90s, Yankovic’s career enjoyed a renaissance that stretched to 2006, when his hit single “White & Nerdy” — a self-effacing sendup of Chamillionaire and Krayzie Bone’s “Ridin’” — introduced the curly-haired jester to a new generation. If there’s any justice to history, Yankovic will one day rank up there with hallowed satirists like Voltaire. In the meantime, sit back and enjoy the laughs.

— JASON HELLER M I N I A T U R E T I G E R S Friday, July 30, Larimer Lounge, 303-291-1007.

Originally based in Phoenix, Arizona, Miniature Tigers relocated to Brooklyn in the past couple of years. The band’s charmingly confessional debut full-length, Tell It to the Volcano, is full of catchy pop songs clearly influenced by post-“White Album” Beatles and the Beach Boys. On the outfit’s latest release, Fortress, the Tigers incorporate thicker atmospheres, almost as a metaphor for the title, and hide singer Charlie Brand deeper in the mix. The album nevertheless proves to be a step forward for the band artistically, with song titles that could have come from chapters of an especially weird Tom Robbins novel. An endearingly energetic live band, these guys make any retro elements in their sound seem fresh instead of coming off like some kind of trendy affectation.

Small yet scrappy, this is one band that chose its name well.

— TOM MURPHY T H E T O A D I E S Saturday, July 31, Gothic Theatre, 303-830-8497.

With 1995’s Rubberneck, the Toadies became radio mainstays across the country and hardrock icons at home in North Texas. But somehow they couldn’t keep the attention of label Interscope Records. As was the plan, the band went into the studio, but the Interscope higher-ups didn’t approve of Feeler, the disc the Toadies recorded and hoped to release in 1998 as the followup to Rubberneck. Not surprisingly, Feeler remained a bug in the Toadies’ collective ear. And this month, thirteen years after the fact, with Interscope’s ownership of Feeler’s songs now expired (the Toadies retained rights to the songs, but Interscope remains in control of the recordings), the band, which reunited in 2008 to release No Deliverance on Dallas-based indie label Kirtland Records, returned to the studio to give the songs another whirl. In August, the band finally will release the disc, first as a digital download and later in standard compact-disc form.

— PETE FREEDMAN T O K Y O P O L I C E C L U B Tuesday, August 3, Bluebird Theater, 303- 377-1666.

Bands like Tokyo Police Club are drastically changing the definition of the term “indie rock.” Sure, the group possesses the shrill, lightly distorted guitars and cutesy nice-guy vocals that have become synonymous with the genre, but when you’re a band as big as this one, the term “independent” really no longer applies. Tokyo Police Club has performed on Letterman three separate times and also acted as a band called “Cold Splash” in an episode of Desperate Housewives, in which they competed in a fake battle of the bands. The bandmembers have also shaken their money-makers at massive festivals like Coachella and Lollapalooza. Like catwalkstrutting models wearing plaid after the explosion of grunge, the mainstream is turning indie rock into something different and molding it into a definition barely recognizable by bands like this, who are helping to marginalize it.

— ANDY THOMAS