This week in Philly music, it’s homecoming for a bunch of area bands. Plus: My Chemical Romance tickets go on sale

This week in Philly music, there's a plethora of bands more than worthy of attention playing hometown gigs, plus touring attractions such as Ben Folds, Modest Mouse, Chief Keef, Slowdive, Habib Koite, and Trombone Shorty.

Let's start with Aaron West & the Roaring Twenties, playing Friday and Saturday at City Winery. Who is Aaron West? Is he actually a real person? No. He's the alter ego of Dan Campbell, lead singer of the Wonder Years, the Lansdale-born emo band that released its seventh album, in 2022 and has two shows coming up at the Fillmore in December.

Campbell's Aaron West folk-rock side project has allowed the prolific songwriter to chronicle the trials and tribulations of a fictional protagonist — he stays in character throughout his live shows — over the course of three albums, starting with 2014's

These shows will celebrate the 10th anniversary of that album, and also pull from this year's . The 16-piece Roaring Twenties will be squeezed onto the City Winery stage . Expect a raucous evening: Aaron West songs have a lot of words, and fans sing along to every one.

The Anchor Rock Club in Atlantic City hosts two bills headlined by Philly indie bands this weekend. Friday's bill is topped by Gloss, the self-described "Philly pop fusion girlies" formed while students at University of the Arts in 2019.

Saturday's headliners are the Out-Sect, the Philly garage-rock band that played an eye-opening Philly Music Fest set opening for Sheer Mag at Johnny Brenda's. Out-Sect will be joined on the bill by South Jersey's Reckless Randy and Philly's Party Nerves.

Bakithi Kumalo hails from a long way from Philadelphia. The bassist, who played on Paul Simon's cuts such as "You Can Call Me Al" and "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes," grew up under apartheid in the township of Soweto in Johannesburg, South Africa. Kumalo now lives in Bethlehem, Pa., and is a regular presence on Philly-area stages. On Saturday, the Fallser Club hosts Bakithi Kumalo's Graceland Experience.

In the early 2000s, Bala Cynwyd-raised songwriter Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn released three stellar albums of stirring indie-folk with (2000), (2002), and (2004). All three are newly available on vinyl, and in 2020, was reissued along with a tribute disc featuring acts like Mount Eerie, Alison Crutchfield, and Shamir.

Mirah, who's now based in Brooklyn, plays Ortlieb's in Northern Liberties on Sunday with Seán Barna opening.

There's a three-day emo fest at Underground Arts, presented by Philly DIY promoters Breadbox Booking. It's the second Dilly Dally Fest and features 10 bands per day, starting Friday, featuring Holy Ghost Tabernacle Choir, Everything & Nothing, Who Put Bella in the Witch Elm?, Ted Williams, and Vs Self.

Now, on to artists playing Philly this week that aren't actually from Philadelphia.

Corey Glover, the lead singer of Living Colour, whose 1988 song "Cult of Personality" is used as walk-up music by Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber, plays 118 North on Thursday with the Soul Experience feat. Corey Glover. Philly bluesman Greg Sover opening. On Thursday a t Ardmore Music Hall, Lady Lamb — formerly known as Lady Lamb the Beekeeper — celebrates the 10th anniversary of her debut album , which has been issued as a five-LP box set titled .

All the way from Kalamazoo, Jason Singer brings his Michigander project to Philly on Friday: first for Free at Noon at World Cafe, then to the Foundry at Fillmore at night.

Grateful Dead-adjacent jam band Joe Russo's Almost Dead — featuring Philly guitarist Tom Hamilton — headlines the Met Philly on Friday.

Troy Andrews, the New Orleans horn player known as Trombone Shorty, last seen in these parts at the Roots Picnic in June, is playing Atlantic City on Friday. He's at the Music Box at the Borgata with his band, Orleans Avenue.

Also Friday, at World Cafe Live, Portland, Ore., fingerpicking guitar whiz Haley Heynderickx is playing in support of her delicately entrancing new album, .

With his "Paper Airplane Request Tour," Ben Folds has a quality gimmick. Write down a song request on a piece of paper, send it into flight in the direction of the stage, and hope the quick-on-his-feet piano man plays it. His Penn Live Arts gig is Saturday at Zellerbach Theater.

English shoegaze band Slowdive, who took a 22-year break before returning with its self-titled 2017 album, is now on tour for its superb 2023 follow-up, . The band plays Franklin Music Hall on Saturday.

Senegalese guitarist and griot Habib Koite plays City Winery on Monday with kora player Lamine Cissokho and balafon player Aly Keita.

Chicago drill rapper Chief Keef headlines the Fillmore on Tuesday, touring behind his 2024 , a long-time-in-coming sequel to his 2013 mixtape debut, .

Modest Mouse, the Pacific Northwest alt-rockers led by Isaac Brock, is another band touring on an album anniversary, in this case the 2004 The band plays the Fillmore on Wednesday.