Over the course of the past several summers, Poison have proved the one '80s pop-metal band capable of attracting a shed-filling audience. And they've done so by rejecting the urge to modernize, instead banging home the classic formulation of big hair and bigger hooks. Lo and behold, they took that mandate into the studio and made Hollyweird (Cyanide Records), an old-fashioned 20th-century metal album, just a tad heavier, but not much -- think Slave to the Grind-era Skid Row. Poison's package tour -- with Cinderella, Winger, and Faster Pussycat opening -- hits the Verizon Wireless Arena (603-644-5000) in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Tuesday; the Tweeter Center (617-931-2000) in Mansfield on Wednesday; and Meadows Music (203-265-1501) in Hartford next Friday, July 5.

Back in '89, Pretty Boy Floyd were latecomers to the glam-metal party; now they're old-timers. On Friday they're at the Station (401-822-5483) in West Warwick, Rhode Island. They're also tagging along on the side stage for the Mansfield and Hartford dates of the Poison tour; in between, they headline on Independence Day at the Pond (617-661-8828) in Cambridge with the Glamorous Stuntcocks. Quiet Riot, the American Slade, continue their reunion tonight (Thursday, June 27) at the Pond and Friday at Pufferbellies (508-790-4300) in Hyannis. There's a new Danzig album of almost no consequence titled 777: I, Luciferi (Spitfire); a tour brings the band along with early-'90s industro-metal faves Prong to the Palladium (800-477-6849) in Worcester on Saturday.

JAMN 94.5's sold-out "Summer Jam" brings hip-hop cream to the Tweeter on Saturday in the persons of Ja Rule, Ashanti, P. Diddy, Fat Joe, Naughty by Nature, B2K, and Jermaine Dupri. Cher says "so long" -- at least for now -- with shows on Wednesday at the Verizon Arena and on July 8 and 9 at the FleetCenter (617-931-2000) in Boston. Former Primus leader Les Claypool has what's being billed as his first proper solo disc coming in September under the unwieldy title The Les Claypool Frog Brigade Presents Purple Onion (Prawn Song Records); in the meantime, he gets jammy with moe. on Friday and Saturday at FleetBoston Pavilion (617-931-2000) and on Sunday at Meadowbrook Farm Musical Arts Center (603-293-4700) in Gilford, New Hampshire. Elephant 6 indie-scragglers the Gerbils and Elf Power are at Flywheel (413-527-9800) in Easthampton on Sunday and at the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge on Monday. And the English reggae group Steel Pulse hit Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence on Monday; the South Shore Music Circus (781-383-1400) in Cohasset on Wednesday; Higher Ground (802-654-8888) in Winooski, Vermont, on the Fourth; the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom (603-929-4100) in New Hampshire next Friday, July 5; and the Cape Cod Melody Tent (508-775-9100) in Hyannis on July 6.