The Red-Headed Stranger rides again. Back in January, Willie Nelson, his braids flying, rolled his big airbrushed tour bus down Tremont Street and proceeded to rustle the Orpheum crowd into his hands with his own burnished chestnuts plus dignified, countrified renditions of firmament-themed standards by Irving Berlin ("Blue Skies"), Hoagy Carmichael ("Stardust") and, uh, Kermit the Frog ("Rainbow Connection"). Now, after almost a year of rolling across this great land of ours, the indefatigable 69-year-old is back to do it again. He'll be at the Orpheum on Tuesday (617-931-2000) before heading back to the Wild West -- namely, Northampton -- for a show Wednesday at the Calvin Theatre (413-586-8686).

Willie may be getting a little long in the tooth, but he doesn't seem quite as preoccupied with staving off senescence as one other veteran performer who's back in town after only months away. Maybe that tenacious pursuit of youth is why Cher has decided to align herself, Santana-style, with more youthful talent. But though her career peak came a full 20 years after the mid-'60s first phase of Cher's salad days, Cyndi Lauper isn't all that much younger than the former Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPierre. No matter -- these fellow fishnet-stocking enthusiasts will be cheered equally by stadiums full of Gypsies, tramps, and thieves who just wanna have fun at the FleetCenter (617-931-2000) in Boston on Sunday and the Dunkin' Donuts Civic Center (617-931-2000) in Providence on Monday.

For younger kids, New England's going to be a zoo this week. Pedro the Lion, soulful indie darling David Bazan's pseudonymous vehicle for melodic droning introspection, is at Lupo's (401-272-5876 ) in Providence on Saturday to wonder What Would Jesus Do. On Sunday, he brings more of his solemn, somnolent parables to T.T. the Bear's Place (617-492-BEAR) in Cambridge.

Another one-man-show with a thing for mammals of the Southern Hemisphere is Kid Koala. He brings his techno-savvy turntabling, which is laced with Fender-bending break beats and winking pop-culture name dropping, to the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge on Saturday, then does more of the same on Sunday at the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence.

Now this animal thing is getting weird: when he's not being Kid Koala, Eric San is in a group called Bullfrog. That band are not currently touring, but guess who is? The Les Claypool Frog Brigade! Yes, the brain-fried erstwhile Primus frontman pummels his big-bottomed bass into slap-happy submission Sunday at Lupo's and Tuesday at the Webster Theatre (860-422-0000) in Hartford. If you miss that amphibious assault on southern New England, wait till next week when at Avalon (617-262-2424) in Boston on Wednesday, Northampton's Pearl Street (413-586-8686) on Thursday, Burlington's Ira Allen Chapel (802-863-5966) on Friday and Portland's State Theater (207-780-8265) on Saturday, Claypool proves that Les truly is more.