The king of all Massachusetts state fairs is this thing called the Big E (413-205-5115) in West Springfield, which includes everything from prizewinning-livestock exhibits to Chinese acrobats, from "authentic re-creations" of 19th-century village life to Hollywood stunt shows. We love it mostly because it’s the only place around you can see Nashville star Martina McBride and Murder Inc. pin-up Ashanti in the same weekend. Martina, riding high on her crossover hit "This One’s for the Girls," performs Saturday, and Ashanti ooh-baby’s her way in on Sunday.

The Palladium (800-477-6849) in Worcester digs out the half-pipes on Friday and Saturday for its post-Warped SkateFest, a 50-band emo/punk/metal showcase that’s becoming an annual tradition in its own right. Friday’s line-up includes the Starting Line, Armsbendback, Damone, the Promise, and Favorite Atomic Hero; Saturday’s bill includes platinum pop-punks Simple Plan (see "Performance," Editor's Picks, September 26, 2003) with Coheed and Cambria, H20, My Chemical Romance, Piebald, Lost City Angels, Nora, and A Life Once Lost.

If you’re looking to extend your metal binge through the weekend, the annual Locobazooka (617-423-NEXT) festival brings its most diverse bill yet to a new location at the Fitchburg Airport on Sunday. The headliners include Staind, the female-fronted Italian goth outfit Lacuna Coil, newly rewired electrometal technicians Powerman 5000, and alterna-metal spacemen Cave In, who become the first band to play Lollapalooza and Locobazooka in the same year. Across the state line, emo heavyweights Thursday hit Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence on Friday behind their major-label debut, War All the Time (Island); former Failure frontman Ken Andrews’s band Year of the Rabbit open. Relapse gorelords Exhumed are back with another grindcore odyssey, Anatomy Is Destiny, and a tour that hits the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence on Saturday.

Former MC5 manager and current beat-poet bluesman John Sinclair is making his last tour before expatriating himself to the herb-friendly republic of Amsterdam. You can find him tonight at Real Art Ways (860-232-1006) in Hartford; on Friday at the Metropolitan Coffeehouse (603-356-2332) in North Conway, New Hampshire; on Saturday at the Lizard Lounge (617-547-0659) in Cambridge; on Wednesday at the Press Room (603-431-0224) in Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and next Thursday, October 2, at Harvard Epworth Methodist Church (617-868-3661) in Cambridge.

Also this week, indie-rock guitar gods Built To Spill hit Pearl Street (413-584-7810) in Northampton on Sunday, the Paradise (617-423-NEXT) in Boston on Monday and Tuesday, and Lupo’s on Wednesday. The noisiest outfit in the DFA’s disco-punk coterie, Black Dice, hit T.T. the Bear’s Place (617-492-BEAR) in Cambridge on Monday and the Iron Horse (413-584-0610) in Northampton on Tuesday. And Maine singer-songwriting sensation Howie Day plays Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom (603-929-4100) on Saturday, Lupo’s on Sunday, and Avalon (617-423-NEXT) in Boston on Monday.