Ah, together at last: Avril Lavigne and Liz Phair on the same stage, in an inter-generational battle of the Matrix-penned skate-pop hits! We suspect there won’t be many sparks flying between the two at this year’s KISS FM concert at the Tweeter Center (617-931-2000) in Mansfield on Saturday. After all, Av’s got a new batch of Matrix-free — but radio-ready — hits to flog (see the preview on page 15 of Arts), and Liz openly adores Avril. Still, it would be nice to see ’em team up to knock some sense into fellow KISSer Jessica Simpson. Ja Rule, Sean Paul, and NSync’s JC Chassez are also on the bill.

So maybe we’ll have to settle for a battle of the middle-aged garage bands. There’s no love lost between upstate New York’s Chesterfield Kings and Boston’s indefatigable Lyres — the two have been regional rivals since the last great garage revival 20 years ago. The Lyres, of course, were far better: their fusion of soul and Sonics came off as even better than their sources, whereas the Kings had poodle hair and were content to mimic Nuggets-by-the-numbers. But the Kings are back with a new record produced by Little Steven Van Sant, who’s been plugging them on his nationally syndicated radio show. So there’s bragging rights at stake, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see some good-natured (or not) one-upmanship when the bands play the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge on Sunday. The Romantics, the Detroit power-pop outfit behind the early MTV hit "Talking in Your Sleep" as well as the ubiquitous car-commercial favorite "What I Like About You" — are on the bill as well. The Romantics and the Chesterfield Kings also play Friday at the Call (401-751-2255) in Providence and Saturday at Toad’s Place (203-562-5589) in New Haven.

Late one night, we stumbled across an MTV special that was so funny, we thought we’d dreamed it up. Premise: Andrew W.K. walks into an all-black college, hangs out in the girls’ dorm, gets a makeover, tries to learn how to dance, gets the marching band to play "Party Hard." We’ve never seen it again, but now MTV2 has given Mr. Wilkes-Krier his own show, Your Friend, Andrew W.K., which debuts Saturday at 9 p.m. You can get revved up for it by seeing the man in the flesh at Matrix (617-542-4077) in Boston on Friday, or set your VCR and go see him on Saturday at Lupo’s at the Strand (401-331-5876) in Providence, or just wait and drive to Toad’s Place on Sunday. Spazz-punk provocateurs the Locust open for all of the above. And if their bug suits put you in a mood to see more costumed metal, note that Gwar make their only local stop at Toad’s Place next Thursday, May 27.