It might be time to forget the whole St. Patrick’s Day thing and just refer to this as Dropkick Murphys week. The band’s six-night New England stand kicks off Tuesday at Lupo’s at the Strand (401-331-5876) in Providence with the Ducky Boys and Blood or Whiskey; unlike the group’s five-night, six-show stand at Avalon (617-262-2424) beginning on Wednesday, there’s still tickets left for the Lupo’s gig. (Matt Ashare’s review of DKM’s new singles collection is in " Off the Record, " on page 14.) It’s enough to make an earlier generation of punk-inspired Irish rockers green with envy: go ask Larry Kirwan, whose Black 47 tally through on their annual St. Paddy’s trek with jigs and gigs Friday at the Call (401-751-2255) in Providence and Sunday at the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge.

Sure, the Grammy balloters are perennially clueless, but when it comes to heavy metal, even when they get it right they get it wrong. Yes, it was nice to see Motörhead land a statue before Lemmy keels, but the committee couldn’t hand it over without slapping him in the face with it. To wit: the honor came not for any of Lemmy’s songs, but for a cover of Metallica’s 22-year-old song " Whiplash, " the sting of which might be softened by the knowledge that " Whiplash " was a pretty blatant Motörhead impersonation to begin with. Motörhead’s tour with Metalli-pals Corrosion of Conformity — and with Zeke, whose Death Alley was the best Motörhead rip-off since Kill ’Em All — hits the Palladium (800-477-6849) in Worcester on Friday, and the Webster Theater (860-525-5553) in Hartford on Tuesday.

If Motörhead’s win seems less offensive than Jethro Tull’s over Metallica in the ’80s, try telling that to Slipknot, who’ve become the de-facto figureheads of a metal underground that, for the first time since ’88, is as popular as it is vital. If it takes a bunch of middle-aged guys in masks to draw suburban kids to Lamb of God and Killswitch Engage, we’re all for it. They’re all at Tsongas Arena (617-931-2000) in Lowell on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, founding Add N to (x) member Ann Shenton continues her studies in mid-century electronic music under the name Large Number, in which homemade oscillators, theremin, Moog, and vintage drum machines shack up with banjos. Tonight (March 10) she’s at T.T. the Bear’s Place (617-492-BEAR), and Sunday she’s at Bar (203-495-8924) in New Haven.