(Photo: clockwise from top left: Getty Images; Davida Nemeroff; Laurie McLeod Linda Bujoli; courtesy of Ricky Gervais; Asha Schechter)

Quick link > Visual Art & Film

Arcade Fire
Radio City Music Hall, 1260 Sixth Ave., nr. Broadway; 212-247-4777
Bowie loves them. Heck, he's even played with them. But this orchestral-rock giant's show has been sold out for ages so you're going to have to be crafty if you're going to see them.
• Wed., May 9; 8 p.m.
• $35.50 (sold out)

Air
The Theater at Madison Square Garden, 4 Penn Plz., nr. 32nd St.; 212-465-6741
The sumptuous French electro-pop duo returns to the U.S. after a three-year hiatus. Your flashbacks of The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation are happening for a reason. Air scored those Sofia Coppola movies.
• Thurs., May 10; 8 p.m.
• $46 (sold out)

The Polyphonic Spree
Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom, 311 W. 34th St., nr. Eighth Ave.; 212-279-7740
If you see roughly a dozen men and women in brightly colored, matching flowing robes carrying various esoteric instruments, it's safe to bet it's this many-membered choir of pop revivalism.
• Fri., May 11; 6:30 p.m.
• $35

Daniel Johnston
HighLine Ballroom, 431 W. 16th St., nr. Ninth Ave; 212-414-5994
Reclusive, mentally troubled Daniel Johnston thrills the indie cognoscenti, but the Bang on a Can All Stars add a splash of crowd-pleasing revelry while the Legendary Stardust Cowboy sounds like an homage to Ziggy.
• Wed., May 16; 8 p.m.
• $21.50 (sold out)

Ken Nordine
The Kitchen, 512 W. 19th St., nr. Tenth Ave.; 212-255-5793
The "word jazz" pioneer gets fingers snapping and minds bending with his poetry.
• Wed., May 16; 8 p.m.
• $19

Laurie Anderson
HighLine Ballroom, 431 W. 16th St., nr. Ninth Ave.; 212-414-5994
Lou Reed may have once been Bowie's BFF, but he's sent his better half, Laurie Anderson, to show why she's queen of the unexpected.
• Thurs., May 17; 6 p.m.
• $37

(Photo: Asha Schechter)

Deerhoof
Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Pl., at 15th St; 212-777-6800
The idiosyncratic West Coast art-rockers thrill audiences with the little-girl vocals of bassist Satomi Matsuzaki.
• Thurs., May 17; 8 p.m.
• $16.50

(Photo: Karl Giant)

Meow Meow
Hiro Ballroom at the Maritime Hotel, 371 W. 16th St., nr. Ninth Ave.; 212-727-0212
Unsatisfied with his successes with tranny musicals and soft-core-porn art films, downtown legend John Cameron Mitchell now guides an enigmatic cabaret vocalist like a latter-day Svengali.
• Fri., May 18; 7:30 p.m.
• $19

The Secret Machines
HighLine Ballroom, 431 W. 16th St., at Ninth Ave; 212-414-5994
Another protégé of the Thin White Duke, this trio proves space-rock is just as magical as Labyrinth.
• Sat., May 19; 8 p.m.
• $26.50 (sold out)