Wilco began its 2010 world tour this week, stopping in Portland Tuesday for a sold-out set where, says Rolling Stone, the band proved a "well-oiled rock machine." The Oregonian called it an "intense, beautiful, playful ... moving performance," concluding: "Wilco's a great band that played a great show." Seattle Weekly says that at last night's Seattle show, the band "somehow made the sold-out Paramount even more golden for two straight hours."

The Low Anthem closes out its European tour with a bang tonight, playing its biggest headline show ever at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London. There's more to come, as the band returns to the States for tours with The Avett Brothers and others, plus a stop at SXSW. The group's new radio show on WOXY, The Trala-lala Radio Hour, is now two episodes in, featuring music by the likes of Dylan, Cohen, Guthrie, Waits, Randy Newman, and Wilco.

The Magnetic Fields' tour settles in for two nights in Boston. In the Toronto Star, Stephin Merritt ("one of indie-rock's most beloved songwriters") gives fans an idea of what to expect on tour: "If we played it last time we toured, we're not playing it this time." With The A.V. Club, he shares some secrets to writing a good love song, advising: "Keep it vague." And Strange Powers, a new documentary about Merritt and the band, will be given a sneak preview at San Francisco's Noise Pop Festival and premiere at South by Southwest.

The wait is over. The official line-up for the 2010 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, has been announced. The festival will be held from Thursday, June 10, through Sunday, June 13, and among this year's artists are three Nonesuch groups: The Black Keys, Punch Brothers, and Carolina Chocolate Drops. All three groups will be on tour in the coming months.

Christina Courtin, having just completed a short tour with Josh Rouse, is now set to hit the road again for two weeks with Mike Doughty, the former front man of the band Soul Coughing. Courtin will join Doughty starting a week from Saturday, at Poor David's Pub in Dallas, Texas, on February 20, then head through the Southwest and into California, rounding things out at Slim's in San Francisco on March 6.

Pat Metheny's Orchestrion tour continues to wind its way through Europe. In advance of a show at London's Barbican Hall in London, Pat spoke with the BBC Radio 3's Jazz Line-up and with Jazz FM about the album the Observer calls "extraordinary," with the music "gripping as usual." The Edmonton Journal gives the album 3 1/2 stars, citing Pat's "brilliant guitar playing."

The Magnetic Fields cross into Canada ... Carolina Chocolate Drops close out UK tour ... Christina Courtin opens for Josh Rouse in NYC, Philly ... Bill Frisell unveils his Baghdad/Seattle Suite in Minneapolis ... Richard Goode, Jonathan Biss give duo recital in Boston ... Kronos performs in Chicago, New Jersey ... The Low Anthem continues European tour ... Brad Mehldau goes solo at Harvard ... Pat Metheny sets up in Scandinavia ... Punch Brothers play benefit in LA ... Joshua Redman's James Farm plays Istanbul, Milan ... Sara Watkins winds down UK tour ... Wilco kicks off world tour in Montana ... and more ...

Kronos Quartet performs at the McAninch Arts Center outside Chicago tonight. On the program are pieces from the group's latest release, Floodplain, including Aleksandra Vrebalov's ... hold me, neighbor, in this storm ..., which the Seattle Weekly recently called a "compelling, emotionally far-ranging tone poem." The A.V. Club Chicago spoke with Kronos's David Harrington about introducing audiences to new sounds. "The things that we do," he says, "are, hopefully, the beginnings of explorations for other people."

The Low Anthem's European tour continues through next week. In a recent performance, says The Guardian, the band gave "a real barn-burner, swapping instruments with giddy abandon, and ­rattling through a set-list that swayed ­between tender, harmonious folk songs and ramshackle rock 'n' roll with sweaty, unstudied authenticity." The paper profiles the group and examines its success at respecting the past while creating something new.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops' tour of the UK brings the band to London for a performance at Bush Hall tonight. The concert is a Critics' Choice from Time Out London, which finds the band "drawing on Carolina's vibrant musical heritage to play high energy bluegrass with a jazzy twist." The Guardian, in a four-star review of a recent show, says "it is the interaction between the members, swapping ­instruments and harmony lines on the fly, that makes them such a joy to watch."

Wilco begins its world tour at the University of Montana's Adams Center in Missoula this Sunday. Concerts in the American Pacific Northwest and into Canada follow, leading to the band's free LiveCity Vancouver performance as part of the festivities surrounding the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The band has now added several tour stops in Europe this May, including shows in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, and Italy.

David Byrne will present his video/audio lecture called Creation in Reverse at Bowery Ballroom in New York City tonight as part of the Stories in High Fidelity reading and music series. There will also be a special music performance by Nicole Atkins, a featured vocalist on Byrne's forthcoming Todomundo/Nonesuch release, Here Lies Love, which is available for pre-order now in the Nonesuch Store.