Toronto concerts worth knowing about in September, 2012.

Hi again! It's time for our second installment of the monthly music picks post. September is a month to dread: students, teachers, rich people who "summer" at "cottages" all have to go back to "real life." The good news is that there's a ton of great shows coming up to ease us into fall.

HOT TICKETS

PUBLIC ENEMY / SEPTEMBER 2 / 8PM / SOUND ACADEMY / $25
Formed in 1982 this is like, the original "rap group," people. They'll be performing "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" in its entirety.

CITY AND COLOUR / SEPTEMBER 12 / 5:30PM / MOLSON AMPITHEATRE / $25-$49.50
Join Dallas Green and co. as he croons about wife Leah Miller. He's released three studio albums since 2005 with Dine Alone Records and recently came out with a live album Europe 2011.

MADONNA / SEPTEMBER 12 & 13 / 7PM / AIR CANADA CENTRE / $182.75-$374
You know who Madonna is. Go see the old sinewy chicken herself at this bargain-bin price before it's too late.

WILD NOTHING and DIIV / SEPTEMBER 18 / 8PM / THE GREAT HALL / $15.50
A bunch of dreamy bedroom-pop types take over the Great Hall. Wild Nothing started with a gentlemen called Jack Tatum in 2009; he covered Kate Bush's Cloudbusting and got real famous. His latest album Nocturne was just released on August 28th so expect to hear a lot from that. DIIV (pronounced "Dive," duh) is the side project of Zachary Cole formerly of Beach Fossils and they're from Brooklyn, so they must be cool.

LAETITIA SADIER / SEPTEMBER 18 / 8:30PM / THE DRAKE HOTEL / $16.50
She's best known as the singer of Stereolab, but she's also released two solo full lengths including 2012's Silencio. In such an intimate setting this will be a definite treat.

ARIEL PINK'S HAUNTED GRAFFITI / SEPTEMBER 19 / 8PM / LEE'S PALACE / $20
Does his name make any sense to you? Me neither. Mr. Pink (Ariel Marcus Rosenberg) was signed to Animal Collective's Paw Tracks in 2003 but it's taken quite some time for him to gain popularity. Expect an extremely lo-fi sound and drum sounds using his armpits (seriously).

DAVID BYRNE and ST. VINCENT / SEPTEMBER 20 / 7PM / QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE / $49.50-$75
This pair will release a collaborative album on September 10th titled Love This Giant. The lead single, "Who," is sure to delight fans of The Talking Heads.

RICH AUCOIN / SEPTEMBER 20 / 8PM / LEE'S PALACE / $12.50
A Rich Aucoin show is something everyone should experience. The venues he's playing are getting increasingly larger which just gives him more room to play with his parachute — and the audience, of course.

GRIMES / SEPTEMBER 22 / 9PM / LEE'S PALACE / $20
This tiny Montreal via Vancouver pixie child is a critical darling. Her unconventional vocals mixed with hip hop and noise rock make for a unique sound. Also, if her videos are any indication, the live show should be adequately weird.

DINOSAUR JR. / SEPTEMBER 24, 25 and 26 / 8PM / LEE'S PALACE / $34.50
Playing a three night residency at Lee's with The Besnard Lakes you can probably expect some local special guests to make appearances. Incredibly influential on '90s alternative rock, they're releasing their 10th album, I Bet on Sky, on September 18th.

TY SEGALL and THEE OH SEES / SEPTEMBER 26 / 8PM / THE HOXTON / $18.50
We've talked enough about Ty Segall before, so let's focus on his co-headliners, Thee Oh Sees. They've released a shit tonne (an exact measurement) of material since 2004 and John Dwyer's unique falsetto yelps give them an edge above most garage rock bands.

GRIZZLY BEAR / SEPTEMBER 26 / 7PM / MASSEY HALL / $45.89
My boyfriend likes to re-tell the story of how he saw them before they were famous at The Paddock years ago. All I have to say is, it's still worth seeing them now, bro. Their performances are so tight and their sound so big that they're probably better suited to a bigger venue anyway.

PAPERBAG RECORDS 10TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT SERIES / SEPTEMBER 27-29 / 9PM / THE GREAT HALL / $25-60
Paperbag, based in Toronto, has been around since 2002 and has released some very notable records. They're celebrating their 10th anniversary with three nights of music starting with Elliot Brood on the 27th, The Rural Alberta Advantage the next night and finally You Say Party! on the 29th. A celebration not to be missed!

OTHER NOTEWORTHY CONCERTS AND FESTIVALS

• The Offspring / September 2 / 5:30PM / Echo Beach / $42.50-$75.00
• 2 Chainz / September 4 / 8PM / The Phoenix / $31
• Saul Williams / September 7 / 8PM / The Great Hall / $21.50
• Riot Fest with Fucked Up, Andrew W.K. / September 9 / 12PM / Fort York: Garrison Common / $39.50-$65
• Amon Tobin / September 10 / 10PM / Kool Haus / $36.50
• Bloc Party / September 10 and 11 / 7PM / The Danforth Music Hall / $24-$35
• Julie Doiron / September 13 / 8:30PM / The Garrison / $10.50
• KISS AND MOTLEY CRUE / September 13 / 5:30PM / Molson Ampitheatre / $50.50-$120.50
• John Fogerty / September 14 / 6:30PM / Sony Centre / $20-$99.50
• Loretta Lynn / September 15 / 7PM / Massey Hall / $69.50
• Ladyhawke / September 15 / 7PM / The Hoxton / $15
• GZA / September 15 / 8PM / Sound Academy / $24.50
• Ed Sheeran / September 17 / 7PM / Echo Beach / SOLD OUT
• Wye Oak / September 17 / 8:30PM / Hard Luck / $12.50
• Cate le Bon / September 18 / 8PM / Rivoli / $10
• Peter Gabriel / September 19 / 7PM / Air Canada Centre / $TBA
• Gotye / September 20 / 6PM / Molson Ampitheatre / $29.50-$69.50
• Catl / September 20 / 9PM / The Silver Dollar Room / $6
• Lil B / September 20 / 8PM / Phoenix Concert Theatre / $28
• The Killers / September 22 / 8PM / Sound Academy / $54.50
• Craft Spells / September 23 / 9PM / Parts and Labour (The Shop) / $12.50
• The Antlers / September 25 / 8PM / The Great Hall / $21.50
• First Aid Kit / September 26 / 8PM / The Danforth Music Hall / $26.50-$31.50

See also: 10 must-see hip hop shows.

For more music listings, head on over to our events calendar.

Looking for tickets? Check out Rotate This or Soundscapes to avoid Ticketmaster robbery. For sold out shows, there's always Craigslist (as if you didn't know that).

Have a concert you'd like us to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO events calendar.

Photo by Reza Vaziri in the blogTO Flickr pool