This week in Philly Music, the Jingle Ball comes to town with Shaboozey and Katy Perry. Plus, Strand of Oaks, Darlene Love, and more

This week in Philly music features the cavalcade of big-name pop stars — Shaboozey! Teddy Swims! Katy Perry! — playing the Jingle Ball, plus a Philadelphia Orchestra jazz mash-up, Strand of Oaks Winter Classic 10th anniversary, and Christmas shows with Darlene Love, John Waters, and York Street Hustle.

But let’s start with Fantastic Cat. The New York quartet is a supergroup of sorts, made up of songwriters who have pooled their talents as a pub-rock band and loosened up to highly entertaining effect on two albums — their 2022 debut The Very Best of Fantastic Cat and this year’s Now That’s What I Call Fantastic Cat.

And oh yeah, all four meow men — Brian Dunne, Don DiLego, Anthony D’Amato, and Mike Montali — wear cat masks in their promo photos. The band plays World Cafe Live on Thursday with the Flying Vees — the Philly quartet of Brechyn Chace, Shannon Vasile, Caitlin Ramsey, and Hannah Taylor opening.

At Marian Anderson Hall on Thursday, Yannick’s Holiday Mixtape matches the Philadelphia Orchestra with the Taurey Butler Trio and singers V. Shayne Frederick and Laurin Talese, who was a standout playing Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill last year.

Philly punk quintet Wax Jaw, which is fronted by singer Shane Morgan, has a new single called “Boy’s Life.” It’s a super-hooky salvo with surf-rock smarts that Morgan has said is about “embracing my own truth and struggling to be accepted in a world that uses the queer community as a political chess piece. I channeled my own gay rage to communicate in this song that I refuse to be a pawn for someone else’s hypocritical gain.”

Wax Jaw, whose full-length debut is due next year on Philly’s Born Losers label, headlines Underground Arts on Thursday, with Friend and Thing.

Indie bookers 4333 Collective is presenting Philth Fest at the Ukie Club on Friday and Saturday, with 10 bands each day. Friday’s bill is topped by Greg Mendez and Daffo, with not-to-miss 2nd Grade earlier in the day. Saturday’s headliners are Michael Cera Palin and Trash.

Darlene Love was last seen in Philadelphia during the Thanksgiving parade, floating in front of the Art Museum’s Rocky Steps singing perhaps the greatest Christmas song of all time, her definitive 1963 rendition of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” The 83-year-old — who, fun fact, played Danny Glover’s wife in the Lethal Weapon series — presents her Love for the Holidays show at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside on Friday.

Canadian folk rock songwriter Kathleen Edwards was terrific as always in King of Prussia this summer, and now she’s circling back to play Arden Gild Hall in Delaware on Friday. Edwards has just released a version of the R.E.M. song “Sweetness Follows,” following her recent covers of Bruce Springsteen, John Prine, and Tom Petty songs. She has a Jason Isbell-produced album due in 2025.

David Yow and ‘90s noise-rockers the Jesus Lizard, whose Hide and Seek is its first album in 26 years, plays Union Transfer on Friday, and Jersey bar band extraordinaire Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes is at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville.

In Atlantic City, Low Cut Connie is kicking off a final run of Art Dealers shows at the Anchor Rock Club on Saturday. This is the final chance to see the Adam Weiner-led band, who released the scorching Connie Live in-concert album last month, in its current configuration.

Three members — guitarist Will Donnelly, multi-instrumentalist Abigail Dempsey, and bass player Linwood Regensburg are leaving the band after its New Year’s Eve show at West Art in Lancaster.

Tim Showalter, a.k.a. Strand of Oaks, birthed a tradition back in 2015 when the singer-guitarist inaugurated the Winter Classic, an annual December intimate experience at the Boot & Saddle, the South Philly space that is now Solar Myth.

This year Showalter, who now lives in Austin, Texas, and released the synthy Miracle Focus in June, has relocated the Winter Classic to Union Transfer. On Saturday, he’ll play, backed by his Philly bandmates Pat Finnerty and Patrick Berkery.

Speaking of Solar Myth, the Air Legacy Trio of saxophone player and flautist Marty Ehrlich, bassist Hilliard Green, and drummer Pheeroan akLaff plays the music of composer Henry Threadgill at the South Philly club on Friday.

Philly soul and rock singer Son Little plays Ardmore Music Hall on Saturday, in support of 2023’s Like Neptune. Tonina opens. Philly funk and soul nonet York Street Hustle brings its annual holiday spectacular to World Cafe on Saturday, and Philly heavy rock band Baroness plays two sold-out shows at Kung Fu Necktie on Saturday and Sunday.

The Jingle Ball isn’t a Christmas show per se; it’s the annual iHeart Radio concert tour presented locally by Q102, otherwise known as WIOQ-FM (102.1). It marks the triumphant return of Shaboozey, who played The Roots Picnic in June before his ubiquitous “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” topped the Billboard pop charts for a record 19 consecutive weeks.

Also, along with soul and R&B singer Teddy Swims and Perry, whose 143 album has gotten pilloried in the press, the bill at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday includes Tate McRae, Meghan Trainor, Jason Derulo, Gracie Abrams, and Dasha.

Finally for something a wee bit perverse: Baby Doll and Pink Flamingos filmmaker John Waters — the self-proclaimed “People’s Pervert” — brings his one-man show to Union Transfer on Tuesday for a seated evening in which “he waxes lyrical on all thing Yuletide” in his annual A John Waters Christmas show.