Women rule the weekend, starting with the dark post-punk intensity of Savages (above). The all-female foursome from London mulls a bit more lightness of being on second album Adore, but Savages still are sure to hypnotize and pulverize when the band hits the Paradise Rock Club on Friday. Later that night, another London group, Haelos, get both dark and danceable with a mysterious whiff of trip-hop at the Middle East Upstairs.

If you want to catch a virtuosic vocalist, see Lisa Fischer, who’s soared as a backup singer for the Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, Sting and Nine Inch Nails since her Grammy-winning ’80s solo career, profiled in the documentary 20 Feet from Stardom. A delightful spirit who transforms rock, jazz and soul with sweeping precision, Fischer brings her band Grand Baton to the Newton North High School Auditorium on Friday (in a benefit for Historic Newton) and to the restored Cabot Theatre in Beverly on Saturday. Also on Saturday, catch Canadian indie-folk singer Basia Bulat at the Sinclair or bluegrass star Claire Lynch with her band at Lexington’s National Heritage Museum, while 12-year-old jazz piano prodigy Joey Alexander — who wowed at the Grammy Awards — holds court at Scullers Jazz Club.

Speaking of piano, you can’t get more charismatic than Hiromi, the Japanese dynamo who returns to her alma mater at the Berklee Performance Center on Sunday in her crack jazz-fusion trio with bassist Anthony Jackson and drummer Simon Phillips behind her new album Spark. For an alternative, there’s also the chance to catch Grammy-nominated UK indie-rockers Wolf Alice at the Brighton Music Hall.

Sunday also marks the opening night of preliminary rounds in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Rumble, which continues all week (except for Wednesday’s day of rest) at its new hang, the Once Ballroom at Cuisine en Locale, on Highland Avenue in Somerville. The Rumble’s an annual opportunity to catch the best in rising Boston area bands, curated by WZLX host Anngelle Wood and her team, and culminates in semi-finals on April 15-16 and finals (with guest band Scissorfight) on April 22. But the preliminaries are the place to sample the widest variety with four bands vying nightly to continue the quest for Rumble glory/fun. Here’s the Rumble website with lineups and set times.