Fall means a lot of things in Athens: school, football, exponentially more enjoyable weather patterns and, perhaps most importantly, a dramatic increase in the amount of high-profile concerts. Each year we at Flagpole make it our mission to cobble together a list of the most anticipated shows of the season so you can go ahead and put 'em on your calendar. From buzzy indie acts to tie-dyed jam standbys to legends of the rock and roll guard, there's a little bit of everything coming through town over the next few months. Unless you want to be the lamer that misses it all, start saving for tickets now!

SEPTEMBER

Things get crazy in September. Like, Octomom-crazy. The month starts off with a bang, when the former Athenians of Azure Ray (Caledonia Lounge, 9/6) return to their old stomping grounds with copies of their new album, As Above So Below, in tow. And hey, remember Drivin' N Cryin' (Georgia Theatre, 9/14)? Frontman Kevn Kinney's famed rock band will blow the roof off the Theatre in September. (Hopefully not literally. That place has been through enough.)

Tycho and The Album Leaf (Georgia Theatre, 9/15) will bring the ambient techno and electro-rock vibes, respectively. Pysch-punks Jaill (Farm 255, 9/16) will play a good ol' Sunday show at Farm. In the wake of their first band releases since 2004, the Ohioan indie-rock miscreants in Guided By Voices (40 Watt Club, 9/18) will bless us with their raucous presence once again.

The North Mississippi Allstars (Georgia Theatre, 9/19) will groove on some real Southern rock. Alt-country heroes The Handsome Family (Melting Point, 9/20) will delight with their sly downer-folk. Hometown hotshots The Whigs (Georgia Theatre, 9/21) celebrate the release of their brand-new album, Enjoy the Company, with a special Athens performance. Pujol (Georgia Theatre, 9/18) will garage-punk the hell out of your eardrums. And Quintron and Miss Pussycat (Farm 255, 9/20) will confuse the hell out of any Farm passers-by.

The Mad Violinist (New Earth Music Hall, 9/21) will jam on his violin with hip-hop and dubstep aplomb. For those into the funky-junky jam scene (yeah, you with the moccasins), you'll be pleased to hear that Louisiana's Galactic (Georgia Theatre, 9/22) is returning to our city to beam you back onto its funk-rock-hop hybrid mothership. (Probing not included in ticket price.) For aging, erstwhile pop-punk fanatics yearning for a return to the Warped Tour-studded days of yore, The Ataris (Caledonia Lounge, 9/26) come to town for a make-up of their scheduled February show.

OFF!

Speaking of punk, the city will be sufficiently rocked by the pretty damn spectacular triple bill of OFF!, Negative Approach and Double Negative (40 Watt Club, 9/29), where rock will be rocked, many alcoholic drinks will be drunk and the swirling circle pit will hopefully not cause the floor to open up, revealing that the darkest depths of hell are actually concealed right underneath the 40 Watt. Hopefully!

OCTOBER

Home of Halloween, the "Georgia-Florida World's Largest Outdoor Binge-Drinking Contest Oh Shit I Totally Forgot There's a Football Game" cocktail party and a formidable list of scheduled performers, October promises to be a doozy.

Indielectro mainstays The Octopus Project (Melting Point, 10/1) return to town. Legendary session man/Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Leon Russell (Georgia Theatre, 10/2) comes ramblin' around. Glitchy superstar The Polish Ambassador (New Earth Music Hall, 10/2) will bump some mad crazy beats for your spastic body movements. Local punks Muuy Biien (Caledonia Lounge, 10/5) will mark the official physical release of their stellar new album with a blowout show at Caledonia. White Rabbits (40 Watt Club, 10/5) are 2000s indie-rock to a tee, so wear your skinny jeans and blah blah aren't hipster jokes getting old? James McMurtry and Joe Pug (Melting Point, 10/6) will prove that two gritty, evocative singer-songwriters are better than one. And Gonjasufi (New Earth Music Hall, 10/11) will rap in that weird, creepy, kinda-awesome voice of his.

Whoa! GZA and Killer Mike (Georgia Theatre, 10/13): same stage, same night, the former performing his classic Liquid Swords in its entirety, and the latter basking in the afterglow of his stellar new album, R.A.P. Music. Meanwhile, the violin-tinged chamber-pop of the lauded Andrew Bird (Georgia Theatre, 10/5) will inspire some self-conscious, introspective semi-dancing; the Latin/world-beat grooves of Antibalas (40 Watt Club, 10/6) will make many booties shake; and the bluegrass-jam stylings of the talented but horribly named Leftover Salmon (Georgia Theatre, 10/9) will start many UGA-capped heads a-noddin'. Mutemath (40 Watt Club, 10/11) brings its electro-tinged rock to the 40 Watt. Huzzah!

That same night, comedy fans can see Wanda Sykes' (Classic Center, 10/11) outrageous stand-up act. Tennis' (40 Watt Club, 10/10) precious indie-pop is makin' serious waves in tastemaking circles; that group's show should be packed with ebullient, fresh-faced WUOG staffers. The Melvins (40 Watt Club, 10/13) bring their sludgy, grunge-y, detuned metal back to our neck of the woods; that show should be packed with smelly, overweight townie-types. Let's hope those two shows don't get mixed up, Freaky Friday-style. Imagine the hijinks!

The list continues. Athens-based folk-country songstress Lera Lynn (Georgia Theatre, 10/20) will play to an appreciative hometown crowd. The lovely Kathleen Edwards (Melting Point, 10/23) brings her similarly tinted music to town. Pop-punkers Say Anything (40 Watt Club, 10/24) are celebrating the return of original lead singer Max Bemis and a new album. Meanwhile, venerable country-folkie Patty Griffin (Melting Point, 10/22) blesses us with her timeless radiance.

Maserati

Wow, October's huge! It concludes with a pair of bigguns at the 40 Watt: First, Anticon founder Yoni Wolf's excellent, genre-spanning group Why? (40 Watt Club, 10/25) will ring in the release of its new album, Mumps, Etc. A couple days later, Athens post-rock institution Maserati (40 Watt Club, 10/27) commemorates its hotly anticipated new record, Maserati VII.

NOVEMBER

OK, so a lot of shows from November onward are no doubt still in the works. Venue owners are making calls, promoters are sealing back room deals and bands are all coy, like, "Maybe we'll play, maybe we won't." Trust that there will be a steady stream of newly announced shows as the next couple months progress.

For now, there are a few notables to point out. Locals Futurebirds (Georgia Theatre, 11/1) will headline a hot one. San Francisco noise purveyors The Soft Moon (Caledonia, 11/7) will perform. Del the Funky Homosapien (New Earth Music Hall, 11/9) will inject us with a needed dose of deep hip-hop. Fragmented Bay Area popsters Deerhoof (40 Watt Club, 11/10) will return, to the delight of local music nerds galore, many of whom are already planning which obscure B-sides and ironic covers they'll shout for in-between songs. Marco Benevento (New Earth Music Hall, 11/10) brings his experimental jazz piano to town. The fluid, funky jam overlords of Perpetual Groove (Georgia Theatre, 11/15) will help their audience get their, uh, groove back. And comedian Louis C.K. (Classic Center, 11/30) will perform not one but two shows the very same night, to the delight of everyone, everywhere, because doesn't it seem like everyone is always talking about Louis C.K. these days? It's probably because he's very good at what he does. Still, it's enough already.

That's that! Of course, this is only a fraction of the hundreds of nightly events you can expect to encounter this fall in the Classic City. Choosing how many of them, and which ones, you're going to see can be a daunting task for psyche and wallet alike. But let's all thank our lucky stars we live in a place where such veritable Sophie's Choice-style personal entertainment decision-making is even possible. Yay, variety!