7:30 pm: Pop Music

Lyle Lovett’s career as an actor hasn’t exactly skyrocketed, but his affiliation with filmmaker Robert Altman continues to be a creative outlet--his most recent album is the soundtrack to the director’s “Dr. T and the Women,” in which the Texan stretches into predominantly instrumental territory.

* Lyle Lovett & His Large Band, with Shawn Colvin, Greek Theatre, 2700 Vermont Canyon Road, 7:30 p.m. $19.50 to $68.50. (323) 665-1927.

6 pm: Festival

The sixth annual Gourmet L.A. Festival, featuring food, live music and celebrity authors, runs Friday to Sunday at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Twenty Los Angeles restaurants will be providing dishes and offering chef demonstrations. The culinary focus will range from Italian to Moroccan. Patrice Rushen, Ndugu Chancler, the Young Dubliners, Jeff Lorber and the Bus Boys are among the musical acts scheduled. Authors on hand will include Sandra Tsing-Loh, Jackie Collins and Dom DeLuise.

* Gourmet L.A. Festival, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., 6 to 11 p.m. Friday, noon to 11 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. $10 admission. Food tastings are nominally priced. (888) 237-8635.

7:30 pm: Pop Music

Sade’s fans aren’t the love-her-and-leave-her type, so they wait patiently when the sultry singer disappears for several years, then buy millions of copies of her new album when she resurfaces. That’s what happened last year with “Lovers Rock” and is likely to repeat at the box office in Irvine and Los Angeles as she tours for the first time in six years.

* Sade, with India.Arie, Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, 8808 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine, 7:30 p.m. $33.75 to $88.75. (949) 855-8096. Also Sunday (with Youssou N’Dour) at 7 p.m. and Monday at 7:30 p.m. at the Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., L.A. $33.75 to $129.75. (Monday sold out.) (323) 850-2000.

8 pm: Dance

Anyone in the Guinness Book of Records for the fastest taps on earth (35 in one second) has the right to title his latest showcase “Feet of Flames.” And step-dance star Michael Flatley has never exactly been shy about promoting himself. So expect Chicago’s own Lord of the Dance to embellish himself with platoons of tireless backup dancers, a carload of beaded jackets and plenty of black leather when he arrives in a show that the Columbus Dispatch recently called “one part televised World Wrestling Federation, one part David Copperfield magic show, one part Elton John during his Captain Fantastic days, and--oh yes--some top-notch Irish step-dancing.”

* Michael Flatley in “Feet of Flames,” Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa St., downtown L.A. 8 p.m. $35 to $85. (213) 480-3232.

8:30 pm: Music

Vocal prodigy Charlotte Church joins John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra for a “Rule Britannia!” program at the Hollywood Bowl on Friday and Saturday nights. Among the represented composers are Benjamin Britten, William Walton, John Barry, Alfred Newman and others. Also assisting: the Los Angeles Scots Pipe Band.

* “Rule Britannia!,” John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood, 8:30 p.m. $3 to $85. Also Saturday, 8:30 p.m. (323) 850-2000.

8:30 pm: Theater

“Barri,” Pakistani playwright Shahid Nadeem’s landmark play attacking gender and class discrimination, is about four women sharing a prison cell. Their crimes? Women’s rights activism, concealing the whereabouts of a son suspected of theft, dancing at a shrine and the murder of a violent husband.

* “Barri,” Highways, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica, Friday and Saturday, 8:30 p.m. $30. Free pre-show panel discussion on Saturday at 4 p.m. (310) 315-1459.

7:30 pm: Dance

When Universal Ballet of South Korea first danced locally in 1998, The Times praised its “one impressive advantage over nearly every American company: All the dancers embody the identical concept of classical style, the identical sense of placement, line, technical finesse. Whatever their individual talent or training, they speak the exact same movement language.” Universal Ballet now returns to dance Marius Petipa’s full-evening “La Bayadere” as staged by Oleg Vinogradov, the former artistic director of the Kirov Ballet who now serves Universal Ballet in the same capacity. Also scheduled: “Shim Chung,” Adrienne Dellas’ endearing Petipa-style story ballet based on classic Korean sources.

* Universal Ballet in “La Bayadere,” Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A. 7:30 p.m. Also Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. $20 to $65. (213) 365-3500. The company dances the full-evening “Shim Chung” on Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the same venue.

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Freebies

* “The Normal Heart,” Larry Kramer’s groundbreaking play about the AIDS crisis, will be presented by the Youth of CITY Project and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center at the center’s Davidson/Valenti Theatre, the Village at Ed Gould Plaza, 1125 N. McCadden Place, Hollywood, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 7 p.m. (323) 860-7300.

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* Mozart’s “Eine kleine Nachtmusik,” Bach’s Fifth “Brandenburg” Concerto, Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Copland’s “Quiet City” are performed by the Redlands Bowl Summer Festival Symphony, with Angela Chang the piano soloist, Redlands Bowl, 25 Grant St., Redlands, 8:15 p.m. (909) 793-7316.