RALEIGH
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL
RBC CENTERRemember how fresh and cutting-edge Cirque du Soleil seemed when it grabbed our attention? Springboarding off that success, Delirium is a blend of dance, theater and multimedia that highlights Cirque du Soleil's music remixed. Created and directed by Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon, the show promises a "delirious sensory folly" aiming for "balance in a world that is increasingly out of sync with reality." You can catch it tonight at the RBC Center. Tickets range from $39.50-$110. For more information, call 861-2300 or visit www.cirquedusoleil.com. Ashley Roberts
GIBBONS RUARK
PEACE COLLEGEAward-winning poet and North Carolina native Gibbons Ruark will give a poetry reading today at 7:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. For more info, call 508-2206 or 508-2207. Megan Stein
DURHAM
XIU XIU, SHEARWATER
DUKE COFFEEHOUSEXiu Xiu's made some of the most devastat(-ed/-ing) music of the past decade, denouncing everything from torturing lovers to warmongers in songs as fragile as they are forceful. Live, they're something else: highly recommended. Shearwater just made the jump from the sailed ship that is Misra Records to Matador, and the horizons for their slow, brooding acoustic-and-reverb numbers are wider than ever. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone opens at 9:30 p.m. and tickets are $8. Grayson Currin