Milwaukee’s concert scene has a lot going on, so we look at the shows coming up to find the ones you’ll look back on and be glad you went. Then we add them to our weekly Milwaukee Concert Picks.
The drip-drip-drip of live music as winter creeps closer to spring officially became a deluge this week. Local and national artists have positively flooded us with options over the next couple days, so let’s hit three of the biggies.
Your first opportunity is Thursday night, when The Cooperage hosts a sendoff for the half-dozen local acts ready to show SXSW what’s what.
On March 12 and 13, Marlow in Austin will become The Wisconsin House as The Keystones, Scam Likely, Social Cig, NilexNile, Joey Turbo and Wave Chapelle put their talents on display for the music-industry bigwigs on the scene. Before they do, they’ll share some tunes Thursday night at The Cooperage, all for the low low price of whatever you want to give them so they can pay for gas, hotels, food, etc.
Next up is Bug Moment’s EP release party at Cactus Club this Saturday, the latest waypoint for one of Milwaukee’s most reliable genre-flexing outfits.
The Lazer Collection sees the quartet spin the wheel toward hyperpop with five tracks that glitch out in very cool ways while swirling in some intricate guitarwork and in-your-face bombast. You may have already caught “Moonlight Greatsword” on 88Nine, but the whole project is worth checking out — as is Saturday’s show with Hey Ily, Blind Equation, Digital Maddie, Molokai and Dataexit.
We’re finishing strong with our Monday night recommendation: Faye Webster at the Riverside Theater. Despite being a fan of the baseball club that abandoned our city almost 60 years ago, Webster remains an 88Nine favorite thanks to her thoughtful approach to indie-alt music. That includes most recent album Underdressed at the Symphony, which leans more acoustic than past efforts and is downright orchestral in spots.
Webster doesn’t appear to have a string section on the tour bus, but the visuals she’s chosen to take on the road are pretty striking — in a laundromat-from-Tron sort of way. Check them out Monday night at the Riverside.
Best Milwaukee concerts this week
- March 6: Courtesy (album release), Dad Bods, New Confusion, Superglue @ Cactus Club, 7 p.m.
- March 6: The Keystones, Scam Likely, Social Cig, NilexNile, Joey Turbo, Wave Chapelle @ The Cooperage, 7 p.m.
- March 7: High Fade w/Six Foot Blonde @ Vivarium, 8 p.m.
- March 7: Chapped Lips, Pat & The Pissers, Lunar Moth, Slaphappening @ Linneman’s, 8 p.m.
- March 7: Gully Boys, Skating Polly, Breakup Tour, DJ Libra BOGO @ Cactus Club, 7 p.m.
- March 7: Okay Omen, Night Again, Faded Places @ The Cooperage, 7 p.m.
- March 8: Pom Pom Squad, Caroline Kingsbury @ X-Ray Arcade, 7:30 p.m.
- March 8: Jump the Bluff, Future Plans, Fuzzysurf, Squishee @ Anodyne, 6 p.m.
- March 8: Hazlett w/Abby Powledge @ Vivarium, 8 p.m.
- March 8: Bug Moment (EP release), Hey Ily, Blind Equation, Digital Maddie, Molokai, Dataexit @ Cactus Club, 6:30 p.m.
- March 10: Faye Webster w/Mei Ehara @ Riverside Theater, 8 p.m.
- March 11: Matt Nathanson w/Rachael Yamagata @ Pabst Theater, 7 p.m.
