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.
Trevor Powers isn’t one to rush things.
The individual behind Youth Lagoon seemed to leave that particular label behind way back in 2016, when he called it “a space I no longer inhabit, nor want to inhabit.” At that point, fans of the three albums Powers released likely thought they’d need to make peace with the fact they might not get any more.
We now know that wasn’t the case. It took seven years, but Youth Lagoon poked its head back above water in 2023 with the release of Heaven Is a Junkyard — and a subsequent visit to Studio Milwaukee followed by a sold-out show at Cactus Club.
Almost exactly a year after his session, Powers teased us with the single “Lucy Takes a Picture” that 88Nine music director Erin Wolf eagerly spotlighted on What’s All This. Staying true to his slow-playing persona, he waited another seven months before sharing the album that housed the single, Rarely Do I Dream.
Now, just a shade under three months later, we get to hear those songs live at Youth Lagoon’s Thursday night Vivarium show.
Best Milwaukee concerts this week
- May 7: The Magnetic Fields (69 Love Songs anniversary) @ Pabst Theater, 8 p.m.
- May 8: Youth Lagoon w/Kaleah Lee @ Vivarium, 8 p.m.
- May 8: Oh Geeez Not Again, Life After 5, Violet Wilder @ Falcon Hall, 8 p.m.
- May 9: Jimmy Eat World w/Diet Lite @ The Rave, 8 p.m.
- May 9: Caley Conway w/Lee Ketch, MATTHÚ @ Linneman’s, 8 p.m.
- May 9: Gang of Four @ Turner Hall, 8 p.m.
- May 9: Freak Heat Waves, Jack J @ Cactus Club, 10 p.m.
- May 9: Mari Mari (EP release), Bunk Bed @ Club Garibaldi's, 8 p.m.
- May 10: North Warren w/Lunar Moth, The Rotundos, Old Timer @ Linneman’s, 8 p.m.
- May 10: Whitney Rose, Jesús Villa @ Var Gallery, 7 p.m.
- May 13: Venturer, Cripes, The Mystical Hot Chocolate Endeavors, Vanity Plates @ X-Ray Arcade, 7 p.m.
