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.
Alabama Shakes didn’t leave us a ton of choice when it came to making our top selection for this week’s Milwaukee Concert Picks. Consider the evidence:
- Their tour that started in July represents their first proper live shows in eight years.
- “Another Life” — the single released last week — is their first new music in a decade.
- In addition to the track, they’re working on an entire album to finally follow up 2015 smash Sound & Color.
More specific to Milwaukee, Alabama Shakes last played in our city at the 2016 edition of Summerfest, and even then they shared headliner status with Chris Stapleton. Prior to that, they hit the Riverside Theater in 2015 and sold out the Pabst Theater in 2012. They’ll keep it in the PTG family this Thursday at the Miller High Life Theatre, with Sam Evian opening.
As NPR reported last week, the band hasn’t been shy about covering their full (albeit interrupted) career on their current tour. The set lists have included new material that seems destined for the hopefully soon-to-come album, as well as plenty of selections from Alabama Shakes’ first two full-length releases
“I was never a ‘usual’ guitar player, so I didn't play anything normal,” Brittany Howard explained to NPR. “So it was kind of frustrating for me to relearn my old parts. Because I was like, ‘What am I doing? Why did I play it this way?’ And then, while we're playing these songs live, all of a sudden it's like muscle memory will kick in. And I'll just start playing it correctly out of nowhere. It's almost like I remember from seven years ago where the fingers go, finally.”
We’ll also throw in a quick mention for a couple guys who probably didn’t need to spend as much time familiarizing themselves with older material: Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, aka The Black Keys, who get a Friday night slot at the BMO Pavilion as part of their “No Rain, No Flowers” tour.
It’s an apt name for this run of shows considering the cloudy days the band weathered as they announced and then wholesale canceled a 2024 tour that was scheduled to include a stop at Fiserv Forum. When tickets didn’t disappear as fast as they hoped, the duo regrouped by lining up a slate of performances, with Milwaukee landing in the tour’s second leg. In addition to hearing music from across The Black Keys’ career, fans will get a listen to English retro-rockers The Heavy The Heavy, who will open Friday’s show.
Best concerts in Milwaukee this week
- Sept. 4: Alabama Shakes w/Sam Evian @ Miller High Life Theatre, 8 p.m.
- Sept. 4: Ruthie Foster w/Zachary Scott Johnson @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
- Sept. 4: Jennifer Knapp @ Anodyne, 7:30 p.m.
- Sept. 4: Katy Pinke w/Marielle Allschwang & The Visitations, *aya @ Linneman’s, 7 p.m.
- Sept. 5: The Black Keys @ BMO Pavilion, 8 p.m.
- Sept. 6: Socially Suspect (EP release), Chapped Lips, Calicoloco, Well + Good @ Cactus Club, 6:30 p.m.
- Sept. 7: Mizzy, Smoke Free Home, I H8 It Here, Killer High Life @ Anodyne, 6:30 p.m.
- Sept. 9: Lake Street Dive w/Lawrence @ Miller High Life Theatre, 7:30 p.m.
