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.
You may have noticed elsewhere on our website, we debuted a very cool limited series developed by one of our very capable summer interns, Jonathan Joseph. So, in the spirit of “DIY Digest” (a look into what makes Milwaukee’s DIY music scene tick), we thought it was only fitting to keep things local for this batch of Milwaukee Concert Picks.
In fact, let’s take things a step further and stay at one particular venue that understands the DIY mindset pretty darn well: Falcon Hall. What was merely the fifth-oldest continuously operating bowling alley in the country (Falcon Bowl) became a new destination for the city’s music lovers, as the owners lovingly brought the unused performance space to life so it could host concerts on the regular.
This week is a fine case in point and delivers two chances to see a full night of all-local artists — with one small technicality. That asterisk comes Thursday night in the form of headliner Sugar Ransom, who’s based out of Texas music mecca Austin but says Milwaukee “has always felt like home since my days sleeping on the mean streets of Riverwest as a runaway teen.”
Sarah Ransom-Laud pours big emotions into her music, most pointedly through a voice that can be sweet one moment and searing the next. The same might be said of her stage-mate Thursday, Caley Conway, who’s coming up on the one-year anniversary of Partner, her excellent 2024 full-length. They’ll be joined by Shawn Alan Hurd for the show that gets started at 8 p.m., with doors an hour earlier.
A couple days after that formidable trio, Falcon Hall will welcome another one that plays in a slightly different part of the musical pool. R.J. Ziebarth starts the Saturday night show as part of a year that saw him release his self-titled debut album back in February. Then we get a big sonic swing to recent Milwaukee Music Premiere’ers Fairy Astronaut before closing things out with indie-funk-alt-blues blender Torcado, whose Float Away EP got its release in August.
Quick bonus pick: Since we mentioned DIY off the top, keep your eyes on Falcon Hall next Thursday, as the intrepid team from Down on Downer presents DIY Fest featuring Off Season, In Shining Armour, Charlie Boy and Tiny Vamp (and a pretty sweet poster). We’ll probably have more to say in our next installment, but it never hurts to plan ahead.
Best concerts in Milwaukee this week
- Oct. 22: Natalie Sue & The Steed, Stefan Weiner, Max Niemann @ Cactus Club, 7 p.m.
- Oct. 23: Sugar Ransom w/Caley Conway, Shawn Alan Hurd @ Falcon Hall, 8 p.m.
- Oct. 23: Oister Boy w/Oh Well OK, Waterspouts @ Linneman’s, 8 p.m.
- Oct. 24: Six Foot Blonde @ Vivarium, 8 p.m.
- Oct. 24-26: Widespread Panic @ Riverside Theater, 8 p.m.
- Oct. 25: Kathleen Edwards @ Vivarium, 8 p.m.
- Oct. 25: Torcado w/Fairy Astronaut, RJ Ziebarth @ Falcon Hall, 8 p.m.
- Oct. 26: Thriller Night w/Brew City Soul feat. Shonn Hinton @ The Cooperage, 7 p.m.
