Concert announcements always bring at least a little warmth to chilly times, and Pabst Theater Group shared a couple Tuesday morning that will bring foundational 88Nine artists to Milwaukee later this year.
Hitting first on the calendar are the Afghan Whigs, who will mark four decades as a band with a tour that stops at Turner Hall Ballroom on May 8, with Mercury Rev opening. In a release about the band’s 40th anniversary plans, co-founder Greg Dulli said, “40 years later, I still get to do the thing I love the most: writing songs and performing them with my friends all over the world. I truly have to pinch myself.”
Moving into even warmer times, Tori Amos has booked an Aug. 15 show at the Riverside Theater that features a pair of big draws: a new album, In Times of Dragons, that Amos announced along with her tour plans; and an excellent opener in the form of Bartees Strange, who is coming up on the one-year anniversary of his latest album, Horror.
Tickets for the Afghan Whigs concert on May 8 and the Tori Amos show on Aug. 15 both go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. this Friday, Jan. 23, online via AXS and at the Pabst/Riverside box offices.
Artist bios
From their inception in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1986, the Afghan Whigs have never played by the rules of convention. Against the plaid-and-grunge-shaded backdrop of the early-to-mid-‘90s, the Whigs stood apart from their contemporaries by virtue of attiring in suits and being way more likely to slide up on a Marvin Gaye groove than rehash a Black Sabbath riff.
Originally splitting in 2001, the band subsequently reunited for a massively successful 2012 reunion tour that found them headlining major festivals all over the globe and selling out prestigious venues throughout the U.S., Europe, and Southern Hemisphere. Since then, they have not only added to their touring legacy they have released three critically acclaimed albums in the 21st century: Do to the Beast (2014), In Spades (2017) and How Do You Burn? (2022).
2026 marks the 40th anniversary of the band, who will celebrate the occasion with a twenty-date headline tour in North America. Mercury Rev will support on all dates.
Tori Amos has announced her forthcoming new studio album, In Times of Dragons, which will be released in spring 2026. Since debut album Little Earthquakes in 1992, the North Carolina-born singer, pianist and songwriter has over the years created a body of work defined by fearless storytelling and a singular musical voice.
In Times of Dragons, Amos’ 18th album, continues this tradition by presenting a powerful journey of resilience and awakening in which the pursuit of freedom meets forces that seek to control and silence.
"In Times of Dragons is a metaphorical story about the fight for democracy over tyranny,” Amos noted, “reflecting the current abhorrent non-accidental burning down of democracy in real time by the ‘Dictator believing Lizard Demons’ in their usurpation of America.”
