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.
It’s April Fool’s Day, which in all seriousness is the second most useless spot on the calendar right after Groundhog’s Day. So you’ll get no gag lists or made-up stories from us about how Taylor Swift has planned a surprise show at MKeUltra (although that would be cool). Instead, it’s the rock-solid concert suggestions you’ve come to expect from us. Let’s go.
Our first stop is Thursday night at Cactus Club, where Pool Kids will drop in as part of a tour supporting their latest album, Easier Said Than Done.
The Tallahassee-based band first caught my ear with their self-titled debut and its general big-ness. The riffs are big. The beats are big. Christine Goodwyne’s vocals are big. It’s one of those records that feels like a damn shame to play through earbuds vs. something like a tower speaker that’s taller than you.
The new album doesn’t deviate from the formula, which makes a lot of sense considering Pool Kids are tagged with the “math rock” label. They found something that works and worked very hard to exceed it. As Pitchfork’s Hannah Jocelyn put it in her review of Easier Said Than Done, “[I]f Pool Kids was eager to please, its follow-up is knowingly desperate to hold listeners’ attention — and that’s exactly why it’s more compelling. Easier Said Than Done is a weirder, proudly overworked record, made more interesting for its imperfections.”
Theirs is a sound made for the stage, and you can experience it at Cactus Club this Thursday, with Dikembe opening the 7:30 p.m. show.
The following night takes us to the Riverside Theater and the triumphant return of The Last Dinner Party. The London quintet were last here almost exactly two years ago and sold out Turner Hall as part of a show that included at least one cheesehead. In the time since, they released sophomore album From the Pyre and graduated to a Milwaukee venue more than double in size from their last visit. The Friday night show isn’t quiiiiite out of tickets yet, so get on that and enjoy baroque pop-rock at its finest.
Let’s finish it with something local: Maximiano’s album-release show Saturday night at Cactus Club. We helped the emerging member of Milwaukee’s music scene premiere “I Will Not Abandon the River” from new record Rokeby and can’t wait to hear what the full project has to offer. Maximiano will share the live version as part of a show that starts at 7 p.m. with openers Field Report and Ava Brennan.
Best concerts in Milwaukee this week
- April 1: Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage, Marble Teeth @ Cactus Club, 7:30 p.m.
- April 1: Matt Pryor @ Anodyne, 7:30 p.m.
- April 2: Rosenau & Sandborn @ Vivarium, 8 p.m.
- April 2: Pool Kids, Dikembe @ Cactus Club, 7 p.m.
- April 3: The Last Dinner Party w/Florence Road @ The Riverside, 8 p.m.
- April 3: Polica @ The Cooperage, 7 p.m.
- April 3: Couch Dog, Diet Lite @ Cactus Club, 6:30 p.m.
- April 4: MX Lonely, Shamewave, Superglue, Hypersleep @ Anodyne, 7 p.m.
- April 4: Maximiano (release show), Field Report, Ava Brennan @ Cactus Club, 7 p.m.
- April 5: Zack Keim, David Shane, Max & The Fellow Travelers @ Cactus Club, 7 p.m.
- April 6: Clarion, Forest, Bed, I’ll Remember April @ Cactus Club, 7 p.m.
- April 7: Alley Eyes, Sitrus Sol, Iris Blue, Bunk Bed @ X-Ray Arcade, 7 p.m.
