The Pabst Theater Group hit us with a double shot of good news this week, as The Linda Lindas and Brigitte Calls Me Baby booked separate shows that will hit Milwaukee this fall.
The Linda Lindas will be the first through town, stopping at Turner Hall Ballroom for a Sept. 29 performance. The L.A. punk quartet will have a new album to share by the time they visit, with Gotta Get Out set to drop Aug. 28. The band announced the record just a few days ago and shared lead single “Closer,” which features Hayley Williams’ signature vocals over guitars that alternate between chuggy and power chords.
We’ve only gotten a sample of The Linda Lindas’ live abilities in Milwaukee, with the group playing an abbreviated set at American Family Field back in August of 2024 before giving way to Rancid, The Smashing Pumpkins and Green Day. Their Sept. 29 show with Minneapolis punk outfit VIAL will be the first time they’ve headlined here in Brew City, and tickets will go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. this Friday, July 17.
The wait will be a bit longer for Brigitte Calls Me Baby, who will take over the Vivarium on Nov. 6 with opener Common People. The headliners from Chicago have shown their stuff on stage here in Milwaukee before, most notably at one of our Studio Milwaukee Sessions (and also Summerfest) that featured all of their swagger and throwback-ish alt-rock.
We got a heavy dose of both on Brigitte Calls Me Baby’s latest album, Irreversible, which dropped in March. The project built on excellent debut The Future Is Our Way Out, giving us even more of frontman Wes Leavins’ unmistakable voice and the band’s wave of sound that somehow still manages to make each member sound distinct.
You can expect to hear plenty of selections from both albums when Brigitte Calls Me Baby headlines the Vivarium on Nov. 6, with tickets going on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. this Friday, July 17.
Artist bios
Every day around 4 p.m., The Linda Lindas put down their instruments and jumped in the pool. They used these aquatic moments as a reset during a week-long writing retreat in Palm Springs where phones were banned, the outside world was suspended, and four young people who’ve been making music since tweenhood were writing together in the same room for the first time.
In the process, they figured out who they really are.
Historically, The Linda Lindas (Bela Salazar, Eloise Wong, and Lucia and Mila de la Garza) have written individually and brought songs to the table. It was a process that served them well through their impressive, Ramones-esque debut Growing Up (2022) and its forceful follow-up No Obligation (2024). The two records took them from L.A. Chinatown all-ages scene mainstays to tours with Green Day and song placements in Inside Out 2.
But for this one, they wanted something a little different. Gotta Get Out is the sound of a band discovering itself.
“For the first time, we were presenting ideas to each other that weren’t fully formed. That was scary. But we worked through everything together and figured out the role each of us naturally plays,” Lucia explained. “Writing together was a way to find our collective sound,” adds Eloise. “Anything can work if we’re all shaping it together. We can write this slow indie song or a funky dance-y song. And it can all be for the band because we all worked on it together.”
Since their widely lauded debut album, The Future Is Our Way Out, Chicago-based five-piece Brigitte Calls Me Baby have brought a greater intensity of vision to their lavish breed of alt-rock, arriving at a boldly singular sound that is both thrillingly new and immediately essential to the modern rock landscape.
In a major leap forward for the band, Brigitte Calls Me Baby’s sophomore album Irreversible captures the energy, intrigue and grandeur of their live show, all while pushing further into the exquisite pathos of their songwriting.
“Our first album taught me that you’ve got to reach as far down into your soul as possible and be willing to show something real and raw to the world, and with this album that felt even easier and more natural,” frontman Wes Leavins said. “There was a time when I tried to bury the kind of feelings we’re displaying on this record, but now I’m at the point where I don’t feel the need to hold anything back.”
Produced by Yves Rothman and Lawrence Rothman (Blondshell, Yves Tumor), Irreversible came to life in the midst of a relentless live schedule that’s included performing at leading festivals like Lollapalooza, sharing bills with the likes of Morrissey & Muse, and headlining sold-out tours across the U.S., U.K., and Europe. Recorded live at Lawrence’s, the result is a majestic suite of songs that burn bright, hit hard and passionately celebrate the drama of being alive.
