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, sponsored by Urban Ecology Center.
It’s pretty cool to have two bona fide legends play Milwaukee on back-to-back nights. It’s also pretty rare, which makes our job very easy this week.
Up first is Buddy Guy, who’s in the midst of his “Buddy Guy 90” tour in honor of a very big birthday coming up. In fact, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer was born July 30 — just four days after his show Sunday at the Riverside Theater.
Guy was just 7 years old when he built his first two-string guitar, started playing with bands in his native Louisiana while still a teenager and then moved to Chicago when he was 21, connecting with musicians like Muddy Waters to help shape the city’s West Side sound. Across the decades, Guy has earned nine Grammy Awards, 38 Blues Music Awards, the Presidential National Medal of Arts and the Kennedy Center Honor.
One of the greatest guitarists in music history, Guy appeared to make his last stop in Milwaukee two years ago for his “Damn Right Farewell” tour. Fortunately, we get at least one more chance to see him on stage this Sunday.
Our other top pick is giving her Wisconsin fans two chances to see her within just a couple days, as singer-songwriter Aimee Mann hits the Eaux Claires festival Friday before finding her way to Milwaukee’s Pabst Theater the following Monday. Both shows will feature her much-loved 2000 album Bachelor No. 2, which got one of Pitchfork’s lovely Sunday reviews a few years ago in which they pointed out:
More than any album Mann had made up to that point, it’s a showcase for the detail she builds into her music before the recording process even begins. “I kind of like it to sound like a complete song before I get to the studio,” she explained to Performing Songwriter magazine in 2005. “I work hard to make sure both the melody and the words are strong before thinking about recording or production.”
Mission accomplished on that front, even though Geffen Records didn’t exactly see it that way. The label didn’t see a “hit single” on the album and refused to release it, so Mann set up her own SuperEgo Records label and put it out to wide acclaim and solid sales numbers. She’ll play Bachelor No. 2 in its entirety at Monday’s Pabst Theater show, as well as in Eau Claire the previous Friday if you happen to be in the neighborhood.
Best concerts in Milwaukee this week
- July 22: Benson Boone @ Fiserv Forum, 8 p.m.
- July 22: Maxwell Lane (single release), Andrew Umanya, The Precipitators @ Falcon Nest, 8:15 p.m.
- July 23: Mike Doughty @ Vivarium, 8 p.m.
- July 23: Gabriel Harris, Nathan Steigman Duo @ The Argo, 6:30 p.m.
- July 23: The Championship @ Jackalope Lounj, 7 p.m.
- July 23: The Family Crest @ Falcon Hall, 8 p.m.
- July 23: Gooseberry, Bowvee, The Taxmen @ Cactus Club, 7 p.m.
- July 24: David Murphy w/Offtide @ The Argo, 8 p.m.
- July 24: Certified Trapper, Lightris, 414bigfrank, Sabbath, AyooLii, r3algrl, Sunny Lou @ Cactus Club, 10 p.m.
- July 25: The Format w/Limbeck @ The Rave, 8 p.m.
- July 26: Buddy Guy w/Carlise Guy & The Nu Blu Band @ Riverside Theater, 7:30 p.m.
- July 26: When the Sun Sets, Exit 122, Gold Steps @ X-Ray Arcade, 12:30 p.m.
- July 27: Aimee Mann w/Kimon Kirk @ Pabst Theater, 8 p.m.
- July 28: Anthony Green @ The Argo, 7 p.m.
