© 2026
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

MKE Concert Picks: Moon Fest and a final helping of Motel Breakfast

Radio Milwaukee | By Brett Krzykowski
Published August 5, 2026 at 5:30 AM CDT
Cactus Club, Historic Third Ward Association

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.

We can’t get into the full spectrum of live music happening around the area this week without giving a nod to the Wisconsin State Fair, which runs from Aug. 6-16 and has more performances than we could possibly fit in this humble weekly post.

The Bank Five Nine Main Stage occupies most of the spotlight since that’s where the nationally touring artists tend to post up, and this week includes options like Nelly on Friday, Bailey Zimmerman on Saturday, Wynonna Judd and Melissa Etheridge on Sunday and The Isley Brothers with The Commodores next Tuesday. But there are also local acts scattered around the 19 vendor stages, so make sure to dig into that selection and find whatever genre fits your State Fair experience.

Shifting our attention east brings us to the Third Ward Moon Festival, an event at Catalano Square from Aug. 7-9 that celebrates the Historic Third Ward Association’s 50th anniversary with a unique centerpiece: a 23-foot illuminated lunar sculpture.

U.K. artist Luke Jerram created his “Museum of the Moon” piece using detailed NASA imagery, giving you what’s almost certain to be your best chance to see our orbiting companion up close. The three-day festival is also an opportunity to see some of the city’s excellent musicians, including:

  • Wisconsin Space Program at 7:30 p.m. Friday
  • dak duBois at 9 p.m. Friday
  • De La Buena at 8 p.m. Saturday
  • Mama Digdown’s Brass Band at 8 p.m. Sunday

A couple familiar faces from Radio Milwaukee will join the event as well, with DJ Kenny Perez spinning at 6 p.m. Friday and Dori Zori doing a live version of Kids’ Disco at 10 a.m. Saturday. For more info on everything happening at Catalano Square this weekend, pop over to the Third Ward Moon Festival’s website.

Our final shout goes to a finale that’s been a bittersweet entry on the calendar since it was announced back in May. Since their founding in 2017, Motel Breakfast found a way to balance the geographic challenge of having members in Milwaukee, Madison and Chicago. They released a couple full-length albums, an Irish folk-fueled LP, a live recording, and a couple EPs and standalone singles (all available on their Bandcamp page).

As every musician knows, keeping that going is a challenge in the best of circumstances, let alone one in which the band members are at three different home bases along a 166-mile stretch of I-94. So, in a post dated May 20, they shared their decision to call it a day and plans to wrap things up with one show at Milwaukee’s Cactus Club on Aug. 7 and another at Chicago’s Thalia Hall the following night.

Those plans changed slightly a week or so ago, when the fan response led Motel Breakfast to add a second show at Cactus Club. So if you want to say your goodbyes in person, you now have two chances: a 6:30 p.m. performance and a 10:30 p.m. gig for the night owls.

Sponsored By

Best concerts in Milwaukee this week
Concerts
Brett Krzykowski
Director of Digital Content | Radio Milwaukee
See stories by Brett Krzykowski