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.
“Bob Seger meets Enya” is how Natalie Mering — aka Weyes Blood — once described her work. Her label, Sub Pop, agrees that she possesses a little bit of both the classic and the fantastical, underlining her standout sound for its “otherworldly expansiveness” and “hook-laden melodies.”
It’s no small wonder that the Weyes Blood brand of folk-pop has an ardent following; her comfortingly familiar vibe fits snugly and appealingly under “everything old is new again,” exploring common themes of human nature and the human condition. Within her fifth and most recent album, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, are those expansively epic meditations that feel luxurious and special, even when troubling in nature.
On “Grapevine” (heard on 88Nine!), Mering poetically spins the central character and cause of her dark, troubled love story as a “two ships in the night” experience that’s better left as lore. She sings, “If a man can’t see his shadow / Oh, he can block your sun all day / He can make you small / He has the power to take his love away. … He always believes that he’s always right / But I still think of him at night.” This therapeutic fairytale comes from a dark place but still manages to be hopeful as Mering watches her subject in the rearview.
To experience songs and stories like that played live right in front of you will surely be an experience. You can take it all in this Monday, March 13, as Weyes Blood takes the stage at the Pabst Theater, along with opener Vagabon.
More shows worth a go
- March 10: Astral Hand (record release show) w/Dead Feathers and BLOOD @ Cactus Club, 8 p.m.
- March 10: X-Ray Arcade Four-Year Anniversary + Grand Reopening Party @ X-Ray Arcade, 7 p.m.
- March 10: Hanna Simone w/Moonglow and Yonder @ Company Brewing, 9:30 p.m.
- March 11: Drive-By Truckers w/Margo Cilker @ The Pabst Theater, 8 p.m.
- March 11: The Cash Box Kings (album-release party for Oscar’s Motel) @ Anodyne on Bruce, 8 p.m.
- March 11: Lost Orange Cat (record release show) w/Wise Jennings and HOSTS @ The Cooperage, 8 p.m.
