Thursday, February 12
Fleetwood Mac / via Facebook
Fleetwood Mac @ BMO Harris Bradley Center, 8 p.m.
Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks played the BMO Harris Bradley Center last summer as part of a co-headlining bill with Rod Stewart, but when she returns this week she’ll have a lot more company. She’s on the road once again with one of Fleetwood Mac’s periodic tours, and this one will be of special significance, since it sees the return of band member Christine McVie to the fold after 16 years away from the group. There’s more news for fans to celebrate, too: Reportedly the band has been writing songs with McVie for a new album tentatively set for release later this year. It’ll be the group’s first record since 2003’s Say You Will.
Friday, February 13
theb52s.com
The B-52’s @ Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, 8 p.m.
Are The B-52s the ultimate party band? Probably. The band’s ultra-kitschy throwbacks to ’60s rock ‘n’ roll made them cult favorites during the early days of punk and New Wave, before their rowdy hit “Love Shack” renewed their popularity in 1989. Though the band hasn’t released new material since their 2008 album Funplex, which followed a 16 year break from the studio, that album was refreshingly youthful, updating the band’s usual classic dance-rock with the booming production of modern electronic music. This month singer Kate Pierson will release her first solo album, Guitars and Microphones.
Saturday, February 14
Photo Credit: Sylvie AnnParé
Compagnie Marie Chouinard @ Alverno College’s Pitman Theatre, 8 p.m.
Erik Satie’s beloved piano pieces, the Gymnopédies, and the drug-induced hallucinations of the 20th century Belgian poet and painter Henri Michaux are the subjects of two new works by choreographer Marie Chouinard’s Montreal-based dance theater. The dancers will play Satie’s 1888 compositions live as they perform the first work. In the second, they’ll dance before a series of large projected drawings in which Michaux (1899-1984) examined his dreams, fantasies and experiences with hallucinogenic drugs. Alverno Presents brings the internationally celebrated, 25-year-old company to Milwaukee for the second time.
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Photo Credit: Conor Masterson
Glen Hansard w/ The Lost Brothers @ The Pabst Theater, 7 p.m.
At the age of 13, Glen Hansard quit school in order to start busking on the streets of Dublin, Ireland, his hometown. Several years later he formed The Frames, a band that became an indelible part of the prolific Irish rock ‘n’ roll scene of the 1990s. In 2006 he released his first album without The Frames, performing as The Swell Season with Czech singer and multi-instrumentalist Markéta Irglová. Soon after, the duo graced the big screen in the Irish film Once, winning an Oscar for Best Song for their signature tune, “Falling Slowly.” Hansard returns to the Pabst for an evening of music from his 2012 solo album, Rhythm and Repose, as well as songs from Once, The Swell Season and The Frames.
Charles Walker Band / via Facebook
Charles Walker Band w/ People Brothers Band and Filtharmonic @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
With their up-tempo hybrid of funk and soul, the Charles Walker Band has become a staple of regional music festivals like the Waukesha BluesFest, where their lively performances have brought crowds to their feet. That sound has also earned the group repeated WAMI nominations. For this show, the group will share the bill with two area acts similarly versed in rhythm and blues: the eight-piece ensemble People Brothers Band and the neo-soul band Filtharmonic. Admission is $12 for a single person; $20 for a couple.
Photo Credit: Hook + ALBERT
Alton Brown @ The Riverside Theater, 8 p.m.
For Alton Brown, cooking is a science, quite literally. On his long-running Food Network program “Good Eats,” he explained the many chemical reactions that make tasty food possible, often with the help of whimsical props and puppets. Since concluding that show in 2012, he’s carried on as the Food Network’s most knowledgeable correspondent, appearing in a variety of programs and hosting the channel’s manic “Cutthroat Kitchen” competition. Expect him to bring his usual sense of ringleader-like showmanship to the Riverside Theater when he stops as part of his “Edible Inevitable” tour.
Sunday, February 15
Photo Credit: James Tomasello
Hyperlocal Improvisational Contemporary Performance @ Core Essence Yoga, 5 p.m.
Some of Milwaukee's leading modern dance artists and composers will test themselves and one another in improvisations, dancers responding to music and musicians to movement, at Core Essence Yoga, 1437 E. Brady St., during this 5 p.m. performance. Performers include musician/composers Tim Russell, Allen Russell, David Collins and Pat Reinholz; and dancer/choreographers Gina Laurenzi, Mauriah Donegan Kraker, Joelle Worm and Maria Gillespie. Gillespie and Russell, both UWM faculty members, are the organizers. This is the third in an ongoing series at various city sites. It’s meant to inspire future work. Admission is $10 cash at the door.
Photo Credit: Brigitte Sire
Sleater-Kinney w/ Lizzo @ The Riverside Theater, 8 p.m.
These days it’s just assumed that every once-popular (or even once-only-kind-of-popular) band will reunite eventually, but that’s not to say that a reunion announcement can’t occasionally truly surprise you. Last fall the seminal riot grrrl trio Sleater-Kinney announced that despite its members’ many outside commitments it was regrouping for its first new album in 10 years, No Cities To Love, produced by longtime Sleater-Kinney studio hand John Goodmanson. The album lived up to the hype: It’s a typically rocking affair, building on some of the fuller sounds the band introduced on their previous album, 2005’s The Woods. To accompany the new album, the band is playing a tour of mostly sold-out shows, including this stop at the Riverside Theater, which will make their first time playing Milwaukee since a show at the Globe 15 years ago.
Photo Credit: Shane Doyle
Ladysmith Black Mambazo @ The Pabst Theater, 8:30 p.m.
Paul Simon’s Graceland is credited with popularizing world music in America, and it particularly popularized Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the long-running South African choral group showcased on that celebrated album and its tour. In the years since, the group has continued its collaborative streak, working with artists as diverse as Sarah McLachlan, Melissa Etheridge, Stevie Wonder, George Clinton and even the teen-pop group B*Witched. Last year the group released its latest album, Always With Us, which is only the second album in the group’s long discography to feature female singers among the group’s all-male roster.
