Photo Credit: Danny Clinch
Neil Young
Friday, Jan. 18
Erykah Badu @ The Rave, 8 p.m.
It's not every year the city announces an Erykah Badu show. Or even every decade. The last time the legendary neo-soul innovator played Milwaukee was 2004, when she appeared at the Northern Lights Theater, but she’ll make her belated return at this show. The influential singer has been fairly quiet in recent years, working on a follow-up to her charmingly loose, heartfelt 2010 album New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh) at an unhurried pace, though she did release a delightfully odd mixtape in 2015 called But You Caint Use My Phone, which was themed entirely around telephones. It was great.
Local Coverage @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 7:30 p.m.
Few concerts push local artists outside of their comfort zone quite like Milwaukee Record’s annual Local Coverage, a benefit show that challenges each performer with presenting a 15-minute set covering another artist on the bill. This year’s concert will feature Direct Hit! (playing Nickel&Rose), Paper Holland (playing Immortal Girlfriend), Amanda Huff (playing LUXI), Something To Do (playing Direct Hit!), Nickel&Rose (playing Paper Holland), Immortal Girlfriend (playing Amanda Huff) and LUXI (playing Something To Do). All proceeds from this concert will be donated to the Milwaukee Women's Center.
Mike Mangione and The Kin @ Sharon Lynn Wilson Center for the Arts, 8 p.m.
Milwaukee songwriter Mike Mangione has long performed with his brother Thomas, but for his most recent album But I’ve Seen The Stars, the two were joined by another pair of siblings as well: violinist Chauntee and cellist Monique Ross, of the duo SistaStrings. They lend an elegant, orchestral flair to Mangione’s reflective latest batch of songs, which were also recorded with drummer Josh Collazo and bassist Seth Ford-Young of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.
Wisco Inferno Ice Bar @ Wicked Hop
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If forecasts are right, the weather is about to dip back down to temperatures closer to those you’d expect from a January in Wisconsin. That’s a bummer, but there’s an upshot: That’ll give patrons a chance to enjoy the return of Wicked Hop’s popular ice bar. According to the venue, “50 blocks of ice weighing more than seven tons will be used to construct The Wicked Hop’s outdoor ice bar, sculpted by Guinness World Record holder and master carver Max Zuleta, from Franksville-based ice sculpture studio Art Below Zero.” The bar will also offer a variety of specialty cocktails, beer and mixed drinks in iced tumblers, as well as hot cider and hot chocolate drinks, with portion of the proceeds benefiting ALS Association of Wisconsin and Courage MKE to help LGBTQ youth.
Laura Gibson @ The Back Room at Colectivo, 8 p.m.
“I was born a wolf in woman's clothes,” Laura Gibson sings on her latest album, Goners, “Shadow-stain, blue and gray/Tore a hole in every dress I made.” The Oregon singer-songwriter writes folk songs that mirror the calm rhythms of nature, wrapping herself in warm arrangements that accentuate her serene voice, which was beautifully showcased in the very first NPR Tiny Desk concert. For this show, Gibson will be performing with her four-piece band.
Saturday, Jan. 19
Petal w/ Sir Babygirl and Cave People @ The Back Room at Colectivo, 8 p.m.
On Magic Gone, her latest album for Run For Cover Records, singer/songwriter Kiley Lotz of the Scranton indie-rock project Petal writes about the struggles of being true to yourself. She wrote the record over an eventful year that saw her coming out as queer and entering intensive treatment for depression and panic disorders, and the songs are as raw as you’d expect given those origins. But they also radiate hope and wisdom. Julien Baker fans will probably relate deeply to her deeply emotional songwriting, but there’s a bit of Waxahatchee in the record’s buzzy, hooky guitar riffs, too.
Monday, Jan. 21
Louie Anderson @ Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, 8 p.m.
Viewers of a certain age best remember Louie Anderson as the namesake star of the children’s show “Life With Louie,” a warm-hearted cartoon based on the comedian’s memories of growing up in the Midwest. His gentle, family friendly comedy is decidedly out of step with the harder, more cynical edge of most modern stand-up these days, but in recent years critics have begun showing him newfound appreciation, thanks in part his mesmerizing performance as Zach Galifianakis’s mother in the surreal FX comedy “Baskets.” (Anderson will do three nights at Potawatomi’s Northern Lights Theater, through Jan. 23.)
Tuesday, Jan. 22
Violent J and Esham @ Club Garibaldi, 6:30 p.m.
This is one of the weirder quirks of Milwaukee’s winter concert calendar: The two scary rapping clowns from Insane Clown Posse will each be performing at Club Garibaldi a few weeks apart from each other. The first to perform is Violent J, who is touring behind his new solo EP Black Eye’d Kids and will be joined by fellow Detroit rapper Esham at this show. Then Juggalos can get a second fix on Friday, Feb. 1, when Shaggy 2 Dope plays the venue with Ouija Macc. Here’s hoping Club Garibaldi has Faygo on tap.
Wednesday, Jan. 23
Neil Young @ The Riverside Theater, 7:30 p.m.
Few songwriters have a richer legacy than Neil Young. After springing to countercultural superstardom with the folk-rock groups Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Young launched an enormously successful solo career, trademarking his ragged, melancholy folk-rock in the early ’70s, then paving the way for grunge and ’90s alternative-rock with his feedback-heavy ’80s records. He’s remained prolific, releasing a steady output of politically and environmentally charged new albums since the early ’00s. This solo show, as part of a small Midwest tour, will be the 73-year-old rocker's first time in Milwaukee since he headlined Summerfest's Marcus Amphitheater in 2015, with Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real as his backing band. They also backed Young on his most recent album, 2017's The Visitor.
