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Photo credit: Shervin Lainez
Regina Spektor @ The Riverside Theater, Nov. 2 at 8 p.m.
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The Used w/ Glassjaw @ The Rave, Nov. 2 at 7:30 p.m.
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Luna w/ Soccer Mommy and Big Mother Gig @ Turner Hall Ballroom, Nov. 3 at 8 p.m.
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Photo credit: Zoe Rain
Macklemore @ The Rave, Nov. 3 at 8 p.m.
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Photo credit: Kevin Patrick Robbins
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Photo credit: Myriam Santos
Thursday, Nov. 2
Regina Spektor @ The Riverside Theater, 8 p.m.
Moscow-born songwriter Regina Spektor built a quick name for herself with her idiosyncratic songwriting in New York’s anti-folk scene in the early ’00s. She spent the rest of the decade expanding her profile outside of that city’s niche corners with a run of critically acclaimed records and some memorable television appearances, including a “Saturday Night Live” spot in 2009 and a few shared performances with Ben Folds. To many, though, she’s best known for her original theme song for the hit Netflix series “Orange is the New Black,” which earned her a Grammy nomination. Last year, she released her first new album since recording that song, Remember Us to Life, a dramatic, Broadway-inspired pop album filled with orchestral tangents. Expect to hear more stripped-down versions of some of those songs at this show, where she’ll perform solo.
The Used w/ Glassjaw @ The Rave, 7:30 p.m.
Setting out in ’02 from the gallows of poverty and substance abuse, the screamy emo band The Used has now amassed a huge discography of music——all dedicated to suffering. The group’s seventh and latest album, The Canyon, is one of their most emotionally heavy yet, perhaps their most gut-wrenching record since the group’s 2004 high watermark In Love and Death, a harrowing album inspired by the death of singer Bert McCracken’s pregnant girlfriend. Death looms over this new double record, too, which is far and away the band’s most ambitious and expansive yet. It includes big moments of prog-rock grandeur, eloquent string passages and, at one point, a full choir.
Friday, Nov. 3
Luna w/ Soccer Mommy and Big Mother Gig @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 8 p.m.
Dean Wareham is one of those rare songwriters who can claim not only one beloved, influential indie-rock band, but two. He earned a following as one of the driving forces behind Galaxie 500, one of the greatest shoegaze bands ever; then, following that band’s breakup, he continued making some truly wonderful indie-pop records with Luna, splitting singing and songwriting duties with his wife Britta Phillips. After Luna disbanded in 2005, the two continued releasing albums together as Dean & Britta, but in ’15, they reunited with Luna, which has since released a new covers LP, A Sentimental Education, which includes takes on songs by Bob Dylan, The Cure and David Bowie. The beguiling bedroom pop artist Soccer Mommy opens for this show, along with Milwaukee alt-rock veterans Big Mother Gig.
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Macklemore @ The Rave, 8 p.m.
From his roots as an underground rapper heavily indebted to Atmosphere, Seattle rapper Macklemore shot to the top of the charts and frat-house playlists alike with his inescapable 2012 novelty hit “Thrift Shop,” and the hits kept coming from there. The Heist, his debut album with producer Ryan Lewis, became one of the best-selling rap LPs of that era, and earned the duo a 2014 Grammy for Best Rap Album. The duo released a follow-up album, This Unruly Mess I’ve Made, that included an epic lead single, “Downtown,” which attempted to do for old-school hip-hop what “Uptown Funk” did for early-’80s funk. But for his latest album, Gemini, Macklemore decided to go it alone—it’s his first album without Lewis since his 2005 solo debut, The Language of My World. It features guest spots from Lil Yachty, Offset from Migos and Kesha.
Garrison Keillor @ The Pabst Theater, 7 p.m.
Those who thought that radio legend Garrison Keillor would fade quietly into retirement after handing the keys to NPR’s “A Prairie Home Companion” to new host Chris Thile thought wrong. He may not have a radio show anymore, but Keillor has continued to tour the country, sharing the same kinds of folksy stories and Midwestern humor he brought to “A Prairie Home Companion” for more than 40 years. He even continues to talk about Lake Wobegon.
Bob Schneider w/ Mike Benign @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
Singer-songwriter Bob Schneider has a tendency to genre-hop from reggae-twinged jam rock to silly hip-hop-inflected folk to classic rock to lovelorn ballads. On his 2006 album, The Californian, the Austin, Texas, troubadour tightened his sound, restricting himself to just direct roots rock, resulting in an album that captured the energy of his live shows. Subsequent releases have maintained that energy, including 2009’s Lovely Creatures—a career high that featured some spirited forays into Latin music—and a trio of EPs he released in 2015 called King Kong. For those who really can’t get enough of his music, he’s posted dozens of his live shows on his Bandcamp page.
Saturday, Nov. 4
Pop Con Milwaukee @ Crowne Plaza Hotel & Convention Center, 10 a.m.
Here’s one for pop culture enthusiasts and autograph hounds in particular. Pop Con Milwaukee rounds up more than a dozen celebrity guests from a variety of fields, including comic book artists Arvell Jones and Jeff Butler; “Batman” stars Burt Ward (Robin) and Lee Meriwether (Catwoman); actor John Schneider (Bo Duke from “Dukes of Hazzard”); baseball legends Pete Rose and Fergie Jenkins; and Lydia Green, one of the Ewoks from The Empire Strikes Back. There will also be Q&A sessions and vendors selling a variety of memorabilia, toys and collectibles. For more information, visit popconmilwaukee.com. (Also Sunday, Nov. 5.)
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real w/ Nikki Lane @ The Rave, 8 p.m.
Can you guess which famous musician California songwriter Lukas Nelson is related to? Hint: He’s a long-haired country legend with a fondness for a harvestable recreational drug and prominent ties to Farm Aid, a festival that the younger Nelson and his folk-rock band Promise of the Real have played that festival. At his father’s request, Lukas took up guitar at a young age and now fronts this group, which over the years has built up a reputation of their own in outlaw country circles (they also backed Neil Young on his 2015 album, The Monsanto Years). The group shares this bill with another songwriter with a deep appreciation for country’s outlaw roots, Nikki Lane.
Wednesday, Nov. 8
Kid Cudi @ The Rave, 9 p.m.
Buoyed by the support of Kanye West, who signed the Cleveland rapper to his GOOD Music label, Kid Cudi emerged as one of 2009’s breakout artists with his Internet hit, “Day ’n’ Nite.” Cudi’s debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day, wasn’t the precious half-sung, half-rapped album some might have expected from that single, though. Instead, it was an epic, hyper-conceptual, experimental mood piece that found time for lengthy instrumental tangents and featured inspired guest spots from MGMT and Ratatat. It divided critics but laid the pace for the many curveballs that Cudi has thrown since, which have included sprawling concept albums featuring guests like Father John Misty and Michael Bolton and a heavy 2015 alt-rock album, Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven. His latest record, Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’, is one of his most straightforward and likable in years, though its more commercial sound does little to temper Cudi’s usual conceptual ambitions.
