This Week in MKE Music: Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2024

Here are the Milwaukee shows we are looking forward to coming up this week.

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Old Fashioned Fest 2024, Bay View Gallery Night returns, Parris Fleming of Harry Styles' Love Tour Band, Catalano Beer Mixer, The World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra, Kaitlin Butts reimagines Oklahoma! and more—This Week in Milwaukee Music!

Thursday, Sept. 26

Old Fashioned Fest 2024 @ Potawatomi Casino & Hotel, VIP 5 p.m./General Admission 6 p.m.

Join Shepherd Express for a toast to a Milwaukee classic—the Old Fashioned! You won't want to miss this Bourbon vs. Brandy showdown featuring Milwaukee's best-known Old Fashioned bars!

Sample both classic and re-imagined Old Fashioneds, vote on your favorite bourbon, brandy, and best overall version. See who will be crowned winners at the end of the night. This event will include a raffle sponsored by Usinger's, live art by Scout Gallery, a 360 selfie booth provided by Lash Dolls MKE, and DJ Paul H spinning throughout the event.  

More info here: shepherdexpress.com/upcoming-events/oldfashioned.

Honey Blazer w/ Blacktop, Bad Day Sunshine and Shadeseeker @ X-Ray Arcade, 6:30 p.m.

This all-ages show is headlined by Honey Blazer, a group of old souls who would not sound out of place on a mixtape with Dusk and Beechwood Sparks. The eclectic bill also adds Milwaukee psych-rockers Shadeseeker, the indie-surf sounds of Blacktop and Chicago’s Bad Day Sunshine (a personal nominee for best new band name).

Friday, Sept. 27

Bay View Gallery Night, Various Locations

A celebration of art, music, local business and culture, Bay View Gallery Night sprawls across the neighborhood. Legit galleries, chocolate shops, breweries, bookshops and apothecaries and more will host art, feature live painting and musical performances. Check out Spud Bucket at The Stone, Aaron Davis at Groppi’s, Ethan Keller at Cache Cider and Morgan Park’s food truck concert featuring Bony Benavides and Julio Pabón with Samba da Vida.  More info https://bvgn.org/.

Parris Fleming of Harry Styles' Love Tour Band with The Parisian Live Band @ The Cooperage, 7 p.m.

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For the past 10 years Parris Fleming has toured the world, performing on some of the biggest stages, most recently headlining Coachella 2022 with Harry Styles as lead horn and arranger for his 12-piece horn section. Fleming’s group The TMRW PPL, a hip-hop/soul electronic-instrumental duo, with their latest single “Chunky Diesel” out on all streaming platforms and their debut album set to release later this year."

Headley Grange @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.

Time to get the Led out. The band formerly known as No Quarter has changed monikers and added a second guitarist. Now known as Headley Grange, the band focuses on recreating the studio recordings of Led Zeppelin.

Saturday, Sept. 28

Catalano Beer Mixer @ Catalano Square, 2 p.m.

Friends of Catalano Square throw the inaugural Catalano Beer Mixer for a day of live music, craft beer, local vendors and a great atmosphere for the whole family features performances from Funk Summit Bass Team, Wise Jennings, Paul Filipowicz, Adorner, Buckwild and Oh Geeez, Not Again. Info: catalanosquare.com.

A Space Odyssey - Kettle Moraine Symphony Presents: E.T. the Extraterrestrial and The Planets @ Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School, 3 p.m.

Journey into space with a performance of all seven movements of Holst's Planets (one movement for each planet besides Earth.) and then get on your imaginary bike and fly through John Williams's film score for E.T. the Extra Terrestrial.

The World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra @ South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center, 5:30 p.m. social and concert 7 p.m.

Celebrate South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center’s 20th Anniversary with a concert from The World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra, the most sought-after big band in the world today. 

Glenn Miller was one of the most successful of all bandleaders in the Swing Era. Miller disbanded his musical organization in 1942 to volunteer for the army where he organized and led the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band entertaining troops in Europe. On December 15, 1944, Major Miller took off in a plane from Europe never to be seen again. The army declared him officially dead a year later.

The Miller Estate authorized the formation of the present The World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1956, and they’ve been touring ever since playing an average of 300 dates a year all around the world. Songs for the evening will include “I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo,” “Chattanooga Choo-Choo,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “Moonlight Serenade” and more.

Hungry Hearts - A Bruce Springsteen Tribute for the benefit of the American Heart Association @ Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, 8 p.m.

The annual night of Bruce Springsteen’s songs will include performances from Tim Wright, Jon Knudson, Ben Harold, The Johnston Brothers, Zach Pietrini Band, The Riverwest Aces, JT & the Congregants with SaxyCass and The Chris Haise Band. All proceeds go to the American Heart Association.

Sunday, Sept. 29

Kaitlin Butts Roadrunner Tour w/ Angel White @ Vivarium, 7 p.m.

When it came time to create her third album, Nashville-based Kaitlin Butts leaned into her lifelong love of musical theater and dreamed up a modern-day reimagining of the soundtrack to her all-time favorite musical, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!The result: a high concept but candid autobiographical LP called Roadrunner.

Tuesday, Oct. 1

Gene Loves Jezebel w/ Sumthing Strange, The Overmorrow (with Memory Spector) and Goth Barge DJs @ X-Ray Arcade, 6:30 p.m.

What better way to start off your October than goth? formed and fronted by Michael Aston, Gene Loves Jezebel, the post punk/gothic band originally from South Wales, UK formed in the early ‘80s. In 2023, Jay Aston's Gene Loves Jezebel released their tenth studio album, Love Death Sorrow.

Wednesday, Oct. 2

Gong @ Shank Hall, 8 p. m.

Gong’s musically diverse world includes shades of psychedelia, space rock, jazz, avant-garde, krautrock and surreal soundscapes. Australian beatnik poet Daevid Allen (ex-Soft Machine) began making music with his partner Gilli Smyth in the late ‘60s, along with a constantly evolving community of creative musicians. Albums from this period include Magick Brother, Mystic Sister(1969) and the influential Bananamoon (1971), one of David Bowie's favorite 20 albums. While Allen died in 2015, Gong continues. Unending Ascending, the band’s latest studio album was released November of 2023.