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Bryce Vine
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Neko Case
Milwaukee’s loudest end-of-summer tradition returns as the city celebrates Harley-Davidson’s 115th anniversary with a variety of events.
Thursday, Aug. 30
Milwaukee Rally @ multiple locations
Milwaukee’s loudest end-of-summer tradition returns for another marathon Labor Day weekend. Once again thousands of Harley-Davidson riders will take over the city for five days of events spread across the area code, including concerts, block parties, group rides, demos, factory tours, bike shows and parties celebrating Harley’s 115th anniversary. The Harley-Davidson Museum will be especially busy, with a host of activities and attractions and free concerts from headliners like The Record Company (on Friday, Aug. 31) and alt-country favorites Supersuckers and rockabilly legends The Reverend Horton Heat (on Saturday, Sept. 1). For the complete list of official events, visit milwaukeerally.com. The city’s Third Ward neighborhood will also get in on the action this year a Saturday block party called Bikes on Broadway, featuring two stages of music from acts including Boo Bradley, Sweet Sheiks and Jay Edward Blues Band, as well as local food and drink and Daytona-style bike parking.
FernFest @ The Ivy House and Fernweh, 4 p.m.
Walker’s Point welcomes a new bar and music venue this weekend. The Ivy House at 906 S. Barclay, formerly the home of The Point and Sangria Bar, will introduce itself to the city with a four-day grand opening celebration called FernFest featuring food trucks, cocktails, lawn games and daily live music from acts including Milwaukee Airwaves, Matt Hoff, Kyle Feerick, Asher Gray and The Eddie Butts Band. The venue, which will host live music and private events, also features a patio bar called Fernweh that will be open to the public seasonally. (Through Sunday, Sept. 2.)
Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! @ The Riverside Theater, 7:30 p.m.
Nobody on NPR seems to be having more fun than the cast of “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!,” a weekly news quiz hosted by playwright and actor Peter Sagal in which listeners play by phone. Each week a panel of humorists and journalists—including regulars like Amy Dickinson, Paula Poundstone, P.J. O’Rourke and Mo Rocca—guide the contestants through the games between chuckles and inside jokes, struggling to contain their laughter. The grand prize for one lucky listener is a modest one: a personalized voicemail from one of the show’s cast members. The show returns to Milwaukee for this live recording.
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Friday, Aug. 31
Boone Row @ Boone & Crockett
Just like Austin’s annual South by Southwest music festival, Cream City’s annual Milwaukee Rally attracts spin-off parties that often have better lineups than the official event. One of the best of them, Boone & Crockett’s Boone Row, returns for another three-day lineup at Boone’s new location on 818 S. Water St. Taking full advantage of the venue’s roomy new compound, it’ll feature vendors in the parking lot and both indoor and outdoor stages featuring live music including Lumerians (from Oakland, Calif.) and a slew of Milwaukee rock bands including Slow Walker, Calliope, Tigernite, Sex Scenes, Mississippi Cactus and Moon Rats, who will celebrate the vinyl release of their new album, Highway Lord, on Friday night. (Through Sunday, Sept. 2.)
Milwaukee Motorcycle Film Festival @ Oriental Theatre
What better time for a motorcycle film festival than during the Milwaukee Rally? In conjunction with the Harley-Davidson 115th anniversary festivities, Milwaukee Film has curated this mini-festival featuring screenings of four films, including the greatest motorcycle movie ever made: the Marlon Brando classic The Wild One. Other movies include the cult classic Psychomania, presented on a rare, technicolor, 35mm print; the gritty dirt-bike gang drama 12 O’Clock Boys; and a screening of the documentary Sugar and Spade featuring a Q&A with the filmmaker and guests as well as a live accompaniment by guitarist Rocco DeLuca. (Multiple screenings through Saturday, Sept. 1.)
Saturday, Sept. 1
Bryce Vine
Bryce Vine @ Lucid Light Lounge, 9 p.m.
After years working his way up the music industry’s ladder, pop-minded New York rapper Bryce Vine scored his first hit last year with the single “Drew Barrymore,” a posh, EDM-accented track aimed at the club crowd. It’s fitting, then, that Vine’s first Milwaukee appearance will be at one of the local clubs that’s kept that track in regular rotation: Lucid Light Lounge, where he’ll play a show sponsored by the local pop station Energy 106.9.
Sunday, Sept. 2
Big Gig BBQ @ Summerfest Grounds, noon-7 p.m.
Laborfest isn’t the only big gathering at the Summerfest grounds this Labor Day weekend. Summerfest’s annual Big Gig BBQ returns for its third year at the south end of the festival grounds this year with a barbecue rib competition that will give cookout enthusiasts the chance to compete for a $5,000 cash giveaway. The event is free and features music from blues, rock and country bands including Wildside, Crossfire, Spitfire Rodeo, The Blues Disciples and Christopher’s Project.
Monday, Sept. 3
Laborfest @ Summerfest Grounds, noon
For many people, Labor Day is just a day off, one more chance to grill and take in the last gasps of summer. But for union members and activists, it’s more than that: It’s also a chance to celebrate that contributions that laborers and their unions have made to society while championing for better working conditions. Each year workers and their families celebrate the cause at Laborfest, a free party and rally at the Summerfest grounds featuring food, music and children’s entertainment. It kicks off at noon and runs through 5 p.m. following an 11 a.m. parade from Zeidler Square leading to the grounds.
Wednesday, Sept. 5
Neko Case
Neko Case w/ Thao (of the Get Down Stay Down) @ The Pabst Theater, 8 p.m.
Neko Case first made a name for herself with her early albums of shadowy alt-country, seemingly recorded during the darkest hours of night, but the singer has brightened her sound considerably on more recent albums like 2009’s Middle Cyclone, a feisty record informed by her side gig playing with the power-pop band The New Pornographers, and 2013’s The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You. Like that predecessor, her latest record, Hell-On, highlights her remarkable voice and ever-expanding ambition. It’s one of her most collaborative records yet, featuring contributions from k.d. Land, Laura Veirs, Mark Lanegan, Eric Bachmann and members of The New Pornographers, as well as Björn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John, who co-produced.
Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman @ The Riverside Theater, 8 p.m.
Like many classic rock bands, Yes have gone through some lineup changes over the years that have essentially created dueling versions of the same group. This trio features three former members of the band who were all integral to Yes’s sound: singer Jon Anderson, keyboardist Rick Wakeman and guitarist Trevor Rabin (who played with the band during their commercial peak in the ’80s). Titled “Quintessential Yes,” their current tour celebrates the 50th anniversary of the British prog-rock institution.
