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Photo credit: The Artist
Tee Grizzley
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Steve Winwood
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Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Thursday, Feb. 22
Photo credit: The Artist
Tee Grizzley
Jeezy w/ Tee Grizzley @ The Rave, 8 p.m.
Rapping like he’s too damn busy hustling to pop a throat lozenge, Jeezy became one of the first true stars of trap music thanks to his outsized personality and ear for vicious beats. Though he’s sometimes stumbled in his efforts to stay with the times, the Atlanta rapper has been remarkably consistent in the studio, as his solid latest album, Pressure, attests, and his voice remains as thundering and imposing as ever. Yet it’s a safe bet that, at this tour, many audience members will turn out largely for the opener: Tee Grizzley, the fiery Detroit street rapper who laces his songs with wit, conviction and commentary. Recorded shortly after his release from prison, his breakthrough 2016 single, “First Day Out,” became an almost instant internet phenomenon, thanks to the sheer intensity of Grizzley’s raps. His most recent project was Bloodas, an excellent collaborative mixtape with Chicago drill veteran Lil Durk.
Celebrating David Bowie w/ Mark Plati and Abby Jeanne @ The Pabst Theater, 8 p.m.
Founded by former bandmates of the rock legend, Celebrating David Bowie tries to imagine what one of the Bowie’s setlists might look like in 2018 if he were still alive and touring. Headed by Bowie’s keyboardist Mike Garson, one of his longest-running collaborators, the band’s lineup also features guitarist Earl Slick and bassist Carmine Rojas, who toured with Bowie during the Let’s Dance days, as well as several other musicians and guests.
Friday, Feb. 23
The Zach Pietrini Band @ Twisted Path Distillery, 8 p.m.
Twisted Path Distillery celebrates the launch of its new music venue, The Tasting Room (2018 S. First St.) with this performance from Milwaukee folk-rockers The Zach Pietrini Band. In the future, the venue promises to host a variety of local and national musicians, as well as a songwriters’ night where “musicians can try new material, meet others in their genre and hopefully create some musical community,” according to Pietrini. There’s no admission for this show, which is open to patrons 21 and older.
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John Nemeth @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
Following his critically acclaimed most recent album, Feelin’ Freaky, John Nemeth has hit the road hard, bringing his blend of blues, soul and R&B to audiences around the country. He draws particular inspiration from the sounds of Memphis, drawing from Hi Records singers like O.V. Wright, Al Green and Ann Peebles, but on Feelin’ Freaky, he modernized his sound—incorporating a mix of hip-hop and rock influences into his arrangements. His willingness to test genre boundaries has only helped cement his stature in blues circles; last year, he was nominated for yet another Blues Music Award in the category of B.B. King: Entertainer of the Year.
Saturday, Feb. 24
Mama Tried Motorcycle Show @ The Rave/Eagles Club, 10 a.m.
Nobody will mistake them for paintings or sculptures, but to motorcycle enthusiasts, custom-built bikes are truly a thing of art. The Mama Tried Motorcycle Show treats them as such, displaying more than 100 vintage bikes and unique custom choppers built by some of the country’s finest craftsmen. The show runs for two days, Saturday, Feb. 24, and Sunday, Feb. 25. As the event’s popularity has ballooned in recent years, so have the concerts and after parties around it. The Rave will host one Saturday night at 8 p.m., featuring the Metallica tribute band One, as well as Weedeater, Bleed, HappyNeverClear, Sex Scenes and Mom’s New Boyfriend, while the Cactus Club will host a trio of shows Thursday through Saturday night, featuring bands including Then Lizzy, Ratt Trap, Da Shit Show, Banditos and Dusk.
UW-Milwaukee LGBT Resource Center 2018 Annual Drag Show @ Miller High Life Theatre, 7 p.m.
You may have a sense of how popular drag is, but to truly understand, there are few better ways than attending the UW-Milwaukee LGBT Resource Center’s Annual Drag Show, sometimes known as the Drag Ball. It’s one of the largest drag shows in the Midwest—drawing a roaring crowd of 2,000 people last year while raising money for Project Q, the LGBT Community Center’s youth program, and Pathfinders Milwaukee. The event is open to the public, with a suggested $5 donation at the door.
Steve Winwood
Steve Winwood @ The Riverside Theater, 8 p.m.
Prolific rocker Steve Winwood was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 for his work with the prog-rock outfit Traffic, and it’s not inconceivable he could be inducted again, since he was also a founding member of The Spencer Davis Group. And should the Hall of Fame decide to honor Winwood’s ’60s blues-rock band with Eric Clapton, Blind Faith, or his short-lived ’70s super-group, Go, the musician could end up being a four-timer. Over the years, Winwood has sat in on key sessions with legends like Lou Reed, Toots and the Maytals and George Harrison, while recording a steady stream of records under his own name. Though he hasn’t released a new studio record since 2008’s Nine Lives, a full-band affair that drew more from Winwood’s blues-rock roots than from the pop mindset of his ’80s hits like “Higher Love,” last year he released a new album called Greatest Hits Live. He’ll be joined at this show by his daughter, Lilly, who is also a singer.
All Messed Up VIII @ Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, 7 p.m.
All musicians need a shakeup or challenge every now and then, and Milwaukee’s annual All Messed Up event provides them with a doozy: Dozens of local players are randomly paired together to create 16 new bands that have three months to create and rehearse about 20 minutes of material, including at least one cover. The resulting bands can be pretty jumbled—by luck of the draw, one could have three drummers and no guitar players, for instance—but many of them are able to make hay of what they’re given, and a few have even spun off into permanent projects. The Frankenstein bands created by the latest All Messed Up draw will perform at a two-night showcase at Linneman’s Riverwest Inn this weekend, Feb. 23 and 24. If history is any indication, each night will feature at least a few winners, and the $5 cover each night makes it a very low-risk gamble.
Sunday, Feb. 25
Ladysmith Black Mambazo @ The Pabst Theater, 7:30 p.m.
Paul Simon’s Graceland is credited with popularizing world music in America, but in particular it 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 McLaughlin, Melissa Etheridge, Stevie Wonder, George Clinton and even the teen-pop group B*Witched. In 2014, they released their 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.
