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IshDARR
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Blind Boys Of Alabama
The Fiserv Forum stays busy with two more big shows, while the Milwaukee Brewers hype fans for a hopefully epic 2019.
Thursday, Jan. 24
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band w/ Grand Funk Railroad @ Fiserv Forum, 7:30 p.m.
Bob Seger’s no-nonsense heartland rock was never especially cutting edge, which may be why it’s stood the test of time so well. At 73, the raspy Detroit rocker remains an arena headliner, and he’s still recording new material. His most recent album was 2017’s I Knew You When, which includes covers of songs from two recently departed legends—Lou Reed’s “Busload of Faith” and Leonard Cohen’s “Democracy”—and a whole bunch of up-tempo rockers in the spirit of Seger’s classic recordings.
‘Shrek Retold’ @ Bremen Cafe, 8:30 p.m.
Between its garish character design and grotesque fart humor, it’s amazing that a movie as glaringly bad as Shrek could make such a massive cultural imprint. If you spend much time online, you’ve probably seen the movie memed and parodied, but the internet’s ironic Shrek fandom has never seen anything quite like Shrek Retold, an absurdist, shot-for-shot remake of the movie initiated from the Milwaukee comedy group 3GI Industries. The group recruited more than 200 collaborators to present the movie through a demented mix of live action, animation and puppetry. In less than a week the movie netted one million views on YouTube, but for those who’d rather watch the movie with a crowd, Bremen Cafe is hosting this screening.
Friday, Jan. 25
Umphrey’s McGee w/ Marcus King Band @ The Riverside Theater, 7 p.m.
When Umphrey’s McGee swing through Milwaukee, they don’t just visit. They stay the weekend. Among the heaviest and most prog-rock influenced of the major bands on the jam scene, majorly indebted to Pink Floyd, Genesis, Frank Zappa and Dream Theater, the group will park at the Riverside Theater for two nights this weekend. The group has been as experimental as ever on their recent records. 2016’s Zonkey was an unusual mashup collection that drew from the works of Radiohead, Nirvana, MGMT, AC/DC, Beck and The Beastie Boys, among many, many others, while last year’s It’s Not Us doubled down on thick, heady prog-rock. (Also Saturday, Jan. 26.)
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Saturday, Jan. 26
Pablove 10 @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 6:30 p.m.
After the death of his son Pablo, Milwaukee native Jeff Castelaz made it his life mission to increase awareness about pediatric cancer with his Pablove Foundation. Every winter that organization hosts a grand benefit concert in Milwaukee called Pablove, which in the past has featured reunion performances by some big acts from Milwaukee’s music scene. This year the event is doing something different: The main event will be an “all-star singalong” of perhaps the most beloved Milwaukee album of all time, The Violent Femmes’ 1983 self-titled debut. Abby Jeanne, Die Kreuzen’s Dan Kubinski, Decibully's B.J. Seidel, Mark Waldoch, Mike Benign, Liv Mueller and Eagle Trace’s Mitchell Borgardt will be among the musicians paying tribute to that classic. The night will also include a set from the Los Angeles band Voilà and a reunion show from Milwaukee’s The Blow Pops.
IshDARR
IshDARR w/ EMAAD, BoodahDARR and MT Twins @ The Rave, 8 p.m.
How beautiful is it to see a Milwaukee rapper headline one of the city’s biggest concert venues? It hardly ever happens, but nobody’s worked harder for it than IshDARR—a Messmer High School alum who’s built an impressive following with his dexterous flow and unusual melodic instincts. He’s released several albums of effusive, party-starting hip-hop, including last year’s Slow Down, KID, his slickest, most pop-minded record yet. Last year he also made his major motion picture debut in the Matthew McConaughey gangster movie White Boy Rick. For this show, Ish will be buoyed by a trio of hometown rap acts: EMAAD, BoodahDARR and MT Twins.
Blind Boys Of Alabama
Blind Boys of Alabama @ Marcus Center, 7:30 p.m.
Few groups can claim longer track records than the Southern gospel and blues ensemble The Blind Boys of Alabama, which has been performing in some capacity since 1939. The group’s current lineup looks a lot different than it did back then—the last decade has seen several longtime members either retire or pass away—but after all these years, one original member still remains: singer Jimmy Carter, whose voice remains strong even in his late 80s. The group has continued recording, too. In 2013 they expanded their audience with I’ll Find a Way, an album produced by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, and in 2017 they released their latest record Almost Home.
Sunday, Jan. 27
Brewers on Deck @ Wisconsin Center, 10 a.m.
It’s not too surprising that the Milwaukee Brewers’ annual fan festival Brewers on Deck has already sold out this year. The team has rarely been hotter. They ended their season last year just one game away from the World Series, and given their record-breaking payroll this year and the blockbuster acquisition of catcher Yasmani Grandal, the team is dead serious about making another push this season. Most of the team will appear at this year’s event, including Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain, Orlando Arcia, Ryan Braun and Corey Knebel, joined by manager Craig Counsell, general manager David Stearns and legends like Bob Uecker, Robin Yount and Jim Gantner for a day of autographs, photo opportunities, panels, Q&A sessions, kid’s baseball clinics and games.
Panic! At the Disco w/ Two Feet and Betty Who @ Fiserv Forum, 7 p.m.
While bands from the mid-’00s emo boom quickly faded from the spotlight, Panic! at the Disco’s following has only grown over the last decade, despite a series of lineup changes and defections that left singer Brendon Urie its only original member. Like Fall Out Boy, the band has prospered largely by looking beyond emo and pop-punk. The group’s 2016 album Death of a Bachelor dove head first into contemporary electronic styles, while drawing liberally from pop and hip-hop as well. Those stylistic leaps paid dividends for the band: It became their first number one album and earned them a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album. Last year’s Pray for the Wicked was even more audacious, building on those styles while drawing from the spirit of Broadway, following Urie’s 2017 stint playing the lead in a production of Kinky Boots.
King Tuff w/ Stonefield @ The Back Room at Colectivo, 8 p.m.
Kyle Thomas has done time in J. Mascis’ stoner-metal band Witch and toured with the giddy punk band Hunx & His Punx, but he saves his finest work for his own garage-rock project King Tuff. The group’s albums for Sub Pop have been deliciously glammy, imagining a heavier, hungrier T. Rex while spotlighting Thomas’s lean, grimy riffs. Like its predecessor, 2014’s Black Moon Spell, the band’s latest The Other features drums from rocker Ty Segall. He’s not the only indie royalty who contributed to the record: It also features saxophones from Mikal Cronin and backing vocals from Jenny Lewis.
