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Ace Frehley
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Photo credit: Bernhard Kuhmstedt
Judith Owen
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Rich The Kid
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Photo credit: PJ Moody
Sex Scenes
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Photo credit: Stuart Levine
Tedeschi Trucks Band
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Photo credit: little x little photography
Greatest Lakes
Riverwest FemFest returns with its biggest, most impressive lineup yet, and Milwaukee bands Greatest Lakes and Sex Scenes play big release shows.
Thursday, May 24
Ace Frehley
Ace Frehley @ Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, 8 p.m.
Former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley hasn’t donned his signature Spaceman makeup since 2002, when he left the band after what was supposed to be its farewell tour (it wasn’t, obviously). He has continued making music, however, staying true to KISS’ template on his recent solo albums, including 2014’s Space Invader and his 2016 covers album Origins, Vol. 1, each of which offered heaping helpings of the rowdy hard-rock and pop-metal KISS made their name with. Those songs should make for a rousing show on their own, but the guitarist also throws plenty of hits from his former band into his set for good measure.
Saturday, May 26
Steny’s Walker’s Point Block Party @ Steny’s Tavern, noon
There’s a Guinness Book of World Records for just about anything you can imagine, and this weekend Steny’s will set out to break one of them. On Sunday, the second day of its Walker’s Point Block Party, the bustling Walker’s Point sports bar with attempt to set the record for the world’s largest Bloody Mary toast. Show up by 4:30 p.m. if you want to be a part of history. The block party will also feature craft beer tastings, and music from Saving Savana and The Toys on Saturday, as well as music from The Cheap Shots and Almighty Vinyl and a bags tournament on Sunday.
Photo credit: little x little photography
Greatest Lakes
Greatest Lakes w/ Nickel&Rose @ Anodyne Coffee, 8 p.m.
The Milwaukee-by-way-of-Kenosha indie-folk band Greatest Lakes charmed out the gate with their 2014 self-titled album, a wistfully dreamy album that lives up to the majesty of the group’s band name. And then they sort of disappeared. After a couple years mostly off the grid, the band has returned with a new sophomore album, Divisions, that was more than worth the wait. Building on the Grizzly Bear/Fleet Foxes vibe of its predecessor, it’s a flashier, slightly more loaded record, but the band’s distinctive harmonies remain as blissful as ever. The band shares this album release show with the inventive Milwaukee folk Nickel&Rose.
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Photo credit: PJ Moody
Sex Scenes
The Spits w/ Sex Scenes, Gallery Night and Brain-Bats @ Cactus Club, 9 p.m.
The Spits have always understood that punk music doesn’t have to be important. In the spirit of The Ramones, the Kalamazoo-born garage-punk band writes songs about partying, brawling and killing time. It’s punk music at its purest. They’ll share this bill with a trio of Milwaukee’s finest punk bands, including one that has a new release to celebrate: Sex Scenes, who offer 15 minutes of thundering, growling punk in the ill-tempered spirit of Jesus Lizard and Pissed Jeans on their new LP, h. It’s awesomely loud and lovably grumpy.
Sunday, May 27
Riverwest FemFest @ multiple venues
Each year, Riverwest FemFest showcases dozens of female, trans and non-binary artists from Milwaukee and beyond. For its fourth year, FemFest has expanded considerably in both its scope and its scale, with a remarkable eight-day lineup of showcases at venues across Riverwest. It all kicks off on Sunday, May 27, with a comedy showcase at Lakefront Brewery featuring Chastity Washington, Shannon Noll, Allison Dunne and Dina Nina Martinez. On Monday, Rise & Grind Café #2 hosts an all-ages spoken word night, featuring Lilo Allen, Marissa Reyes, Heard Space and others. On Tuesday, Microlights hosts the Riverwest FemFest Film & Video Showcase—two programs of shorts curated by Grace Mitchell and Naomi Shersty. On Wednesday, five venues will open their doors for the Riverwest FemFest Gallery Walk: The Ski Club, The Yellow Wallpaper Project, The Jazz Gallery, Yours Truly and The Lunchbox at After School Special, while Art*Bar hosts a bill featuring five bands and musicians, including Saebra & Carlyle, Rocket Cat and Banana Fish. The festival continues through Sunday, June 3, with a truly remarkable lineup of music bills planned for that weekend. For the complete lineup, visit rwfemfest.com.
Rich The Kid
Rich The Kid w/ YBN Nahmir, IshDARR, Big Chicken, MT Twins and Mac Hefner @ The Riverside Theater, 7:30 p.m.
Rich The Kid is having a moment. After years of building buzz around Atlanta, and a series of respectable mixtapes (including many with Migos), the Georgia rapper finally has some bona fide hits to his name. Last year he released “New Freezer,” a cold and clever trap song featuring Kendrick Lamar which made a splash on rap radio. His follow-up single “Plug Walk” made an even bigger impression, thanks in part to its utterly ridiculous “Breaking Bad”-inspired music video, which features a drug-cooking alien. Those songs are both featured on his debut album, The World Is Yours, which also includes guest spots from Future, Khalid, Rick Ross, Swae Lee and Lil Wayne.
Tuesday, May 29
Photo credit: Bernhard Kuhmstedt
Judith Owen
Judith Owen featuring Leland Sklar @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
Since his 1996 debut album Emotions on a Postcard, Welsh singer-songwriter Judith Owen has dabbled in a little bit of everything, honing a sophisticated mix of rock, folk and jazz. She’s also performed on albums by Richard Thompson, Julia Fordham and her husband, comedian-musician Harry Shearer, singing on his 1994 album It Must Have Been Something I Said and his just-released album under his Spinal Tap alter ego Derek Smalls, Smalls Change (Meditations Upon Ageing); she also does a mean cover of Spinal Tap’s “Christmas with the Devil.” This month, Owen releases her latest album—a covers collection called redisCOVERed featuring interpretations of songs as varied as Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff,” Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” and Joni Mitchell’s “Ladies Man,” as well as a torchy take on Drake’s “Hotline Bling.” For this show, she’ll be joined by one of the most prolific session musicians ever, Leland Sklar, a Milwaukee native who has performed on more than 2,000 albums by acts including Crosby, Stills and Nash, Leonard Cohen and Warren Zevon. Rumor has it Owen will be joined by another special guest as well.
Photo credit: Stuart Levine
Tedeschi Trucks Band
Tedeschi Trucks Band w/ Charlie Parr @ The Riverside Theater, 8 p.m.
The Southern rock-blues rock supergroup Tedeschi Trucks Band formed under the happiest circumstances possible. After touring together in the late ’00s, the husband and wife rockers Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi merged their respective bands in 2010 so they could spend more time together on the road. They knew they were on to something with the success of their first album under the Tedeschi Trucks umbrella, 2011’s Revelator, which took home a Grammy for Best Blues Album. Their 2013 follow-up, Made Up Mind, was a more varied set that includes several songs heavily inspired by the vintage soul of Stax and Motown. Some of those sounds also worked their way into 2016’s Let Me Get By, which played up the group’s blues and gospel influences. Their latest release is last year’s live album Live from the Fox Oakland, which includes a ripping version of Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on the Wire.”
