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Doyle
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Photo credit: Joshua Black Wilkins
The Milk Carton Kids
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Maria Muldaur
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Mirah
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Photo credit: Reid Long
Ray LaMontagne
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'Standing Rock: Take Me From The River'
Halloween weekend gets weird with the debut of a huge EDM festival at the Wisconsin Center and the return of Nightmare on Center Street.
Thursday, Oct. 25
Skulloween Bike Night @ Harley-Davidson Museum, 5 p.m.
The Harley-Davidson Museum’s restaurant Motor will host this celebration of all things Halloween, featuring carved pumpkins, outdoor firepits, live music from the Jackie Brown Band and the inaugural Ghost Riders Boonie Bike Race, a minibike race. The first heat starts at 6:30 p.m. and the final laps are at 8:15 p.m. There will also be a contest to win a brand-new Harley-Davidson Iron 1200.
'Standing Rock: Take Me From The River'
“Standing Rock: Take Me From The River” @ Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, 7 p.m.
In 2016, a group of Milwaukee activists traveled more than 800 miles to Standing Rock’s Oceti Sakowin camp to support the tribe and oppose the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which threatens to pollute the reservation’s water source, the Missouri River. Their journey was documented by Milwaukee activist and musician Denny Rauen, who presents this free screening of his film Standing Rock: Take Me From The River. It’ll screen with a short film about regional water activism presented by filmmaker Dusan Harminc and Milwaukee’s Overpass Light Brigade (the protesters frequently spotted about 1-43). There will also be a panel discussion about water preservation and a performance from classical guitarist Michael Bootzin.
Photo credit: Joshua Black Wilkins
The Milk Carton Kids
The Milk Carton Kids w/ The Barr Brothers @ The Pabst Theater, 8 p.m.
Ever since the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack popularized the roots-music revival in 2000, traditional folk acts of all stripes have been getting their due. But there’s one style of folk act that’s been mostly ignored: the old-fashioned folk duo. Singer/songwriters Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan of The Milk Carton Kids model their act after the wholesome harmonic interplay of Simon & Garfunkel and The Everly Brothers, an approach that’s earned them frequent appearances on “A Prairie Home Companion” and the fandom of producer T Bone Burnett, who featured them in the concert documentary Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the Music of Inside Llewyn Davis. This year they released their latest album, All the Things That I Did and All the Things That I Didn't Do.
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Saturday, Oct. 27
Jawbreaker Fest @ Wisconsin Center, 7 p.m.
Milwaukee’s downtown convention center the Wisconsin Center traditionally hasn’t been used as a concert space, though it’s certainly large enough to host some huge ones. This weekend, the venue will give the whole concert thing a go when it hosts Jawbreaker Fest, a two-day EDM festival on Saturday, Oct. 27, and Sunday, Oct. 28. The concerts will take place in the Wisconsin Center’s third floor exhibition hall and have a capacity of 10,000 each night—well over twice the capacity of the Eagle’s Ballroom, the Milwaukee venue where these kinds of big EDM shows have historically been most likely to take place. Saturday’s lineup will feature EDM star Zedd—whose crossover hits include “Clarity,” “Stay The Night” and “Stay”—as well as GRiZ, Louis the Child, Parker, RCKT PWR and Crystal Knives. Sunday’s lineup features ODESZA, RL Grime, Slumberjack, Plaid Hawaii and Moses.
Nightmare on Center Street IV @ multiple venues
Just like the movie it’s named for, Riverwest’s annual Nightmare on Center Street concert crawl keeps returning for more installments. Curated by Jay Anderson of VoodooHoney, the event returns for its fourth year on Saturday, Oct. 27, with music at six Center Street venues (Jazz Gallery, Quarter’s Rock N’ Roll Palace, Company Brewing, Club Timbuktu, Mad Planet and High Dive, which is hosting a dance party DJed by the No Stress Collective). There will also be a zombie bike ride. Performers include Taj Raiden, Chalice in the Palace, Genesis Renji, Phat Nerdz, ORB, and the Cowboy Beebop Anime Orchestra. All-access passes are $15 and include a “special surprise perk.” Individual tickets for admission to each venue are $10, except for the High Dive dance party, which is free.
Mirah
Mirah w/ Tomberlin @ The Back Room at Colectivo, 8 p.m.
One of the more underrated indie-rock songwriters of her generation, Brooklyn singer-songwriter Mirah has released a series of gorgeous albums (many of them for K Records) with an adventurous, otherworldly edge. Phil Elvrum of The Microphones and Mount Eerie produced her early albums, which share his sense of in-the-studio experimentation, but her recent records have been more high fidelity. This fall she released her latest, Understanding, which spotlights her wise songwriting and ear for unexpected sounds. She’s joined on this bill by Tomberlin, the nom de plume of singer/songwriter Sarah Beth Tomberlin, who released her confessional debut album At Weddings this summer.
Photo credit: Reid Long
Ray LaMontagne
Ray LaMontagne @ The Riverside Theater, 8 p.m.
Ray LaMontagne has garnered steady comparisons to greats like Van Morrison and The Band for his earthy, rugged style of folk music, but on recent albums the songwriter has been reaching beyond his usual bubble. The shift started with 2014’s Supernova. Produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, the album experimented with ’60s influences and a greater sound palette, including electric guitar and organ riffs. In support of his latest album, this spring’s Part of the Light, LaMontagne is presenting this “Just Passing Through” acoustic tour, where he’ll be joined by Wilco’s John Stirratt on bass.
Maria Muldaur
Maria Muldaur @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
To listeners of a certain age, Maria Muldaur is best remembered for her leisurely 1973 soft-rock hit “Midnight at the Oasis,” though Grateful Dead fans know her from her long association with that group and her time as a backing singer in the Jerry Garcia Band. Over the years she’s also collaborated with artists like Taj Mahal, Bonnie Raitt, Dr. John and even Stevie Wonder. This year the 75-year-old singer released her first new album in five years, Don't you Feel my Leg, a tribute to blues and jazz singer Blue Lu Barker.
Sunday, Oct. 28
Fleetwood Mac @ Fiserv Forum, 8 p.m.
True to their reputation for drama, when Fleetwood Mac returns to Milwaukee for their first show at the new Fiserv Forum they’ll be performing with a different lineup than the one that played their last Milwaukee show at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in 2015. Singer-guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, according to his account, was kicked out of the band after a spat with singer Stevie Nicks. He’s been replaced by singer-guitarist Neil Finn (of Crowded House and Split Enz) and former Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell. Maybe Buckingham should take it as a complement that they needed two musicians to replace him?
Citizen w/ Vortex @ The Back Room at Colectivo, 7:30 p.m.
Maybe it’s that whiff of post-hardcore music, with its suggestion of bottled male rage, that’s turned the indie-rock establishment off of bands like Citizen, but it’s the establishment’s loss. While Citizen doesn’t slot cleanly into any given genre (their music is a hybrid of emo, alternative and indie-rock), they’ve produced several of the most passionate rock records of the last few years, including their latest, 2017’s As You Please. It’s everything alternative rock records used to be: heavy, ambitious, unpredictable, earnest. It’s the work of musicians willing to bleed for their art.
Tuesday, Oct. 30
Doyle
Doyle: As We Die World Abomination Tour @ Miramar Theatre, 5 p.m.
It’s not quite the same as a Misfits concert, but it’s close to Halloween, so we’ll take it. The hulking, musclebound Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein was the legendarily horror-obsessed punk band’s lead guitarist in the early ’80s, and he also played with the band during their ’90s reunion before later touring with Danzig. These days he’s still wearing his classic Frankenstein makeup, but he’s fronting his own project, a band simply titled Doyle, with Alex Story of Cancerslug on vocals. They’re joined on this bill by a bunch of similarly heavy acts: Beaker, The Dead Morticians, Dorothy's Worst, Cyanide Son, Billy Dreamer and Primal Enemy.
