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Hannibal Buress
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Leon Bridges
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Photo credit: Emma Tillman
Father John Misty
Walker’s Point debuts a new street festival, Summerfest lets the dogs in and Justin Timberlake heads to the Fiserv Forum.
Thursday, Sept. 20
Photo credit: Emma Tillman
Father John Misty
Father John Misty w/ King Tuff @ The Pabst Theater, 8 p.m.
In addition to his time drumming for Fleet Foxes, J. Tillman already had seven albums released under his own name when he decided to reinvent himself as Father John Misty for his 2012 album, Fear Fun, which marked a wild departure from the comparatively traditional folk of his previous releases. Liberated by his new, joyfully ridiculous shamanic alter ego—and most likely by all the mushrooms he’d been wolfing down at the time—he recorded his druggiest, most exploratory album—a sprawling, symphonic, psych-pop magnum opus. On subsequent albums, he’s run with that expansive, baroque sound. His latest, 2018’s God’s Favorite Customer, features some of his more personal songwriting yet. He’s described it as “a heartache album.”
Friday, Sept. 21
Milwaukee’s Creative District Alive! @ Riverworks City Center, 5-10 p.m.
After attracting a slew of new businesses in recent years, Milwaukee’s Riverworks district has been branding itself as one of the city’s destination creative districts. As part of that push, the Riverworks Business Improvement District is hosting a variety of events this week, including this block party at the Riverworks City Center (3334 N. Holton St., right off the Beerline Trail). It’ll feature food trucks, beer from Black Husky Brewing, Company Brewing, Gathering Place and Lakefront Brewery and music from Paul Cebar Tomorrow Sound. The events continue on Saturday with a bike tour through the district beginning at 11 a.m.
Justin Timberlake @ Fiserv Forum, 7:30 p.m.
Few teen idols have made the transition to adult pop star quite as seamlessly as Justin Timberlake, whose 2002 solo debut, Justified, remains the model for every former boy-band kid looking to rebrand himself. For his most recent solo event, Man of the Woods, Timberlake recruited tried-and-true collaborators like Timbaland and The Neptunes while also expanding his sound, dabbling in country a bit and even sharing a duet with Chris Stapleton on the single “Say Something.” That song’s success teases a possible direction for Timberlake on future albums: more flannel, less dancing.
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Saturday, Sept. 22
Fromm PetFest @ Summerfest Grounds, 10 a.m.
Given how crowded some of the more popular festivals at the Summerfest grounds get, it’s probably for the best that dogs aren’t allowed at most of them. One day a year, however, canines are invited to join the festivities at Fromm PetFest—a free, animal-driven gathering featuring a pet marketplace, training clinics, dock diving, grooming sessions and agility courses, in addition to live music and children’s activities. (Cats are invited, too, but for obvious reasons not many people bring them.) Don’t have a pet to bring? You could end up taking one home from the event’s Adoption Avenue, where more than a dozen rescue organizations will be looking to pair cats and dogs with worthwhile owners.
Doors Open Milwaukee @ multiple locations
Ever wonder what goes on in that building you pass every day on your way to work? This weekend is your chance to find out. Historic Milwaukee, Inc.’s Doors Open Milwaukee is a free two-day event that invites participants to take a peek inside more than 170 buildings of historical or architectural significance, including many that are usually off-limits to the general public. There will also be more than 30 tours throughout the weekend, some ticketed, others not. For a complete list of participants, visit doorsopenmilwaukee.org. (Also Sunday, Sept. 23.)
Fifth Street Festival in Walker’s Point @ Fifth Street, noon-10 p.m.
Fifth Street in Walker’s Point is one of those streets that has a little bit of everything—food, culture, nightlife—and a good sampling of all of it will be on display at this inaugural street festival. In addition to the expected refreshments, there will be performances by Milwaukee Ballet dancers and Hamburger Mary’s Drag Divas, yoga and Zumba sessions and music from New Age Narcissism, Lovanova, Evan Christian, The Moonlighters Orchestra, Wooldridge Brothers, Burgundy Ties and many others. There’s also a designated DJ tent featuring sets from DJ Shawna, Hunter Sanchez and more.
Jessica Hopper @ Boswell Books, 7 p.m.
A feminist whose voice and conviction has helped lead music criticism’s shift away from the boys-club mentality that’s blighted the medium for decades, Jessica Hopper compiled some of her most memorable pieces from major publications and small zines alike in her 2015 anthology The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female. Her new book is even more personal. A pocket-sized memoir narrated in short, poetic prose, Night Moves chronicles long nights spent traversing Chicago in the mid-’00s on bike, DJing parties, catching shows and hobnobbing with friends and musicians (one colorful chapter is set at a Hold Steady video shoot). It’s an account of a time that already feels half forgotten—the pre-iPhone era of Friendster and Netflix DVDs by mail—as well as a portrait of a city in transition. “I love Chicago as is, burnished perfect from years of disrepair,” she writes in one dispatch from 2005. Hopper appears at Boswell for a conversation with Radio Milwaukee DJ Justin Barney.
Hannibal Buress
Hannibal Buress @ The Riverside Theater, 8 p.m.
After building a following with a series of uproarious stand-up albums and years of stealing scenes as Ilana Glazer’s affable, sometimes-boyfriend on Comedy Central’s “Broad City,” Hannibal Buress has been making the transition to film with roles in movies like Spider-Man: Homecoming, Baywatch, Blockers and this summer’s Tag, his first starring role. Ahead of his return to Milwaukee, the Shepherd Express spoke with Buress about his movie career, his latest material and his recent sobriety. “There were stories that involved drinking, but they weren’t funny because I was drinking,” he said. “They were funny because I’m funny. Boring people drink too, and there are sober boring people. The activity isn’t what makes it. The person makes it.” You can find the interview at shepherdexpress.com.
Sunday, Sept. 23
Leon Bridges
Leon Bridges w/ Khruangbin @ BMO Harris Pavilion, 8 p.m.
Texas soul singer Leon Bridges prefers his soul the old-fashioned way—the really, really old-fashioned way. On his debut single, “Coming Home,” Bridges channeled the swooning, early-’60s soul of artists like Sam Cooke, nailing all the period details from the doo-wop vocals to the dusty guitar licks. And that’s pretty much the template for Bridges’ slick, debut album of the same name. It was just 10 songs and half an hour long, but every track hit its mark. Rather than simply repeat a winning formula, Bridges’ new sophomore album, Good Thing, dares to branch out a bit, updating his retro soul with some more modern shadings without losing the old-school charm that made him such an instant favorite.
Tuesday, Sept. 25
Lydia Loveless w/ King Courteen @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
In a 2016 interview with the Shepherd Express, Lydia Loveless pushed back against the popular notion that she’s a badass. “I mean, to an extent I do want to be a badass,” the 20-something country-rock singer said. “But there’s this belief that I’m going to people’s houses and kicking in the door and raiding their fridge, or that I’m beating people up all the time, and that’s not me at all.” And while she certainly sounds plenty tough on the albums she’s released for the alt-country label Bloodshot Records, including 2016’s Real, her best songs tend to be her most fearlessly emotional ones, the ones where she writes openly about unrequited feelings, unfulfilled needs and the pervasive fear of rejection.
MC50: Kick Out The Jams w/ Detroit Cobras and Bleed @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 7:30 p.m.
Best captured on their 1969 debut album Kick Out The Jams, MC5’s loud, leftist, anti-establishment rock ’n’ roll helped pave the way for punk rock. Unfortunately, most of the band’s original lineup isn’t around to celebrate that album’s upcoming 50th anniversary, but surviving guitarist Wayne Kramer found a clever workaround for this tour. He recruited some famous fans of the band to fill in—among them Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil, Faith No More bassist Billy Gould, Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty and Zen Guerilla singer Marcus Durant.
