This Week in Milwaukee: Aug. 17-23, 2017

Irish Fest, Punk Fest, Guitar Fest and Breadfest highlight a week with even more festivals than usual.

Thursday, Aug. 17

Milwaukee Irish Fest @ Summerfest Grounds

If whiskey, potatoes andleprechauns still dominate your thoughts when you think of Ireland, allowMilwaukee Irish Fest to introduce you to the full scope of Irish customs, artand folklore. Over its four-day run this weekend, visitors can experienceCeltic culture through a full lineup of live music (including a stage thatexclusively features harp music), traditional Irish play performances,delicious Irish cuisine, Irish dance lessons and a Celtic Canine Area—thelatter featuring some of Ireland’s most popular dog breeds (and, yes, you canpet them). There will also be tug-of-war matches, miniature golf and othergames. (Through Sunday, Aug. 20.)

Milwaukee Punk Fest @ multiple venues

For decades, older punk fans have been arguing that the genre’s glory daysare long over. Milwaukee Punk Fest, however, can attest to the fact that thereare still plenty of new ideas percolating in the genre with its lineup of 60punk acts scattered across four venues and six days. This weekend’s attractionsinclude three nights of music at The Local (Friday-Sunday), with Midwest punkbands Horrible, Court Cau$t, Dirty Reggae Punx, Tiger Sex and Northside Creeps,and a night of live comedy Thursday at Brewed Café, featuring comedians TylerMenz, David Louis, AJ Grill, Addie Blanchard and Carter Deems. Never let it besaid that punk doesn’t have a sense of humor.

Guitar Festival Week @ The Sharon Lynne Wilson Center

More than 75performers from 19 countries will flock to the Wilson Center this weekend forits annual Guitar Festival. On Friday and Saturday, the venue will hostsemi-final and final competitions in four categories—Classical, Fingerstyle,Jazz and Rock-Blues—all of which are free and open to the public. The eventwill also feature three nights of headliners: The Beijing Guitar Duo onThursday, Aug. 17; Antoine Dufour and Mike Dawes on Friday, Aug. 18; and KevinEubanks (longtime guitarist for Jay Leno’s Tonight Show Band) on Saturday, Aug.19.

Breadfest IV @ Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, 9 p.m.

Breadking is a loosely(sometimes very loosely) affiliatednetwork of Riverwest bands and musicians running the gamut from indie-rock,punk and folk. For the latest installment of the collective’s annual Breadfest,a host of acts associated with the collective (or at least friends of friendsof the collective) will park at Linneman’s Riverwest Inn for three nights,where the lineup will include Work, Cairns, The Fatty Acids, Tigernite, MouseCorn, Faux Fiction, Liam O’Brien’s Faithless Followers and others. Each nightfeatures four or five acts. Single show tickets are $7, and a weekend pass is$15.

Friday, Aug. 18

Khalid @ The Rave, 8 p.m.

You can take his albumtitle literally: Fast-rising R&B star Khalid was a teenager when hereleased his debut album, American Teen,this spring. The record received rave reviews from critics who praised the 19-year-oldsinger’s tender take on alternative R&B, as well as from the radio, whichhas given his breakout single, “Location,” regular airplay. “Young Dumb &Broke,” Khalid’s follow-up single, has been climbing up the charts all summer.To judge from the way he sold out this concert, his first headlining show inMilwaukee, it seems like this young singer is likely to have real stayingpower.

Midwest Original MusicFestival @ Croatian Park, Franklin, 11 a.m.

TheCity of Franklin has rounded up more than two dozen bands, spanningalternative, hard-rock, country, prog and indie-rock, for its inaugural,three-day Midwest Original Music Festival at Croatian Park, 9100 S. 76th St.Performers include CircleSwitch, The Racing Pulses, Mixed Company, Life in aTree, Blame it on Cain and American Zeros, among many others. The festival runsfrom 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. onSunday. One-day tickets are $8 on the festival’s website.

Mike Zito @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.

Mike Zito is a lifelongpatron of blues and country music. He’s released a dozen albums,  beginning with his 1998 debut and is bestknown to some as a co-founding member of the blues-rock group Royal SouthernBrotherhood, which he formed in 2011 with Cyril Neville and Devon Allman. He’salso made his mark as a producer, working on records by Samantha Fish, AlbertCastiglia and Laurence Jones. Since 2012, though, he’s been on a musicaljourney all his own with backing band The Wheel. Zito’s 2014 album, Gone To Texas, earned him a nominationfor a Blues Music Award in the Rock Blues Album of the Year category.

King Cardinal @ Company Brewing, 10 p.m.

Denver-based Americanagroup King Cardinal is the vision of founder Brennan Mackey who, on a whim,left his old life in Chicago in the dust to pursue music in Denver. Mackey putout King Cardinal’s self-titled first EP as a solo project, taking influencefrom stripped-back country rock artists like Ryan Adams and Steve Earle. The EPgarnered him an invite to perform at Telluride Bluegrass Festival alongsideLake Street Dive and Punch Brothers and got him noticed by a group of musicianswho would later join him in King Cardinal. The now five-piece band put out Once a Giant in 2015 and are gearing upfor a new album led by the swanky singles “Seventeen” and “Metronome.”