The Rolling Stones @ Marcus Amphitheater, June 23
Friday, June 19
Belle and Sebastian w/ Courtney Barnett @ The Pabst Theater, 8 p.m.
Perhaps no group has shaped the sound of indie-pop more than Belle and Sebastian. Wistfully nostalgic and shaded with baroque instrumentation, the Scottish band’s early albums—in particular 1996’s masterful If You’re Feeling Sinister—became the template for how to meld ’60s pop with contemporary indie-rock. Nearly 20 years later, the band’s work still sounds mighty fresh, and the band is still exploring new sounds. As its title hints, their latest album, Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance, reflects the band’s new-found interest in dance music. For the group’s first Milwaukee show in eight years, they’ll be joined by an excellent opener: Courtney Barnett, the songwriter behind one of this year’s wittiest, best reviewed indie-rock albums: Sometimes I Just Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit.
The Temptations @ Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, 8 p.m.
It would take a lot of ink to list all of The Temptations’ top-10 hits, since there are a whooping 37 of them, including soul classics like “My Girl,” “Get Ready” and “The Way You Do the Thing You Do.” The legendary Detroit band never stopped touring, even as members have left and passed on. Though the outfit is down to its last original member (Otis Williams), they have continued to record. Their most recent album is 2010’s Still Here, which updates the band’s style with modern sounds (including Auto-Tune). The songs often fall flat, but Williams’ voice has lost little with age.
Lakefront Festival of Art, Milwaukee Art Museum, 10 a.m.
One of the Milwaukee Art Museum’s largest fundraisers, the Lakefront Festival of Art features more than 180 artists and craftspeople from across the world showing and selling their work, from fiber and metalwork to ceramics and paintings. The three-day festival is held at the museum and on the surrounding grounds, where a wine garden and Blue Moon beer-sampling stand will offer refreshments. There’s ample music, too. Headliners this year include a spate of Milwaukee bands, among them GGOOLLDD, Group of the Altos, Whips, Nineteen Thirteen and Stubby Shubbz Brass Band. (Through Sunday, June 21.)
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Greek Fest @ Wisconsin State Fair Park, 11 a.m.
Although the food is the biggest draw at this Milwaukee festival staple, which is celebrating 50 years this summer, there’s also plenty of entertainment to take in while you’re enjoying your gyro, souvlaki or saganaki. Traditional performances, including dancing and music, are a big draw, in addition to a Greek market and carnival rides on the midway. Admission is free for this family festival hosted by Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, and each night will feature live contemporary music at 7 p.m. (Through Sunday, June 21.)
Juneteenth Day @ Martin Luther King Drive, 10 a.m.
News traveled slow in the 1800s. Though Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, some slaves in Texas didn’t learn of their freedom until two and a half years later, on June 19, 1965. Each year Milwaukee commemorates that date with a big, family friendly blowout on Martin Luther King Drive between Burleigh and Center, as thousands take to the streets to enjoy live music, incredible barbeque and games. Each year’s event kicks off with a massive parade; this year’s will feature contributions from the Milwaukee Public Theatre.
Saturday, June 20
Summer Soulstice Music Festival @ North Avenue, 10 a.m.-midnight
Music gets top billing at the East Side’s annual Summer Soulstice Music Festival, and rightly so, considering this year’s lineup includes local heavy-hitters like Soul Low, GGOOLLDD, Tigernite, Low Down Sound, Aluar Pearls and Delta Routine. But even away from the live music stages there’s plenty of spectacle to enjoy. Now in its 15th year, the event also features BMX stunt bikes, dodgeball, visual artists, arts fair, creation stations, East Side chefs, dodge ball, BMX stunt bikes and a host of family friendly activities.
Sunday, June 21
Milwaukee Block Party @ Hot Water, 11 a.m.- 4 p.m.
Milwaukee claims one of the fullest schedules of summer parties of any city in the world, but there’s always room for new additions. This spring Hot Water debuted a monthly gathering called Milwaukee Block Party, which features craft vendors, food trucks and live music, as well as a live mural painter and outdoor games. Admission is $5, and free for kids under 12. For this Father’s Day installment of the event, dads get in free, too.
Tuesday, June 23
The Rolling Stones w/ Buddy Guy @ Marcus Amphitheater, 7:30 p.m.
Consider it this spring’s worst-kept secret. By the time Summerfest revealed that The Rolling Stones would open this year’s festival with a Tuesday-night kickoff gig, the news had been so widely reported that it came as a surprise to absolutely nobody. That’s not to say that it wasn’t worth celebrating, though. This concert marks Summerfest’s biggest booking in years, and the performance promises to be downright intimate by the Stones’ usual standards: With a capacity of about 23,000, the Marcus Amphitheater is by far the smallest venue on the bands 15-date summer tour, which is skipping Chicago in favor of Milwaukee. Demand for the concert was so high that tickets sold out in just 10 minutes.
Wednesday, June 24
Sheryl Crow @ BMO Harris Pavilion, Summerfest, 10 p.m.
Sheryl Crow has worn many hats. Though she first caught the music industry’s attention as a backup singer for Michael Jackson during his 1987 “Bad” tour, Sheryl Crow resisted early offers to record as a dance-pop artist, waiting until 1993 to release her first album, Tuesday Night Music Club, which established her as a something-for-everyone singer-songwriter. Decades later, she continues to blur the boundaries between folk, pop and country. On 2008’s Detours, a record inspired by her breakup with cyclist Lance Armstrong and her victory over breast cancer, she re-embraced the confessional folk and roots-rock that first gave her a taste of fame in the ’90s, while 2010’s 100 Miles from Memphis paid homage to the earthy soul and R&B of Nashville. Her latest album, 2013’s Feels Like Home, opts for a more modern style of country music. It’s Crow’s most overt grab for the mainstream country crowd yet.
Mavis Staples @ Johnson Control’s World Stage, Summerfest, 10 p.m.
Soul great Mavis Staples will always be best known for her work with The Staple Singers, a group that recorded a string of great records throughout the ’60s and ’70s and scored the hit “I’ll Take You There,” but her underappreciated late-period records are plenty remarkable in their own right. She reflected on the civil rights movement, a topic near to her heart, for 2007’s gospel-minded We’ll Never Turn Back, before teaming with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy for 2010’s wonderfully stripped-down You Are Not Alone and 2013’s sequel, One True Vine. That album featured background vocals from Kelly Hogan and drums from Tweedy’s son, Spencer.
