Friday, March 25
The Shadow of the Avant Garde: Pioneers @ UW-Milwaukee Kenilworth Square East, 7:30 p.m.
UWM Peck School of the Arts’ Avant Garde Project celebrates the legacy of the Milwaukee’s late Avant Garde Coffeehouse, which for six years in the 1960s hosted bills that blended music, poetry and other art forms. Modeled after those shows, this program will feature poet laureate Susan Firer reading perhaps the most celebrated beat poem of all time, Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl”; guitarist Stefano Barone soundtracking the animated films of Harry Smith; and musicians Ben Kammin, Rachael Carlson and Sam Balistreri performing Leo Kottke compositions. To underscore the ’60s counterculture vibe of the evening, Bob Reitman will play recorded music before and after the night, reprising his ’60s underground radio program “The Eleventh House.”
Gogol Bordello @ The Pabst Theater, 8 p.m.
First introduced to Milwaukee through the world music festival Global Union, the New York Gogol Bordello fuses the accordions and fiddles of traditional Romani Gypsy music with the combustible energy of punk rock. Their wild 2005 album coined a fitting term for their hybrid: Gypsy punk. Think of theirs as international drinking music: a hodgepodge of Bulgarian and Slovakian sounds with crashing percussion and a Pogues-like love for call-and-response with the crowd. Leader Eugene Hütz is a madman on stage, so expect him to pull out all the stops on this tour, which celebrates the 10th anniversary of their Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike album.
Puscifer @ The Riverside Theater, 8 p.m.
Even more so than his other bands Tool and A Perfect Circle, Puscifer is an anything-goes playground for Maynard James Keenan, essentially a free-form solo project that pairs the alternative metal iconoclast with a rotating lineup. The voice is the same, and Keenan’s confrontational sense of humor remains—he shrouds the band in garish sexual imagery—but nobody will mistake Puscifer for Tool, since Keenan supplements the group’s industrial grind with ambient soundscapes and electronic, trip-hop beats. Last fall the band released their third and latest full-length album, and like most of their releases, it’s got a suggestive title: Money Shot.
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Saturday, March 26
REYNA w/ No No Yeah Okay @ Cactus Club, 9 p.m.
As Vic + Gab, sisters Victoriah and Hannah Gabriela crafted woozy, heartfelt indie-pop heavily influenced by Tegan and Sara. On the strength of their 2013 album Love Of Mine, they became one of the city’s most in-demand live acts, so it came as a shock when they announced last year that they were retiring the band in order to start a new project. That project is a band called REYNA, which released its debut single “Spill Your Colors” in January. It’s not a drastic departure from the pop of the duo’s previous group, but it teases some more pronounced New Wave influences and more of an electronic edge. For their first show as REYNA, the band shares the bill with another electronic-leaning Milwaukee pop band: No No Yeah Okay, whose sound also draws heavily from soul and hip-hop.
WMSE’s 35th Anniversary Show @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 6 p.m.
Milwaukee’s independent radio station WMSE will mark its 35th anniversary with this show featuring some of the many Milwaukee punk bands the station has played over the years. The event, billed “Never Mind The Reunion, It’s WMSE,” will feature emo-pop stalwarts The Benjamins playing their lone album The Art of Disappointment in its entirety, just in time for the album’s 15th anniversary, and a project called The Crosses, featuring Die Kreuzen singer Dan Kubinski, which will perform Die Kreuzen’s debut LP from start to finish. Other blasts from the past on the bill include Skiptracer, Feck, The Mighty Deerlick and Moloko Shivers. (As part of the station’s anniversary celebration, WMSE DJs past and present will spin a mix of vintage dance and synth-pop music at Mad Planet the night before this show, Friday, March 25.)
Wednesday, March 30
G-Eazy w/ Nef The Pharaoh, Marty Grimes and Daghe @ The Rave/Eagles Ballroom, 8 p.m.
Like Macklemore before him, Oakland, Calif., rapper G-Eazy doesn’t shy from exploring his whiteness. On his latest album When It’s Dark Out, he rhymes about being “the coldest white rapper in the game since the one with the bleached hair,” then ponders “what if the game didn't care I was white?” Featuring assists from radio staples like Chris Brown, Bebe Rexha and Big Sean, and more than a dozen producers, When It’s Dark Out is the album that announces G-Eazy’s pop ambitions, and it hit its mark: In December it debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and two months later it went gold. As this largely sold-out tour makes clear, G-Eazy is no longer a cult act; he’s a full-blown star.
Riverdance @ Milwaukee Theatre, 7:30 p.m.
From its beginnings as a seven-minute dance interval performed at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, the Irish step-dancing act Riverdance quickly developed into an international sensation as the popular, critically acclaimed production toured the world. With its signature unison dance lines and high-energy choreography, a blend of tap and ballet, the show is a true visual spectacle. It’s also proved quite enduring. In 2009, the production toured the world with what was billed as a farewell tour, but to the surprise of nobody, its farewell didn’t last that long. This current tour celebrates the company’s 20th anniversary. (Also March 31).
The Record Company @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 8 p.m.
Since leaving Milwaukee for Los Angeles, former Freshwater Collins/Invade Rome singer Chris Vos has made a big impression with his new band, The Record Company. Carving out a niche for themselves with their bluesy, no-frills rock ’n’ roll, which taps the combustible energy of The Stooges and The Rolling Stones during their ’70s hot streak, they’ve played “Conan,” soundtracked beer commercials and hobnobbed with Lisa Loeb at this year’s South By Southwest. Now they’re swinging back through Milwaukee in support of their debut full-length, Give It Back to You. Radio Milwaukee sponsors this show, which is why tickets are just $8.89.
