Fall is the best! Fall concerts are the best! Here are some concerts that fall between September 22 and December 20, a.k.a. fall!
Thursday, September 22
Blitzen Trapper Songbook: A Night Of Stories & Songs + Kacy & Clayton @ The Back Room @ Colectivo
Remember those old VH1 “Storyteller” shows where artitsts would play songs and tell stories about those songs? This show will be just like that, with veteran Portland, Oregon group Blitzen Trapper cramming into Colectivo’s intimate Back Room to play some tunes and spin some yarns.
Sugar Ransom & The Secret Pistols (record release) + Liv Mueller @ Company Brewing
Milwaukee singer-songwriter Sugar Ransom specializes in perfectly rendered Americana that’s just as addictive as her name. Her new album with backing band The Secret Pistols, the elusively titled Hopefiend, will see its release at this show. In tow will be Liv Mueller, formerly of the once-mighty Lovelies.
Saturday, September 24
AM/FM: Whips, Rusty Ps, Secret Headliner @ The Hotel Foster
The recently shuttered doors of The Hotel Foster will be open again for this one-night-only pop-up bar featuring specialty cocktails, projected art, and a new food truck. Oh, and live music from Whips, Rusty Ps, a secret headliner, and DJs Asher Gray, DJ Why B, and Slim Brit.
Tacocat + Dude York, The Pukes @ Cactus Club
The musicians behind feminist pop-punk outfit Tacocat are neither tacos nor cats, though their music is just as delightful as both. Milwaukee’s ever-busy Pukes will open.
Sunday, September 25
Chvrches @ Riverside Theater
Scottish synth-pop gods Chvrches have been the cat’s meow ever since the release of the debut album The Bones Of What You Believe in 2013. See them here as they make their big-time Riverside Theater debut.
Tuesday, September 27
Bill Callahan + Jon Mueller @ The Back Room @ Colectivo
Singer-songwriter Bill Callahan released more than a dozen records throughout the ’90s and early ’00s under the moniker Smog. Going by just plain old Bill Callahan since 2007, the now-50-year old singer will surely delight at this intimate Back Room show. Milwaukee’s daring and always-thrilling Jon Mueller will open.
The Mountain Goats + Oh Pep! @ Pabst Theater
John Darnielle and his Mountain Goats have long been distinctive, witty, and heartfelt voices in a sometimes-cookie-cutter indie world. The group’s 2015 album Beat The Champ is a concept record about professional wrestling, of course.
Friday, September 30
Pokemon Symphonic Evolutions w/MSO @ Riverside Theater
Flummoxed Lake Park neighbors take note: on Friday, September 30, the park will likely be empty as the eight zillion people that play Pokemon Go there will be at this show. Enjoy it while it lasts!
Dressy Bessy + Faux Fiction @ Anodyne Coffee – Walker’s Point
Dressy Bessy’s new album, Kingsized, comes after a seven-year hiatus which found the band dealing with the sort of everyday life issues that all bands eventually deal with. Though the ever-upbeat group never broke up, it’s good to have them back on the road and playing shows, including this can’t-miss date at the Walker’s Point Anodyne Coffee.
New Boyz Club (record release) + Hello Death, Fox Face, SistaStrings @ Company Brewing
Not content with playing dozens of shows every month and generally being incredible, the soulful New Boyz Club will celebrate the release of their first-in-a-trilogy EP, G l O r Y g L o R y, at this stacked Company Brewing show.
Saturday, October 1
B-Free (record release) + Abby Jeanne, D’Amato, Kyndal J. Music, Klassik @ Company Brewing
If you’ve been paying attention to Milwaukee music as of late, you’ve been paying attention to B-Free. As singer for the ever-busy, genre-defying Foreign Goods, B-Free (a.k.a. Britney Freeman-Farr) has played countless club shows, festivals, and benefits—many during this year alone. This show celebrates the release of her new LP, Ode 2 A Luv Affair.
Thursday, October 6
Alice Cooper @ Milwaukee Theatre
Alice Cooper is no stranger to Milwaukee, but hey, it’s almost Halloween, so why not see him again? Suddenly remembering Cooper sings the ’80s-rific “Poison” never gets old.
Friday, October 14
Of Montreal @ Turner Hall
Athens, Georgia outfit Of Montreal released approximately 8,000 albums of twee, lightly psychedelic pop before undergoing a glam/funk makeover and hitting it big with 2007’s Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? It’s a shame that more of the group’s early material rarely sees the light of day in concert, but Of Montreal’s live shows rarely disappoint.
Wednesday, October 19
M83 + Shura @ Pabst Theater
How is it that French electro favorite M83 has never played Milwaukee before? Weird. Oh well, here’s your chance to see Anthony Gonzalez and company live in the Brew City for the first time at a sure to be trippy-as-fuck show.
NO/NO + Ravi/Lola, Chook Race, Trauma Harness @ Company Brewing
NO/NO’s gorgeous 2016 Sound And Light is an album with surface pleasures aplenty—a glitter-and-gloom dream-pop vibe, insistent synth riffs, endless guitar and vocal hooks, the jaw-dropping “Whatever”—but dig deeper and you’ll find subtler signs of brilliance. Joining the group for the show are the ’60s-indebted psych-pop purveyors of Ravi/Lola.
Thursday, October 20
Tegan And Sara + Torres @ Pabst Theater
Tegan And Sara’s slow transformation from shaggy indie-folk to full-on pop has been a refreshingly pleasant one. Witness the sister act’s glittery, synth-y new day at the Pabst, along with the equally awesome Torres.
Tuesday, November 1
Destroyer (solo) + Liam Hayes @ The Back Room @ Colectivo
If Dan Bejar from the forever-amazing Destroyer comes to town and plays a tiny venue like Colectivo’s Back Room, you go, no questions asked.
Saturday, November 5
Brett Newski (record release) + The Kickback, Detlef Schrempf @ Cactus Club
Milwaukee-by-way-of-the-world pop troubadour Brett Newski has done it all—penned tampon commercial jingles in Vietnam, angered Shaquille O’Neal as a young boy. At this show Newski will celebrate the release of a new album, Land Air Sea Garage.
Thursday, November 10
The Good Life + Jake Bellows, Our Fox, Oquoa @ Cactus Club
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but if Tim Kasher and The Good Life come to town and play a tiny venue like Cactus Club, you go, no questions asked.