Author Cal Roach

Tool still invincible at Halloween costume-clad Fiserv Forum show

November 1, 2019

Photos and video recordings were not allowed during Thursday night's sold-out Tool concert at the Fiserv Forum. It's a hip policy these days, ostensibly to force an audience to be present and focused on the sta...

Trey Anastasio refuses to play it safe at rewarding Riverside Theater show

Cal Roach

October 19, 2019

It’s been another uneventful year for Phish frontman Trey Anastasio. He didn’t write a single Broadway musical, nor did he perform with any symphony orchestras. Phish didn’t even release an album or invent an i...

Heart anything but a nostalgia act at deep-cut Fiserv Forum show

Cal Roach

October 13, 2019

Sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson have helmed Heart for more than four decades, almost entirely responsible for the group's success through more personnel and stylistic changes than the average fan could even keep t...

Stereolab remain relevant, revelatory at sold-out Turner Hall show

Cal Roach

October 5, 2019

Lætitia Sadier and Tim Gane probably didn’t set out to change the landscape of popular music forever, but that’s essentially what happened. The duo responsible for Stereolab didn’t simply inspire the creation o...

Hip Hop DNA: Volume 1 celebrates, investigates hip-hop history at Marcus Center

Cal Roach

September 14, 2019

Three weeks ago, Milwaukee's second-annual Hip Hop Week wrapped up, and the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts played an important part, hosting Ladies First: The Women Of Classic Hip Hop And R&B at its ...

Just eat it: Exploring the far reaches of the Weird Al culinary universe

Cal Roach

July 24, 2019

broadstreet.zone(72091); Hey! Welcome to the second annual Weird Al Week! Over the course of seven days, Milwaukee Record will fill your feed with fresh, funny, and slightly fanatical Al-related materiel. It a...

Snarky Puppy brings jam band prowess (and cheese curd references) to Pabst Theater

Cal Roach

May 24, 2019

To self-identify as a jam band used to be a rare thing. The stigma that comes with the term is a vague, squicky feeling of nth-generation white American men trying to play funk, and it’s certainly not an unearn...

Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets brings weakened pulse of Pink Floyd to Riverside Theater

Cal Roach

April 2, 2019

Nick Mason stressing that his Saucerful Of Secrets tour is not a tribute act smacks of Spinal Tap to be sure. Okay, fine: It's a Pink Floyd cover band, how's that? And one of only about three in the whole world...

John Maus turns anguish into therapy you can dance to at Turner Hall

Cal Roach

February 28, 2019

Is this going to be a concert review or a dissertation? Rarely does one come across any discussion of John Maus's music that doesn't drift into metaphysics, despite his own evident disdain for such overthinking...

Bob Nastanovich talks Pavement, weird tour buses, playing Milwaukee as DJ Need A Stack

Cal Roach

February 27, 2019

Two-drummer bands are all the rage nowadays, but how many official auxiliary percussionists are there? Bob Nastanovich likes to downplay his role in Pavement, but most fans would bristle at the suggestion that ...

Neil Young remains restless, reflective at Riverside Theater

Cal Roach

January 24, 2019

What possible reason could Neil Young have for continuing to work at such a pace? A perennial inspiration to all subsequent generations of guitar-based music, Young is also the world's most prolific septuagenar...

Thom Yorke stays solo in uncompromising Riverside Theater show

Cal Roach

December 6, 2018

Like most Gen-X music icons who aren't dead, Thom Yorke's most celebrated outfit (that would be Radiohead) has been relegated to part-time status lo these decades since its commercial peak. And why not? Sure, R...

Metallica follows simple, winning formula in Fiserv Forum debut

Cal Roach

October 17, 2018

The last bastion of music industry consumerism rolled through the Fiserv Forum on Tuesday night for the first of three consecutive nights of massive concerts at the new arena. Metallica hasn’t released a really...

Liz Phair makes things girly again at career-spanning Turner Hall show

Cal Roach

October 13, 2018

The '90s were an odd decade. Back then, a young, impressionable person could discover an artist through Rolling Stone and still feel like they were "underground." Such was the case with Liz Phair; her 1993 debu...

Jeff Tweedy eases into solo tour with story-filled show at Pabst Theater

Cal Roach

September 20, 2018

Milwaukee, known to be a quiet, sober city, turned out Wednesday night in remarkably modest fashion. Jeff Tweedy chose Milwaukee to kick off his current solo tour, and the Pabst Theater was one of the few dates...

The National continues to evolve at sold-out Riverside show

Cal Roach

July 31, 2018

Since its inception, The National has lived and died based on the talents and charisma of its lead actor, Matt Berninger. Whether forcing himself to project through his own stage fright or feigning that fear, B...

Eaux Claires closes in on itself with collaborative, insular fourth installment

Cal Roach

July 9, 2018

Imagine being at the first day of a festival, right as the gates open—actually wanting to be there, an hour before anything even starts. That's the kind of faith and devotion Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner are...

Pabst Theater receives King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard like conquering heroes in Milwaukee debut

Cal Roach

June 10, 2018

From a distance, everything about King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard seems like a gimmick: the goofy name; the preposterously psychedelic record and song titles; the album concepts (All the songs are the same...

David Byrne lives up to his legendary status (obviously) at Riverside Theater

Cal Roach

May 16, 2018

In recent years, David Byrne has made more headlines for his activism than his music; based on his new solo album, American Utopia, this might be a good career development. Byrne has never shied away from makin...

Ministry gets political, busts out the inflatable Trump chickens at Turner Hall

Cal Roach

April 9, 2018

"Al Jourgensen and Ministry are the undisputed kings of Industrial music," says the event description for the band's Sunday night show at Turner Hall Ballroom. It is a difficult statement to argue against. Thou...