Tag: Show Review

Sudan Archives blends digital excitement with strings, vocals at Summerfest

June 27, 2026

One of the most striking things about live music is when a single person can captivate an entire audience with their presence. Their songs, their voice, their instruments, and their body, all moving in tandem. ...

EDM lovers light up Summerfest for Subtronics

Lily Mihelich

June 26, 2026

Summerfest's scope and crowds never fail to amaze: 12 stages; hundreds of artists; and Milwaukee, ever-so-eager to kick off each new festival weekend. On Thursday night, Subtronics paid a visit to Summerfest. T...

Kim Gordon plays ‘Play Me’ to appreciative Summerfest crowd

CJ Johnson

June 26, 2026

Kim Gordon is 73, and her 45-year reign as the queen of the alternative noise-rock kingdom remains unchallenged, as displayed Thursday night at Summerfest's Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard. While she did not...

David Lee Roth wants to know how Summerfest is doing

Matt Wild

June 21, 2026

David Lee Roth wants to know how we're doing so far. David Lee Roth wants us to sing that shit. David Lee Roth wants us to know there's no I in team, but there is a U in pussy. David Lee Roth wants to ...

Amyl And The Sniffers give Summerfest much-needed kick in teeth

Mitch DeSantis

June 20, 2026

Amyl And The Sniffers do not ease into a space. They hit it with road rage energy, the kind that feels like a baseball bat to a windshield or a cement brick through a storefront window. It's a full-body reminde...

Father John Misty blesses Summerfest with sultry, strutting set

CJ Johnson

June 20, 2026

Like many, I was initially indisposed to be a fan of Father John Misty, whose Christian name is Joshua Michael Tillman. After leaving his four-year stint as Fleet Foxes' drummer in 2012, he began a solo career ...

Echo & The Bunnymen bring their very best to opening day of Summerfest

CJ Johnson

June 19, 2026

By the time Echo & The Bunnymen hit Summerfest's Generac Power Stage shortly after 10 p.m., the packed crowd had already been thoroughly revved up with great sets by their 1980s post-punk, neo-psychedelia b...

David Byrne and band in front of a moon backdrop

David Byrne takes Miller High Life Theatre to moon, visits Bobblehead Hall Of Fame

Cal Roach

May 4, 2026

David Byrne has been kind to Milwaukee, the only '80s rock legend that comes to mind who's brought every one of his major tours this century to the Brew City. In 2018 he played The Riverside on his American Uto...

Friko at Lilliput Records: In-store performances are worth waiting for

Lily Mihelich

May 4, 2026

On April 30, people joined in a line that stretched from the Lilliput Records to the City Reformed Church on Farwell Avenue. Although not particularly gathered for liturgy, there was an exciting ceremony underw...

The New Pornographers live up to long-running supergroup status at Turner Hall

CJ Johnson

May 3, 2026

I first saw The New Pornographers in March of 2001, at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. While the internet was purring along at this point, it was before the advent of Spotify, Facebook, Twitter, and the on...

The Lemon Twigs at Turner Hall: I came for monkey rock opera but stayed for great guitars and harmony

Tad Kriofske Mainella

May 1, 2026

One comes to things in so many ways. One comes to The Lemon Twigs by having a friend loco enough to teach for 30 years with an open mind and ears, all three wide enough ajar for a rock opera about a couple adop...

Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman make sold-out Riverside Theater their home

CJ Johnson

April 29, 2026

After walking into The Riverside Theater for Tuesday night's sold-out Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman show, I momentarily thought perhaps I was in the wrong venue. Rather than the usual gaudy trappings of most tou...

Ty Segall shows Turner Hall he’s the ‘f*ckin’ truth’

Cal Roach

April 22, 2026

Milwaukee can crank out all the meat-and-potatoes rock and roll it pleases, but the California bands are still gonna get all the glory. Laguna Beach native Ty Segall, a veteran of the nth wave of American garag...

Wednesday wow wall-to-wall crowd at Turner Hall

CJ Johnson

March 28, 2026

The last time I caught Wednesday was in September 2023, when they opened for Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit at a sold-out Riverside Theater. Back then, they were touring in support of their 2023 release Rat Saw ...

Journey holds on to that feeling, brings farewell tour to Fiserv Forum

Cal Roach

March 20, 2026

No city in the U.S.A. has undergone more radical cultural makeovers than San Francisco. For many, it still symbolizes the birthplace of the 1960s hippie movement; to others it’s more famous for tech bros and pr...

Ratboys search for answers, sing to packed Vivarium

Matt Wild

March 16, 2026

The title of Ratboys' instant-classic 2026 album Singin' To An Empty Chair refers to a therapeutic exercise in which a patient talks to an imagined person. "So this empty chair that I was singing to is meant to...

Nine Inch Nails peel it back at first Milwaukee show in 20 years

Cal Roach

February 24, 2026

When Nine Inch Nails last played Milwaukee nearly 20 years ago, they’d reached an unenviable career milestone that a young Trent Reznor probably never envisioned for himself: clinging to relevance on the streng...

Cate Le Bon offers salve for despair at Vivarium

Zack Pieper

January 27, 2026

On Friday night, in dangerously sub-zero temperatures, renowned Welsh performer, recording artist, and producer Cate Le Bon made her way to the Vivarium for her first-ever Milwaukee appearance. If you know Le B...

Hey Mercedes takes control at X-Ray Arcade

Paul Bestul

January 18, 2026

There was not much variety in music where I grew up. There was Top 50 radio, a Christian station, and 10 or 12 country music stations. We didn’t have a record store. Our lives were full of Backstreet Boys and N...

“People don’t know that I play guitar”: Bartees Strange kicks off first-ever solo tour at Vivarium

Cal Roach

November 3, 2025

“I’ve never toured like this before,” said Bartees Strange regarding his current three-week jaunt through the Midwest and West Coast. Sunday at Vivarium was the opening night of the singer/songwriter’s first tr...

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