Concerts Worth Seeing... Live Music Thread

[Glennron]

I saw three concerts this year:

• My Morning Jacket (Riverside, Milwaukee). This band puts out, hand down, the best show out there. Their recent studio efforts have waned in quality (although I do believe Circuital was a step up from Evil Urges), but they still bring it top notch on tour. Two hour sets are the norm. This was my second time seeing them live though, and I thought their 2008 show was tighter.

I was at this one too, and it was my second time seeing them in a week. The first (and my first overall) was at Bonnaroo which was a pretty incredible experience, but I think I liked the Riverside show better because A) they played an extra half hour and B) I was 20 feet from the stage as opposed to hundreds of feet away in a sea of people.

 

My favorite of the year is probably Paul McCartney at Wrigley. The only reason it's not surefire #1 is because I was in the 500's, so it was basically as far away as you could possibly be. Still though, his voice is honestly like 90-95% of what it used to be which is just incredible considering he's 70. His energy level for that age is out of this world too. The show was over 2.5 hours and the final encore was Yesterday, Helter Skelter, and all of Paul's Abbey Road medley songs right in a row to end it.

[Godspeed]

• TV on the Radio (Pabst, Milwaukee). This was my second time seeing TVOTR live, after seeing them in 2007 at First Avenue in Minneapolis. The sound for this show was extremely muddled, but was either resolved sometime mid-show or it just turned awesome enough as is that I stopped caring.
  

Where were you sitting? I was sitting in the third level for the beginning of the show and moved because the sound was so bad. I ended up sitting in the second level and the sound was much better. I thought the sound was poor because of the location of my seats, but maybe the sound tech cleaned things up a few songs into the show.

I was on the second level near the back.

[chuckiehacks]

I think this was one of the best years in a long time for live music in Milwaukee. The increased schedule at Turner Hall and the Pabst in particular has made some great artists available at really reasonable prices. I don't think I paid more than $30 for any of these shows:

--Grace Potter & the Nocturnals

--Pete Yorn, with Ben Kweller as the opener

--Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings (Summerfest)

--Fitz & the Tantrums (Rock the Green)

--Ben Folds (Rock the Green)

--Trombone Shorty (Shank Hall) - the best show I saw this year

--Frank Turner

--The Jayhawks

--The Avett Brothers

[Bikeage77]

It's not too often I go to "big" shows, but I saw Ted Leo and The Pharmacists last spring, and that was fantastic. Best pop band going in my opinion.

 

In February The Promise Ring will be playing a reunion show at Turner Hall and I'd imagine that will be a can't miss. Nothing Feels Good and Very Emergency are two of my favorite albums to come out of the late 90's early 00's, and I'm gonna assume they'll play a ton of those songs. Can't wait.

[theavrock]

It's not too often I go to "big" shows, but I saw Ted Leo and The Pharmacists last spring, and that was fantastic. Best pop band going in my opinion.

 

In February The Promise Ring will be playing a reunion show at Turner Hall and I'd imagine that will be a can't miss. Nothing Feels Good and Very Emergency are two of my favorite albums to come out of the late 90's early 00's, and I'm gonna assume they'll play a ton of those songs. Can't wait.

Whoa whoa whoa. Tell me tickets have not gone on sale yet.

[jjkoestler]

I'm thinking about going to FRZN Fest at the High Noon Saloon on Saturday. Here is the lineup:

Friday: Chairlift, Dom, Class Actress, Polica, Squarewave

Saturday: S. Carey, Peter Wolf Crier, Caveman, Carter Tanton, Juniper Tar

 

The only band I've heard is S. Carey. Is there anyone else I should be excited about?

[jjkoestler]

Lots of good and inexpensive shows coming to the High Noon.

 

Lemonheads - January 22 - They are playing It's a Shame About Ray from cover to cover and Evan Dando is easy on the eyes.

Sage Francis - February 16 - I'm looking forward to checking this one off my hip-hop bucketlist.

Cursive - March 24 - They put on an excellent show when I saw them at Union South a few years ago.

Fanfarlo - March 29 - Anyone see them live?

White Rabbits - April 6 - They played a free show at Memorial Union in September. It was fun but short so hopefully they play longer as the headliner.

[thebruce44]

I'm thinking about going to FRZN Fest at the High Noon Saloon on Saturday. Here is the lineup:

Friday: Chairlift, Dom, Class Actress, Polica, Squarewave

Saturday: S. Carey, Peter Wolf Crier, Caveman, Carter Tanton, Juniper Tar

 

The only band I've heard is S. Carey. Is there anyone else I should be excited about?

Cavemen are supposed to be great live. I believe the guys on All Songs Considered talk them up a lot.

[Bikeage77]

theavrock, tickets have gone on sale, but i'm sure they are still available...they're right around 20.

 

Justin, are the Lemonheads playing It's A Shame About Ray at every show on their tour?! if that's the case, I'm going. That's among my top 50 albums ever (probably in the high 30's low 40's somewhere)

[jjkoestler]

Justin, are the Lemonheads playing It's A Shame About Ray at every show on their tour?! if that's the case, I'm going. That's among my top 50 albums ever (probably in the high 30's low 40's somewhere)

They are playing the entire record at every show on this tour. They have a show at Turner Hall too.

[tristarscoop]

--Trombone Shorty (Shank Hall) - the best show I saw this year

Really upset I missed this and Rebirth Brass Band this year. We don't get them through here that often and I really miss getting to see them often. Lived in New Orleans for 6 years and saw some amazing music, so I really miss it at times up here.

[chuckiehacks]

Justin, are the Lemonheads playing It's A Shame About Ray at every show on their tour?! if that's the case, I'm going. That's among my top 50 albums ever (probably in the high 30's low 40's somewhere)

They are playing the entire record at every show on this tour. They have a show at Turner Hall too.

I also love that album, so I'll be at the Turner Hall show. Between that show and Big Head Todd & the Monsters coming in February, I'm really enjoying the early 90's rebirth!

 

 

[ilikewisco]

I'm thinking about going to FRZN Fest at the High Noon Saloon on Saturday. Here is the lineup:

Friday: Chairlift, Dom, Class Actress, Polica, Squarewave

Saturday: S. Carey, Peter Wolf Crier, Caveman, Carter Tanton, Juniper Tar

 

The only band I've heard is S. Carey. Is there anyone else I should be excited about?

Saw Polica in Eau Claire last night. I liked the show a lot. They have two drummers and a bass with some synth. It helps that the singer is gorgeous also (and a great voice, but she must use some sort of autotune with her vocals, they still sound great though).

[jjkoestler]

The Lemonheads show at High Noon was excellent. Dando sounds great although he doesn't have the range he once did, and he is still easy on the eyes. Hearing It's a Shame About Ray from cover to cover was a lot of fun, but the lack of Julianna Hatfield (or any female vocals) is missed. The highlight of the evening for me was hearing Dando play "Sam Stone" by John Prine. The only glaring omissions from the set list were "My Big Gay Heart," "Outdoor Type," and "If I Could Talk I'd Tell You."

 

Did anyone check out the show at Turner Hall? I've been reading reviews that said the shows this tour have been very hit or miss.

[brettac1]

I had a friend who saw them in Buffalo and I believe he said something like "Evan should go solo again".

[jjkoestler]

Sage Francis at The High Noon Saloon tonight. Anyone else going? Finally get to check Sage off my music bucket list.

[chuckiehacks]

Had to bump this after Matthew Sweet came to MKE on the "Girlfriend" 20th anniversary tour last night. Great show - "Girlfriend" is a phenomenal album and he encored with a couple from "100% Fun."

 

Matthew Sweet has not aged well physically - he's probably pushing 250 lbs, but he sounds awesome and seemed genuinely excited that people were there to watch him play music. He told some cool stories about the album during the show as well. I highly recommend it if he comes to your town.

 

Also, this show had one of the narrowest age ranges of any show I've been to. 90% of the crowd was probably 32-38.