Madcity Nights - July 2019
Show Previews around the Madison area
by Max Ink
July 2019
Robert Randolph and the Family Band come to La Fete de Marqette
Red, White and Blues Fest
The Jimmys, The Cash Box Kings, Altered Five Blues Band, Doug Deming & the Jewel Tones, Ryan McGrath Band
Saturday, July 6, 1:00 PM
Knuckledown Saloon
The club’s outdoor blues shindig returns for its fourth year with some new names and voices. Among these is the brilliant, vibrant and 100% dance-friendly guitarist Doug Deming, whose take on ‘50s blues with a heavy dollop of rockabilly was shaped by his early years in Detroit. By Dave Leucinger
La Fete de Marquette
Thursday, July 11
through Sunday, July 14
McPike Park, Madison
One of the summer’s most awaited events in Madison takes a strong Louisiana vibe this year, including performances by Zydeco scion Geno Delafose, Cajun troubadours Steve Riley and Roddie Romero, and bassline funk architect George Porter, Jr. New Orleans’ horn and funk influence to the world reverberates with Paris’s Ceux Qui Marchent Debout. Add to that a charismatic gospel/sacred steel service to end the Fete, courtesy of Robert Randolph & the Family Band. Amen!
By Dave Leucinger
Cracker w/ Camper Van Beethoven
Saturday, July 13 @ 8:00 PM
Majestic Theatre
Similarities abound between the two bands David Lowery fronts, but with guitarist Johnny Hickman, Cracker turns out red-hot rock-billy blues while multi-talented Victor Krummenacher pulls CVB into folk, punk and grunge territory. Together this double-bill rocks. Word to the wise, Lowery recorded a solo album only available on tour.
By John Noyd
Like A Storm, Through The Fire, Wilson, Stiched Up Heart
Monday, July 15, @ 6 PM
Red Zone Madison
They don’t make enough metal songs with a didgeridoo, so New Zealand’s LIKE A STORM changed that with their single, “I Love The Way You Hate Me”. It’s JJO-style Modern Rock on a Monday night. A highlight is going to be the goofy hard rock band from Lansing, WILSON, whose new single “Summertime Treat (Tasty Nasty)” is as hooky as it is ridiculous.
By Mike Huberty
The Mekons w/ The Wekons
Monday, July 15 @ 8:00 PM
High Noon Saloon
The legendary punk-folk collective reassembled recently, recorded the feisty slice of unstoppable agitprop, “Deserted,” and hit the road. In an extremely bit of good fortune, Madison is one of a handful of national dates. Madison’s Mekon tribute band , The Wekons, open the night’s battle of the bands. By John Noyd
The Steel Woods
Thursday, July 18 @ 8:30 PM
High Noon Saloon
No-nonsense apprentices crafting steel-gauged Southern rock, Nashville’s The Steel Woods smelt locomotive roadhouse to gritty whiskey blues. Celebrating this year’s jam-packed album, “Old News,” expect plenty of runaway rambles and razor-sharp reckonings as well as shots of Allman Brothers, Merle Haggard and Black Sabbath.
By John Noyd
Live On King Street
Here Come The Mummies,
People Brothers Band
Friday, July 19 @ 6:00 PM
Stage @ 115 King Street
Halloween may be months away, but for the funky rock band Here Come The Mummies, dressing up in mummy garb is a nightly ordeal. While the costumes purposely obscures their true identities, (some say that members are under contract to various record labels and may actually be Grammy award winning musicians), the booty shaking bass and happening horns are delightful, danceable, and 100% original. Their stage show is extra engaging thanks to a four-piece horn section, two keyboards, guitar, bass and drums, talk box, and multiple singers with wildly (and sometimes disturbingly) innuendo-laden word-play.
By Andrew Frey
Flasher w/ Too Free
Friday, July 19 @ 9:00 PM
Memorial Union
Catching them on their way to Chicago’s Pitchfork Festival WUD Music scored with Flasher. Flasher’s dashing wiry, updated New Wave is buff and shiny, sleek and cunning, perfect Friday night lakeside ear-candy for the smart, fashionable dance-rock aficionados. D.C.‘s electro-groovemeisters Too Free starts the party.
John Noyd
Blooze Krooze
The Chuck Crane Band, Paul Filipowicz
Sunday, July 21 @ 1:00 PM
East Side Club
Combine a classic car show with DJs, blues musicians, and a perfect setting – that’s the Krooze. Roadhouse warrior Paul Filipowicz has been a mainstay, but be sure to catch four-decade Chicago blues and R&B veteran Chuck Crane. Chuck’s jazzy soul guitar licks have been heard with legends from Lefty Dizz to Artie “Blues Boy” White to Magic Slim & the Teardrops.
By Dave Leucinger
Black Midi w/ Wash
Tuesday, July 23 @ 9:00 PM
Memorial Union
Another Pitchfork catch, England’s monster buzz-band black midi promises a scorching performance, in what may be Madison’s biggest indie-rock bargain of the year. The band’s new, “Schlagenheim,” packs precision pivoting unpredictably between languid logic, cursed fury and Krautrock clockwork. Local shoegaze grunge-punks Wash open.
By John Noyd
Prairie Dog Blues Festival
Friday, July 26 & Saturday, July 27
St. Feriole Island, Prairie du Chien
Not quite Madison, but well worth the drive for blues fans – especially for the explosive Friday night lineup featuring the gutbucket raucousness of Reverend Peyton, the soul and brass of the Ghost Town Blues Band, and the R&B-meets-AC/DC-ferocity of Nikki Hill.
By Dave Leucinger