6 top Milwaukee concerts this week, including Farruko, Kevin Eubanks, Rusted Root
FARRUKO
Style: The cutting edge in Latin music trends.
Backstory: Carlos Efren Reyes Ronaldo, aka Farruko, was a 16-year-old in Puerto Rico getting buzz with his songs on MySpace. Two years later came his debut album, "El Talento Del Bloque," in 2010, establishing Farruko as a leading force in the ultra-popular Puerto Rican reggaeton scene. He's branched out on six subsequent albums, from the pop-heavy "The Most Powerful Rookie" in 2012 to this year's trap-focused "TrapxFicante," always with the intent of being among Latin music's most popular stars. To that end, he's indisputably succeeded.
Why you should go?: Last year Farruko, as Pitbull's opener, was the first artist in Summerfest's history to perform a primarily Spanish-language set in the Marcus Amphitheater. This show will be the better bet for fans, not only because the Rave is significantly smaller, but because Farruko will get a full headline set.
Opener: Latin rapper Lary Over.
When and where:8 p.m. Saturday, the Rave, 2401 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Price: $39 to $83 at the box office, (414) 342-7283 and therave.com.
— Piet Levy,
plevy@journalsentinel.com
RUSTED ROOT
Style: Rootsy rock with threads frayed and then tied in concert.
Backstory: Pittsburgh handed us Andy Warhol and Andrew McCutchen, so why shouldn’t it also hand us Rusted Root, the Rust Belt’s contribution to the jam-band community? The loosely knit and tightly wound collective dropped its first LP, “Cruel Sun,” in 1992, and has nuzzled into a niche on the jam circuit.
Why you should go: While not active in the studio much since “The Movement” from around 2012, Rusted Root is in recent years been touring madly, including on a stint with the Wailers, one of Jamaica’s especially esteemed exports. The band is testing new songs on tour to ready a brand-new disc and will find ways to blend in among the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel a la Carte festivities at the Milwaukee County Zoo.
Time and place: 8 p.m., Friday, Milwaukee County Zoo, 10001 W. Blue Mound Road
Price: Free with zoo admission. $14.25 at the ticket office, (414) 256-5466 and milwaukeezoo.org.
— Jon M. Gilbertson,
Special to the Journal Sentinel
WAVELESS
Style: Indie rock that harks back to days of staring at the ground.
Backstory: Minneapolis is probably the upper Midwest’s most revered musical city, having birthed the Replacements and Soul Asylum, among many many others, and Waveless has probably benefited from that rep. Forming from the remains of Total Trash, the group has been developing a woozy rock sound.
Why you should go: Although not prolific, Waveless has with releases like a self-titled record and “The Bells of Baton Rouge” established itself as a darkly dreaming act with elements reminiscent, but not too reminiscent, of shoegaze’s moodiness. Onstage, the group will stretch those elements out like dark psychedelic taffy.
Openers: Peoria, Ill., group Charmist plus two Milwaukee bands, Blue Unit and Sundial Mottos
Time and place:9 p.m. Friday, Cactus Club, 2496 S. Wentworth Ave.
Price: $10.
— Jon M. Gilbertson
MIKE ZITO
Style: Madly Midwestern blues rock.
Backstory:Zito began his music career as a teenager in St. Louis, and, despite a clichéd beginning – he played the clubs while holding down a day job in a guitar shop, the ultimate frustrated-musician clock-punching – he’s made his way toward a living as both a player and as a producer of artistes like Kansas City blueswoman Samantha Fish.
Why you should go: Long gone from the Royal Southern Brotherhood, a supergroup with Cyril Neville and Devon Allman, Zito is lately solo, and his 2016 full-length “Make Blues Not War” eases him into post-Chicago electric blues a la the previously mentioned Fish and the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, and that kind of stuff sizzles live.
Time and place: 8 p.m. Friday, Shank Hall, 1434 N. Farwell Ave.
Price:$20 at the box office, (866) 468-3401 and ticketweb.com.
— Jon M. Gilbertson
KEVIN EUBANKS
Style: Varied jazz on six strings.
Backstory: Not at all unlike many other jazz gents, Eubanks is from a musical family that includes a gospel-singing mother, a pianist uncle and two brassy brothers. Kevin got down with the guitar after learning violin and trumpet, and by 1992 he was seen almost every night on TV in the Tonight Show Band before taking it over in Jay Leno’s midst in 1995.
Why you should go: As part of this year’s Wilson Center Guitar Festival Eubanks will get to show off his chops, developed alongside Art Blakey and Slide Hampton and heard on discs like this year’s “East West Time Line.” He’s a genial performer, but that should not mean he’s not a man with astounding skills not seen enough on TV.
Time and place: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, 19805 W. Capitol Drive, Brookfield.
Price: $50 to $71 at the box office, (262) 781-9520 and wilson-center.com.
— Jon M. Gilbertson
LOCAL SHOW SPOTLIGHT
BREADFEST
9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Linneman's Riverwest Inn, 1001 E. Locust St. $7 to $15.
The local music collective's annual festival returns after a year off.
— Piet Levy