While most students will be caught up in other homecoming festivities, the city will be chock full of great concerts highlighting a variety of musical styles.
Though not top-tier, Madison does have a decent music scene for locals to enjoy. The seemingly infinite number of bars and other locales provides for countless venues for bands to play at. This weekend, that works in the interest of everyone.
Things get started Thursday night with two killer shows. Winners of VH1’s “Bands on the Run,” Flickerstick will be playing at Luther’s Blues (1401 University Avenue) at 9 p.m. Doors open at 8, with tickets priced $10 advance and $12 the day of the 18-plus show. The Dallas-based band dropped their newest album, Tarantula, on Oct. 5, and are in the middle of a promotional tour. Joining Flickerstick will be Bril and Brett Vogel.
Over at the Annex (1206 Regent Street), Twinemen and El Donk look to tear the house down. Doors open at 9 p.m. and the show begins at 9:30. Tickets are $10 advance, $12 door as well. Out of Massachusetts, Twinemen rose out of the ashes of the Grammy nominated band Morphine in 2001, after the death of their bandmate. With an odd mix of orchestral pasts and other influences, the music melts into a unique concoction. As drummer Billy Conway puts it on the group’s website (www.twinemen.com), “The beacon for creating these songs was to make music that couldn’t be easily categorized.”
Keeping the musical madness going Friday night are two more excellent concerts. Luther’s Blues will be host to a 21+ show featuring Mindy Smith along with special guests Charlie Mars and Garrison Star (two popular rock up-and-comers). Smith has been seen on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” as well as in a top rotation video on CMT. Labeling her as “country music” is a hasty judgment as she notes that: “even though I live in Nashville I don’t consider myself a country artist, but a singer-songwriter and I wanted to present myself as I am” (www.mindysmith.net). Doors open at 8:30 p.m. for this 9:30 performance with tickets priced at $18 advance and $20 D.O.S.
Also Friday night is must-see band the Dirtbombs bringing their incredibly unique music to the High Noon Saloon (701 E. Washington Ave.) for a 10 p.m. show. Guitarist and singer Mick Collins (formerly of the Gories) formed a band including two drummers and two bassists. This may sound ludicrous to most, but it results in a very different sound from most modern music. VH1.com puts it best in noting, “Other than consistently loud volumes and lots of noise, the Dirtbombs … [compose] across a broad spectrum of styles from garage rock, punk, and glam, to classic soul and R&B.” The show includes a $12 cover charge or a payment of $10 in advance.
For all of the more thrifty music lovers out there, fret not. Saturday night features two spectacular shows, which, believe it or not, are completely free. Chicago avant-garde rockers Joan of Arc, Aloha and Collections of Colonies of Bees will be playing Club 770 over at Union South. The show begins at 9:30 p.m. and is sure to please.
Across campus at the Memorial Union will be indie rock stalwarts the Honorary Title and Crazy Man’s Basement. They’ll be playing a mixture of rock music and some cover tunes down in the Rathskeller from 9:30 p.m. on.
The final show in the musical extravaganza of a weekend will be Camper Van Beethoven with the Damnwells playing Luther’s Blues Sunday night. After a 15-year hiatus, the band got back together a couple of years ago and recorded new material. Satisfied with the results, they are back on the tour circuit and garnering praise as they go. David Lowery (vocals/guitar, founding member of alt-rock group Cracker) describes the band on the Camper web site as: “In a tradition of classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Little Feat, The Kinks and The Beatles, who were comfortable trying different kinds of things. … we were basically running around throwing little musical molotov cocktails.” Doors will open at 7 p.m. and the show gets underway at 8. It’s a 21+ show, with tickets either $18 in advance or $20 the day of the show.
This weekend is going to be filled with events meant to entertain students. These shows should all surely bring down their respective houses. Music lovers are sure to be pleased with this veritable smorgasbord of tunage set before them. Whether it’s the acoustic stylings of Mindy Smith, the strange amalgamation that is the Dirtbombs or the inventive psychedelic-meets-country indie rock of Camper Van Beethoven, the city will be abuzz with great music.
