Subtle
November is turning gray and frosty, but there are a few opportunities to get out and warm up with some fun this week. The action includes live music by Wolf Parade, The Giraffes, and Subtle, along with a Veterans Day performance of Letters Home and a visit by Big Top Chautauqua.
Monday 11.10
Wolf Parade
Majestic Theatre, 8 pm
Following on the heels of last month's Broken Social Scene concert, Wolf Parade marks chapter two of Canadian indie-rock royalty's descent upon Madison. The Listening Party opens.
Tuesday 11.11
Letters Home
Overture Center's Capitol Theater, 7:30 pm
Chicago's Griffin Theatre presents this touring play based on correspondence from servicemen and servicewomen in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Wednesday 11.12
The Giraffes
Frequency, 9:30 pm
Madison's Crustacean Records recently extended its reach by signing the Giraffes, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based surf-metal foursome that's toured with Skeleton Key, Local H and the Eagles of Death Metal. The fruits of this partnership, a brand-new album called Prime Motivator, are the focus of this concert. Also playing: the Skintones, Droids Attack, Dan Tedesco.
Thursday 11.13
Big Top Chautauqua
Overture Center, 7:30 pm
The chautauqua movement isn't what it used to be -- okay, it went out with the Bull Moose Party -- but the legacy lives on up in Bayfield, Wis., where the Big Top Chautauqua hosts touring acts and original shows. This production, Wild Woods and Waters, features singing and dancing about Wisconsin's natural resources.
Subtle
High Noon Saloon, 9pm
Using samplers, synthesizers, wind instruments, cellos and spoken word to blend rap, rock and electro, Subtle crafts anti-pop that's messy, smart and incredibly energizing. Percussion wunderkind Zach Hill (the drummer from Hella) and his band Peer Pressure open with a 30-minute-long composition called "Necromancer."