A weekly update about upcoming concerts around Madison and notes about the local scene.
On sale
Information continues to trickle out regarding this year's Freakfest, the re-branded State Street Halloween ... well, freakout. Ticketmaster and at selected businesses on State and Monroe streets. Performers previously announced for the three music stages include '90s superstars Third Eye Blind, Kentucky breakout band Cage the Elephant, Push Play, former Madisonians Locksley, and local acts The Nod and DJ Will Calder. Gates open at 7 p.m. on Halloween night.Just announced
Outlaw progeny Shelton Williams, better known as show on Friday, November 13, at the Barrymore Theatre, as part of a tour in support of the first label-backed release of material by his metal project Assjack. The tour also offers a rare chance to see Madison's Bastards co-conspirator Vincent Presley says Assjack has occasionally inspired some disturbing fan outbursts during previous tours. "At one show some guy got on stage during Assjack, smashed a Jack Daniels bottle on the bass amp and preceded to stab himself in the face. In Florida I saw some poor guy get curb stomped in front of his screaming girlfriend. Mostly the people at these shows are extremely friendly people but there's always going to be some over the top crazies that take it too far." Those Poor Bastards will release a pair of 7-inch singles out on Halloween, just in time for the tour. As for upcoming album plans, Presley says, "Lonesome does not tell me anything. I know he is constantly locked away in his little studio, working on stuff and I would not be surprised if he had another two full lengths already finished." It's not happening Wisconsin Union Directorate's music committee has announced that the Hard Lessons concert on the Terrace, scheduled for Friday, October 2, has been canceled, with a replacement show still in the works. And in a sign of the current economic times, promoter Tag Evers informed us that UK group Future of the Left has shortened their tour due to budgetary concerns, canceling their November 7 Madison date. Road trip R&B/funk veterans Kool & the Gang are still out on the road three decades after their first album's release, and they'll be hitting the stage at Ho-Chunk Casino in Baraboo for a concert at 6 p.m. on Sunday, October 4. The group has remained active following the end of their pop chart dominance in the '80s, and still includes a number of founding members. Help 'em out Chicago's Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, scheduled to perform in November at the Frequency, was involved in a traffic accident Thursday, September 24, in Indiana. According to a Bloodshot Records press release the band's van blew a tire while traveling to a show in support of their just-released new album. The band is without health insurance and some members suffered serious injuries in the crash; their van and all their equipment was also destroyed. Bloodshot has set up a PayPal address for donations to help with medical and other expenses from the accident; a link for donations and updates on the band members' conditions can be found here. The status of the rest of their fall/winter tour, including the Madison performance, is yet to be determined.
