16 Bands in 29 Hours

*Disclaimer – I’m currently in way way northern Wisconsin staying in a cabin in the woods (it is spectacularly lovely but lacking in amenities like reliable wifi and a computer) so this post will be brief in details, visual content and links. I plan to revisit several of these bands, mostly the ones we caught in Appleton at Mile of Music, in the near future.*

Our marathon began at 7:00 pm on Thursday with the Retro Futura tour at the Wisconsin State Fair: six 80s new wave bands I never got a chance to see back then (and honestly a couple I would not have bothered to).

1. Katrina (of Katrina and the Waves): she’s probably my Mom’s age and can still belt out the notes and command the stage. She sang two songs I didn’t know and then her one hit wonder “Walking on Sunshine.” Bubblegummy fun.

2. Paul Young: former teenage heartthrob blue eyed soul singer, definitely has had work done. Voice still smooth and strong. Sang the song I loathe (“Every Time You Go Away”) and the one I like (“Come Back And Stay”) plus something else I didn’t pay attention to.

3. Modern English: trim and fit in matching white, did a new song from their latest album (unusual for a nostalgia tour but these guys are good) and of course “Melt With You” which was when everyone went nuts.

4. The English Beat: We got the Dave Wakeling version (pictured above, bottom left), his distinct deep nasal vocals in tact and the performance was beefed up with the help of hype-man King Schascha. To my delight they played “Mirror in the Bathroom” and my favorite “Save It For Later” plus the General Public hit “Tenderness.”

5. Men Without Hats: We brought our 12 year old son to this concert, he was hands-down the youngest in the audience (WE skewed young in our mid-40’s!) and his opinion of the evening can mostly be summed up by the photo bottom-right above. However he perked up for MWH, not for “Pop Goes the World” but for the smash “Safety Dance” (the only song he recognized that night). The lead singer was sporting a fab sparkling shirt that dazzled when he spun and danced.

6. Howard Jones: the longest set of the evening, I think 5 or 6 songs. His voice is still strong and hair the same (even if its line has receded some). He worked the crowd masterfully, alternately between the piano and key-tar, ending the show with an epic all-audience singalong of “Things Can Only Get Better.”

At this point we went home where I squeezed in about 4 hours of sleep; I was amped up and excited for the next day, when we zoomed up to Appleton, dumped the kid off at the grandparents and hoofed downtown for Mile of Music which started at Noon.

7. Brother O’Brother, Chadwick’s Bar: (pictured above, entire top row plus middle row right) I’ve written about BoB a gazillion times, those boys are my favorite so a great way to kick off our Mile of Music marathon. One of the band’s performance highlights is during “Your Touch” (off of their 2015 release “Show Pony”) when Warner Swopes brings a drum into the crowd and hands a few of us sticks to form the most rocking drum circle you’ll ever see. This Noon show was the first of two times that day I got to participate.

8. Ron Gallo, Paper Valley Ballroom: (pictured above, middle row left) thrilled we got a chance to see him and his band; he only played two shows at MoM. Nashville via Philly fuzzed out guitar rock with clever, irreverent lyrics and rhythm so heavy my sweatshirt vibrated against my skin.

9. High Dives, patio behind the Fox River House bar: southern fried meets Laurel Canyon desert rock, heavy 70s influenced guitar. Pretty decent though not my usual vibe.

Next we headed over to Gibson Music Hall to ensconce ourselves for the next three bands, all two-pieces.

10. Solid State: (pictured above bottom row center) two piece out of St. Paul, MN, kind of a less energetic version of Brother O’Brother. It felt like we were attending a practice session in their basement – they faced each other, not the audience, and clearly had a few moments of inside jokes.

11. Suck the Honey: (pictured above, middle row center) two piece from Cincinnati with the best band name ever. Hard. Heavy. Full range from slow burners to ass shakers. Cannot wait for their album to come out on vinyl (on Romanus Records) next month. We got a tshirt. So did several of our friends because who doesn’t want Suck the Honey emblazoned across their chest?

12. Brother O’Brother: Yes. Again. Every Time. All the times. Some of the same songs from six hours earlier but several different ones too. They can play whatever they want and I’m happy.

We then left Gibson to head outdoors.

13. Welles, Houdini Plaza: I’ll be honest, I didn’t pay any attention to them (the next artist was supposed to be playing this time slot but because of rain, schedules were juggled). I took this opportunity to meet up with more friends and get a beer.

14. Diane Coffee, Houdini Plaza: Wow! Gender-bending glamour, showy and dynamic. Reminiscent of early, Aladdin Sane era Bowie. Wish we could have been closer to the stage but the Plaza was absolutely jammed.

15. Wild Adriatic, Washington Square stage: we saw them last weekend in Milwaukee at Brady Street Festival and I put some boomeranged video of the bassist on my Instagram; I could watch him forever. 70s rock goes modern + funk + Appleton LOVES Wild Adriatic = awesome. I’ll be posting more about these guys when I get home since we picked up their album on vinyl.

16. Tenement, Emmett’s outdoor stage: Appleton based, indie band that packed the stage (I thought there were like a dozen musicians up there but I guess it was only six or so playing drums, guitar, organ, bass, violin and sax and/or tambourine). We only caught the last two songs, the final was a Velvet Undergroundy freak out sonic assault that lasted about 15 minutes. I downloaded their 2015 album “Predatory Highlights” to get a better picture of their sound and it kinda reminded me of the Replacements.

We planned to head over Deja Vu Martini Lounge to see The Ghost Wolves (Austin, TX two piece that we saw last year at MoM) but at this point we had been going to shows for close to 12 hours straight, I’d slept 4 hours in the past 48 and had walked/danced close to 50,000 steps so we chose to stumble the 20 minutes back to my parents’ house where we were staying and collapse. Next year we will do all four days of Mile of Music to spread out the insanity.