Fresh from Chicago's House of Blues the night before (where he, in addition to his own show, belted out "Sweet Home Chicago" at American's Idol's Taylor Hicks' show), Keb' Mo' took to The Pabst Theater stage on Saturday night with his typical smiles and styles.
Keb' Mo's (born Kevin Moors) eighth studio album, "Suitcase," is self-produced along with longtime collaborator John Porter (B.B. King, Los Lonely Boys, Santana) and it was recorded at the legendary Shangri La Studios (The Band, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton) in Malibu, Calif.
This tour, which kicked off on March 6 in South Carolina, runs only one month, hitting 26 cities. Milwaukee was lucky to be one of the stops.
Mo's a storyteller and on stage, a humble man of love and emotion. He's always comfortably relaxed, full of energy and quickly witted. He's nearly everything you want in a performer. And, in a two set show that tallied more than 2 1/2 hours and 23 songs, Keb' Mo' -- both solo and backed by a four-piece band -- showed why he's so loved and firmly established in the tradition of bluesmen like Muddy Waters and Taj Mahal. Mo' gracefully belted out his tune "Henry" in the second set as a tribute to Taj Mahal, who for your trivia fans, began his career as Henry St. Clair Fredericks.
There's a story in every Keb' Mo' song, especially "Remain Silent," a lover's laying down of the law and a tune that Keb' Mo ' introduced by saying, "if you get home late at night, men (without an excuse), the grease is boiling on the stove and this song is playing, run!" If there are stories in every song there also is passion and spirit. His "Life is Beautiful" was moving, inspirational and in this Holy Week almost psalm-like for the nearly packed Pabst house.
Milwaukee's best side was truly shown Saturday night at The Pabst. The crowd was respectfully energetic, appreciative and one man even got a chance to jam a little harmonica with Keb' Mo' on stage. Other Milwaukeeans, as fans always do at Keb' Mo 'shows, got to dance on stage during his first encore tune, "She Wants to Dance."
Keb' Mo's "Suitcase" tour, creatively sponsored by High Sierra luggage, continued Sunday in Madison and today, Monday, at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis.
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
