Brandi Carlile is coming back to Milwaukee, and this time there's no set list at all. On Monday, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter announced the “Burn The Setlist (The All Request Tour),” which will bring her to the 1,300-seat Pabst Theater for two shows on Nov. 14 and 15, with the crowd itself deciding what she plays each night.
Fans Take Over the Set List
According to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Carlile announced the tour on Sept. 28, promising performances built entirely around audience requests. As Yahoo Entertainment reported, Carlile wrote in a Sept. 28 Facebook post: “Every show will be completely unique and totally spur-of-the-moment.” Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Oct. 2 through the box office at 144 E. Wells St. and at pabsttheater.org, though prices have not yet been announced.
The tour is a deliberate departure from arena spectacle. The same Yahoo report notes Carlile is visiting just nine cities for these shows, opting for older theaters that played an important role early in her career — a description that fits the Pabst Theater, which the Pabst Theater Group calls the centerpiece of Milwaukee's downtown theater district, and which Billboard named a Top Music Venue of 2026.
A History With Milwaukee Crowds
Carlile's last documented Milwaukee performance was a very different scale of show. Per the same Journal Sentinel report, she played Fiserv Forum with Milwaukee natives Chauntee and Monique Ross — known together as SistaStrings — as part of her touring band. That night's show, covered by the Journal Sentinel's earlier concert review, ran two hours and 10 minutes and was, by that account, described as Carlile's favorite Milwaukee show.
The Ross sisters' connection to Milwaukee runs deeper than a single tour stop. Their own site, SistaStrings, describes the pair as a dynamic musical duo born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who now perform as members of Carlile's touring band. Whether they'll join her onstage at the Pabst in November has not been confirmed.
An Earlier, Unplugged Pabst Moment
Carlile's history at the smaller venue goes back further still. Milwaukee Record's account of an earlier sold-out show at the Pabst Theater on a Tuesday night described Carlile performing “Beginning To Feel The Years” without a microphone or any amplification, relying entirely on the room's natural acoustics — a moment the outlet called impossibly gorgeous and heartbreaking. During that show, Carlile also reflected on how far she and her band had come since their early days of playing Milwaukee's Shank Hall, according to Milwaukee Record.
Requests Are Already Part of the Show
Handing setlist control to fans isn't entirely new territory for Carlile. At a CMAC performance in August, she looked to the audience to decide on a couple of songs for the set, landing on “The Eye” and “Everytime I Hear That Song,” according to NYS Music. Both were performed stripped-down as just a trio, with the Hanseroth brothers, the outlet reported — a preview, perhaps, of just how bare-bones and unpredictable the Pabst Theater shows could get.
