In a departure from tradition, Summerfest both this year and last year took place over three consecutive weekends rather than eleven straight days with one day off in the middle. While the idea behind the switch may have been increased accessibility for those with Monday to Friday work weeks, it was not well-received by all attendees. Many friends of mine said that their interest in attending waned over the course of the festival because of how spread out the days were, and I absolutely agree. Another common opinion on this year’s Summerfest that I’d heard over and over was that the lineup left something to be desired. However, the distribution of local and smaller artists in the afternoon and more recognizable acts towards the evening and night made it possible to plan one’s day around a mix of familiar and new. This also had the added benefit of drawing larger crowds at night rather than during the day, allowing the cooler temperatures to make up for the collective body heat of a crowd and making afternoons more enjoyable for families with younger kids.
It would be ridiculous to discuss a festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin without mentioning the food. Milwaukee breweries were present everywhere, with a bar serving Miller and Pabst cans located just about every 20 feet along the main thoroughfare; there is also, of course, the Miller Lite Oasis stage with its own dedicated Miller Lite bar area to celebrate the king of lite beers. Lakefront Brewery, one of the most popular “craft” breweries in the city, also had its own dedicated tent with its regular rotation of brews on tap. For food, the iconic ‘Ethnic Village’ at the north end of the grounds offers outposts of restaurants representing Milwaukee’s historically prevalent immigrant populations along with more recent additions; Mader’s (German), Pizza Man (Italian, supposedly), and Dan Dan (Chinese) to name a few. Closer to the American Family Amphitheater at the south end were more local favorites including Greek Village, Saz’s, Major Goolsby’s, and Johnsonville Summerville. Need a beer and a brat to go with your music? Fear not, Summerfest most definitely has you covered.
A strength of Summerfest has always been the way its ground stage lineups are grouped. While popular acts still play concurrently for crowd control, something common among all festivals, there is a cohesive theme to each stage on each day. I fully agreed with what a friend said to me the second weekend: “I knew I was going in the right direction when I started to see the crowd that looked like this,” referring to the general style of one show’s audience. Notable examples from this year were Jesus Jones and Modern English on June 21st at the US Cellular Connection stage; Anberlin, Hawthorne Heights, and Boys Like Girls on June 27th also at US Cellular; Bad Suns and Local Natives on July 5th at Miller Lite Oasis stage; and Neon Trees and Cold War Kids also at the Oasis on the final night, July 6th. In regards to its lineup, Summerfest also never fails to bring a magical taste of nostalgia to the festival grounds and this year was no different. Mixing old and new across multiple genres and generations, this festival truly has something for everyone every year.
Weekend One
Jesus Jones, Modern English, and Motley Crue were a fun blast from the past across the board. The latter two artists played the US Cellular Connection stage, and put on shows that did honestly surprise me. Both bands have been around for a good while, but instead of losing energy, that time has obviously played into near-mastery of their craft. Alongside artists from the younger generations, these two more than held their own, and any assumption that the case might be otherwise feels a bit disrespectful to their untouchable legacies. Meanwhile, Motley Crue are, somehow, still playing. The show was a difficult one to shoot given that photographers were constrained to the sound board around halfway back in the American Family Insurance Amphitheater, the festival’s main (and separately-ticketed) stage. The production was epically sized, as to be expected with Motley Crue, but this was difficult to capture given the fog machines running full-force from before the first song began. It was impressive to see a band known for their stage presence still bringing such a show decades on, and the crowd full of fans of all ages was definitely pleased with the performance. As one older gentleman excitedly shouted at me, “MOTLEYYYYY!”, which I think summarizes everything pretty well.
The following night was overtaken by massive thunderstorms around 8 pm. The screens at all of the stages displayed a warning of the oncoming storms bringing potential lightning, though the crowd largely wasn’t deterred until the lightning itself was visibly forking across the sky behind the few high-rises of downtown. Even then, it took the arrival of a torrential downpour to halt all performances, with artists scheduled between 8:30pm and the 10:00pm headliners being unfortunately unable to play. Middle Kids were only able to get one complete song in before having to leave stage, though for what it’s worth, it was still a great performance. After listening to an announcement over the grounds’ PA system that declared a postponement, not cancellation, but please seek shelter, but you don’t have to leave, et cetera, for about an hour and a half and sitting in my car while being unable to see through the rain, the announcement finally came that headliners would be allowed to take their respective stages. Dawes, despite the minor downpour, still drew a loyal crowd and delivered a show that made the chaos well worth it.
My own favorite when it comes to local treats is Cedar Crest Ice Cream’s Blue Moon ice cream. You’d be forgiven for thinking that this was flavored like Blue Moon ale; it’s actually bright blue and its flavor is a long-standing Wisconsin mystery. Most importantly, it was the absolute best way to end June 28th’s night of delays caused by heavy thunderstorms that let up just in time for headliners to play at 10pm. I found out that my gear bag is thankfully more waterproof than my raincoat, and I’d like to personally thank both Dawes and Cedar Crest for saving my sanity at the end of that night.
Weekend Two
Boys Like Girls also brought back fond memories. Along with Hawthorne Heights and Anberlin, they drew a massive crowd with a diverse age range from original fans from the bands’ beginnings to newer, younger listeners recently discovering the music. Their live show was high energy, taking up the full stage with movement, theatrics, and mic stands almost entirely covered by guitar picks waiting to be thrown toward the fans lining the barricade.
MUNA were, in a word, unreal. The production itself lent to their songs’ synth-heavy instrumentals, with massive LCD screens flashing minimal designs and typography of the lyrics. The group spent the full show taking advantage of the BMO Harris Pavilion’s expansive stage, feeding the crowd’s energy and delivering an exhilarating performance. Closing out the night, Alison Wonderland brought a larger-than-life production to the Miller Lite Oasis. The hypnotic visuals worked in harmony with her mixes, with confetti and streamers flying over the crowd within the first few minutes. The sound itself packed a physical punch, with the kind of bass levels that make it difficult to fully inhale and noticeably rattle the inside of your skull. Mixed with a light rain, this was a magical ending.
If I had the space and time, I could write a full graduate-length dissertation on The All American Rejects’ June 28th set. Once again, we were all graced with the presence of Wisconsin’s lovely summer weather patterns, and were soaked by on and off rain that lasted for just about the entire night. This did nothing to limit the size of the crowd at the Uline Warehouse Stage during The Rejects’ set, and similarly had no effect on the performance itself. Coming onstage in a full-length yellow raincoat taken from a festival security guard, Tyson Ritter led the band through a show that would make you think Dirty Little Secret had come out yesterday. The audience, the instrumentals, the vocals, the rain, were the perfect ingredients for a once-in-a-blue-moon(-ice-cream) dance party that left the crowd sweating. On a related note, a shirtless member of the audience was invited onstage to perform his own interpretive dance to the song “Sweat” to thunderous applause, which may have been a highlight of the show.
Weekend Three
On the penultimate day of the festival, Local Natives and Bad Suns played the Miller Lite Oasis. Having seen Bad Suns multiple times over the past almost-decade, I can say with certainty that their live sound never disappoints. Following them, Local Natives brought an energy fueled by their tightly synchronized movements across instruments and vocalists. Mixing old favorites with tracks from their newest album “But I’ll Wait For You,” released in April of this year, the band kept the crowd singing and cheering in spite of the on-again off-again rain of the night.
The final night of the festival was absolutely packed. Local favorites, the BoDeans, headlined the Generac Power stage and drew a crowd whose size could only be properly comprehended from above, via the SkyGlider, a timeless ride mimicking a ski lift that takes riders over the main drag of the grounds. Neon Trees and Cold War Kids played at the Miller Lite Oasis, though Neon Trees started their set too early for any photographers to cover. Their music seemed to be enjoyed primarily by those walking through the grounds singing “Everybody Talks”, though there was a decent crowd at the stage itself. At the end of the night came Cold War Kids, currently on their 20 year anniversary tour. The band played favorites from the entire span of their catalog to a crowd singing along to every word. Like the festival itself, the energy never waned and the performance was absolutely one to remember.
As previously mentioned, weekend three of the festival did feel to some degree like it was losing steam. This was a characteristic of the attending crowd and certainly by no fault of Summerfest; since its inception, the wildly long stretch of nonstop music and festivities has been a huge endeavor to both put on and attend. “The Big Gig”, an appropriate nickname, might as well run on Duracells for how strongly it carries on from opening day to closing night.
Overall, Summerfest is an experience very unique from other music festivals. The scope of the event can seem intimidating, but offers something for every kind of music fan irregardless of age or genre. The food and drinks available everywhere ensure that one can enjoy some of the best that Milwaukee has to offer during their visit without paying a fortune for overpriced festival food. Something else that sets the festival apart is how difficult it is to find anything but a friendly face among security and production staff. While crowds can certainly be rowdy, Summerfest is always just another example of classic midwesterner kindness. Combine our city’s offerings outside the festival, those within the grounds, and the acts coming from all over to comprise an insanely huge lineup, and you get the best few days of the Milwaukee summer, every year, without fail.
