Now that the 11 days of craziness and madness of Summerfest is over, I’ve had time to reflect on what I just experienced these past two weeks. As a music lover, this festival is super important for me. It allows me to see bands I know and love, but also discover new ones . It is an exciting time of
Read more
With the bleachers full well before their 10:15 start time, it was evident that Death Cab for Cutie hasn’t lost any support in the decade since the band’s Atlantic Records debut, “Plans” took them from indie rock darlings to mainstream stardom. On stage, it was also very clear that the band had not lost a step, either. With some
Read more
Summerfest is home to a great number of emerging artists of all genres. One of those names this year is Midnight Mob, a New York band comprised of guitarist Mickey Squeeze, drummer Beatz, bassist Carly Quinn, and frontwoman Blackey Deathproof. The band combines alternative rock, metal, blues, and punk to create a hybrid rock sound that is sure to excite
Read more
Frankly, Elle King’s set at the Harley-Davidson Roadhouse on Friday night was a bit of a wild card going into the night. On paper, King has two successful radio singles; the recently released “America’s Sweetheart”, and the singalong-worthy hit “Ex’s and Oh’s”. What she delivered, however, was the performance of a star way beyond an artist with only two
Read more
On Thursday night, the Violent Femmes received a hero’s welcome from their hometown crowd at Summerfest. The duo of frontman Gordon Gano and bassist Brian Ritchie were joined by percussionist John Sparrow, and within seconds of calmly walking onstage, the band kicked things off with “Blister In The Sun”, arguably their most recognizable songs. This came as a surprise to
Read more
While headliners draw the most attention at Summerfest, emerging bands and artists make up the majority of the lineup. For many of these bands, it’s a place to gain a lot of exposure from a single set. One of those emerging names this year is Chicago’s Hood Smoke, a soulful indie group that will be appearing at the Miller Lite
Read more
The progression of bands at Summerfest is interesting to track from year to year. Last year, rising indie stars X Ambassadors found themselves playing an early 6:45 slot at the US Cellular Connections Stage as part of the Emerging Artists Series. The band played to the first section of bleachers predominantly, in support of recent single “Renegades”, which was starting
Read more
On Tuesday night, it officially became the Mark, Skiba and Travis show. Blink 182 brought their new lineup to the Marcus Ampitheater, along with openers All Time Low, and local support Direct Hit!. Although the date was not officially part of the California Tour, the show acted as a precursor of things to come, as well as an ample warm-up
Read more
I’ll admit that I am, like most people, a creature of habit. Every year, The Roots return to Summerfest, and every year, for whatever reason, their set always conflicts with another band that I want to see. And every year, routinely, I tell myself “okay, I’ll catch them next year.” This year, the annual favorites and resident Tonight Show band
Read more
There are a plethora of interesting, talented acts playing this year Summerfest, and it is the perfect time for the city to be new music junkies. One of the newer acts to check out are Epoch Failure, an urban pop duo from New Jersey. We talked to members Billy the Kidd and Nickey Knoxx ahead of their appearance on July
Read more
One of the fun aspects of attending Summerfest year after year is that you can track a group’s success by watching them move to the later time slots throughout the years, until ultimately reaching a 10:00 ground stage headliner slot, or even better, the Marcus Ampitheater. One of the bands starting this journey is Queens based urban alternative group Oxymorrons,
Read more
Soul-rock band Con Brio are in the middle of an extended world tour run that includes this year’s Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Fuji Rock Festival, and Summerfest, as well as tour dates with Grace Potter. Their newest EP, “Paradise”, will be coming out in two weeks, and the video for single “Free & Brave” recently debuted on Afropunk. Things are certainly looking
Read more
On Wednesday night, thousands of Milwaukeeans dusted off their dancing shoes for another year of Summerfest, but Fitz and the Tantrums were already in prime form. Headlining the Harley-Davidson Roadhouse, the band hit the stage with their modern take on new wave, indie, and everything in between. With perfect weather, The Big Bang, and plenty of liquid encouragement being consumed,
Read more
We all know that Summerfest is upon us, oh wait, you didn’t!? Well, remove yourself from the rock you’re living under and get your can koozies ready because the Big Gig is firing up tonight! This year’s line-up is chalked full of all the sweet sounds of Milwaukee has to offer and with those melodic waves come all the Milwaukee folk
Read more
I’ll preface this by saying that I, like millions of others, grew up listening to Weird Al Yankovic’s parodies. I still have VHS tapes of his greatest hits somewhere at my parents’ house, and I once got in trouble for flipping the bird at my neighbors when I didn’t know what it meant, after seeing the “Amish Paradise” video. So
Read more