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
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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
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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,
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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
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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,
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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
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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 moreWhile the Marcus Amphitheater shows are still being rolled out, Summerfest has announced their ground stage headliners for 2016. Almost 100 acts are now added to the festival’s roster, and it’s a lot to take in over the course of one giant list. Oh, there’s a video! And… is that Milwaukee’s own GGOOLLDD I hear in the background? Why yes
Read moreThe concept of Big Data performing live is nothing but intriguing. The band is the brainchild of producer Alan Wilkis, and the project received a large part of its success, including a number one spot on the Billboard Alternative Song chart, without ever really playing a show. Add to the fact that almost all of Big Data’s songs feature singers
Read moreFor many bands, the opportunity to see your fanbase grow does not carry many benchmarks; In the instance of AWOLNATION, they were able to see just how far their following had grown by playing the same stage that they had graced in years prior on Friday night. The band played the US Cellular Connections stage previously at an 8:00 slot,
Read moreOK Go has become known for much more than their music. As a band, they’ve put out four albums and seven EPs within the last 15 years, but most people probably know them for their ultra-creative music videos (you know, that treadmill video?) that have become viral YouTube hits. When you’re known for having that much fun and putting out
Read moreSomeone needs to give Jesse Lacey a hug. Last year, I attended Brand New’s set at the Harley-Davidson Roadhouse, and I was slightly underwhelmed by the performance. I distinctly recall a lot of material from the group’s “Daisy” album, which was slower, and sadder, and the band looked genuinely disinterested in performing for a festival of kids that have grown
Read moreSo guys, I have a confession to make; Growing up, I was a huge Linkin Park fan. Around age 12, I remember telling myself that I needed a “favorite band”, so that when people asked what I listened to, I could answer them with more than “I listen to a little bit of everything”. For whatever reason, Linkin Park became
Read moreMany times, bands with one of the breakout songs of the summer don’t necessarily amount to a great live show. After the success of a single, the EPs and albums that follow tend to be rush jobs, revolving around that radio-friendly hit, and subsequently that less than stellar material becomes the filler building up to the band playing their hit
Read moreThe US Cellular Connections Stage at Summerfest saw one of its most solid lineups of the festival’s duration on Friday night, with local standouts GGOOLLDD, followed by indie up and comers Atlas Genius, and culminating in England’s The Kooks. For all three sets, at least the front portion of the bleachers at the stage were filled, and all three got
Read moreAs a veteran Summerfester I’ve been extremely disappointed with the “World’s Largest Music Festival” these last few years. Bands that played 45-minute sets, little to no encores, and some stages having the volume turned down, I’m looking at you Miller Lite Oasis, left a very unkind taste in my mouth. This year made me forget all of that in the
Read moreComing off of an extraordinary run throughout the past two years, Bastille took their set to the Miller Lite Oasis for the opening night of Summerfest, where they unfortunately became victims of circumstance. For whatever reason, the festival’s opening night doesn’t always seem to be the ideal slot for headliners, as I fondly remember from last year’s energy-depraved Arctic Monkeys
Read moreAre you a Milwaukee musician/band? You can submit your music to be the Milwaukee Artist of the Week by emailing links to info@BreakingAndEntering.net. We’ll check out every submission we get! This week’s Milwaukee Artist of the Week is Bright Kind, a synth pop/rock band with a flair for some truly catchy music from the first time that you hear it.
Read moreSomehow, some way, I’ve managed to make it through all 11 nights of the world’s largest music festival for the first time in my life. Now, granted, I usually go multiple nights every year, but this was my first full pull for Summerfest. After taking a day off to rest, and also fully process everything that I’ve seen in the
Read morePhoto courtesy of Summerfest Going into Summerfest, one of the most talked about ground stage shows was Brand New’s appearance at the Harley Davidson Roadhouse on the 4th of July. The crowd was buzzing on the bleachers, and shortly after 10 PM, they were welcomed by… 80s dance music. A bit of a curveball from Brand New, but definitely an
Read moreRise Against are no strangers to the Summerfest stage, and they once again proved that on Thursday night at the Harley Davidson Roadhouse. With a packed crowd waiting, watching the night’s fireworks display, the band hit the stage and quickly jumped into “Ready to Fall”, the first in a slew of hits that they would play. When they followed it
Read moreAs Nas pointed out on stage at the Harley-Davidson Roadhouse Tuesday night, “Not a lot of people get to see their stuff live for 20 years like this”. In this case, he was talking in particular about 1994’s “Illmatic”, regarded by many as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time, if not the single greatest. Coming off
Read moreThere’s a lot of pressure on bands to perform well on the summer festival circuit, especially newer bands that are just starting to create a national buzz around them. For The Neighbourhood, who attracted a huge crowd of fans on Sunday night, things didn’t exactly go as planned by any means. When they hit the stage at 10:00, they moved
Read moreSo here’s the deal. Last night, I intended on reviewing Girl Talk’s set at Summerfest, but from where I was standing in the massive crowd, it was almost impossible to hear him. It didn’t help that the sound at the Miller Oasis was turned down so much that I could hear the Harley-Davidson Roadhouse from the Oasis crowd. So, instead
Read moreComing in hot off of a major 2013, Fun. guitarist Jack Antonoff and Bleachers hit the U.S. Cellular Connections stage on Friday night to an overwhelming reaction. The crowd was smaller than Fun’s previous performance at the Miller Lite Oasis in 2012, but nevertheless, they were ready for a great show from a band that they really hadn’t heard much
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