Summerfest 2011 Day 1 In the Books

What a great beginning to Summerfest 2011! It was a little different this year as Summerfest started on a Wednesday rather than the usual Thursday beginning. That was due to the decision to close down the World's Largest Music Festival on July 4. I arrived at the festival grounds about 5:30. Grabbed a bite to eat and headed over to the Rock Stage, which is just inside the North gate that we entered from. I didn't walk over to the newly remodeled South side of the grounds with the new Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard stage. Maybe that will be today.

First band up was Oceans Grove at 6:30. Now many of these earlier bands are up and comers, regional or local bands trying to make a name for themselves. This band fell into that category for sure. Not very memorable. They had more of a bluesy rock, Dave Matthews type sound. They even played a cover of a Frankie Vallie song.

The second band was Of Verona. I wasn't familiar with this band either, but apparently they are one of MTV's Bands to Watch. From appearances they looked like the children of the members of the Flock of Seagulls with a good looking female singer. When they first took the stage for warm ups, I thought she was Avril Lavigne...or her twin. Most of the time I'm leery of female rock singers as not many can pull it off, but she had an amazing voice. The band's music was a little trippy with keyboards and light on the guitars. For a newer band they were pretty decent. After the show I went over to meet the band and had my picture taken with the singer. 

Every year there are fireworks on opening day. Right around 9pm, the fireworks started. I had heard that they were supposed to be bigger than previous years. They were slow and unspectacular in the beginning, but the grand finale was one of the better one's I have seen in a long time. Grand finale ended with a couple minutes of rapid fire explosions. Pretty cool.

Headlining opening night was Saving Abel. They are a great band. I first discovered them at Summerfest in 2008. They had one album out and were a 7pm act. Now with two albums out they were headlining. The difference two albums and two years of touring was noticeable. They were definitely a more polished band. Excellent show playing a good mix of songs from both albums. They opened up with Tap Out, Bloody Sunday, and Hell of a Ride before rolling into New Tattoo and Stupid Girl. They rocked a couple more songs before bringing out the acoustic guitars to jam The Sex is Good and threw in a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Simple Man and CCR's Have You Ever Seen the Rain?. Finished up the set with 18 Days and probably their most popular song, Addicted.  Great show!

Great start to Summerfest 2011! Tonight will be a bit different. There wasn't any one headliner that I really wanted to see, so I'll probably just float around. Notable options for me are Better Than Ezra (saw them at Summerfest 2009), REO Speedwagon for some retro 80's music, Neon Trees (saw them last year), or Panic! at the Disco. So it remains to be seen which stage I end up at tonight. Maybe more than one?

Let's Fest!!!

It's finally here!!  Today is opening day of Summerfest 2011!! This year is a bit different in that Summerfest is opening up on a Wednesday, but that is because they decided to close for the 4th of July.  Weird but certainly no big deal.

Looking forward to the music, the beer, and hanging with thousands of my closest friends!  Hahaha

Tonight I'll be seeing Saving Abel at the Summerfest Rock Stage. Most likely catch a couple of the bands that are on before them, Ocean Grove and Of Verona. Not familiar with them, but I'll give them a listen.

Yeah Buddy!!! Summerfest is here!!!  Rock on!!!!

Summer...Summerfest...Summer Fun!!

June 21st, the first day of Summer 2011. Weather-wise it certainly hasn't felt like Summer. Nearly six months have passed and we've barely had one full week that did not include chilly temps or rain. This past weekend was nice. It was in the 70s and sunny. Today we had some pretty nasty thunderstorms and lightning. But it is finally Summer! Lots of fun and great times to be had this year!

This past Saturday, I went on a secret bar tour, the Atomic DJ Secret Bar Tour. What a great time! Sixty plus people, one bus, 7 bars, drink specials at each location, and a whole lot of shenanigans. Went with several friends and made several more. What makes it secret is the fact that we didn't know where we were going until just before getting on the bus. The seven bars included: a 130 year old tavern where one of the original bartenders was buried in the basement; a strip club; a saloon that the Capone brothers used to hide out in; and a couple other establishments. I have intentions of going on future tours, including the one in August which happens to fall the day after my birthday.

This coming weekend I'm thinking about going to the Milwaukee Firkin Craft Beer Festival. Should be no surprise to most that I am a craft beer enthusiast. It's from 3 to 7pm and will have over 90 beers to sample. We'll see how that turns out if I decide to go.

Summer in Milwaukee also means the beginning of festival season. There's Polish Fest, German Fest, Bastille Days, Festa Italiana, Summer Soulstice, Irish Fest, and my favorite of all of them...Summerfest. I've been going to Summerfest every year for the last several years. Last year I wrote about 'running the gauntlet'...attending all 11 days of Summerfest. I absolutely love it! Live music! Great food! Tasty beverages! And thousands of my closest friends. Okay, maybe they aren't all really close friends. Summerfest begins in eight days on June 29th. There are a couple things different about this year. One is that Summerfest is closed on July 4th. Odd, but I'm okay with it. The second thing is that, as of right now, I may only go six days this year. The lineups are spectacular. Last year was something special apparently because there was a band I wanted to see every day. I believe this year is the year for the early bands as the headliners aren't that appealing. I've discovered some really awesome young bands at some of the earlier time slots, such as Saving Abel, Anew Revolution, and Egypt Central a few years ago. In 2011, Saving Abel is headlining the opening day at one of the stages. Other bands I plan on seeing are Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (giving them a shot at redemption from their complete failure last year), Rise Against, Sick Puppies, Dropkick Murphys, 10 Years, and Hollywood Undead to name a few.  I'll be writing about the bands that I see so stay tuned.

I am looking forward to what the 2011 Summer has in store for me. It's shaping up to be a really good year so far.