Summerfest's first weekend in the books

One thing that will always be a great past-time, and certainly one of my favorite things to do, at Summerfest (or any festival for that matter) is people watching. It usually starts with observing fashion, or lack there of. Some of the outfits and things people decide to wear are often quite questionable. Some examples... Scantily clad women.  Head to toe in a monotone color (often a neon). Wearing American flag pants when it's not July 4th, though why would you anyways. Then there are the couples who, for whatever reason, don't look right together. So you start to wonder how they met and then maybe make up a story for them. Always a good time. Fashion trends noticed of the teenagers this year are high-wasted pants/shorts and headbands for the gals and long sleeve button down shirts and loafers for the guys. The 80's have come back. The girls are looking like Pat Benatar and the guys remind me of the douchy, rich characters from the classic 80's movies like Some Kind of Wonderful. So far this year, the most epic of people watching was last Tuesday when Lady Gaga was playing. Oh my word! So many people dressed for the show and put on a show for us at the same time. We are talking about older ladies (grandma age) wearing long silver wigs and dresses. People dressed up as characters from Lady Gaga videos, like with Diet Coke cans in their hair. A couple of the best dressed came from guys though. One guy had makeup, wig, short shorts, and these high heels that had no heals. He was pretty much walking on his toes all night.  The other guy was a very tall, skinny guy with makeup, short shorts, fishnet stockings, and rocking six-inch stiletto heels. He's obviously worn them before. Here's a picture from Lady Gaga night...

Cheeky Fest Goers

Wednesday I saw Arctic Monkeys. Thursday was Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Friday I went to see Five Finger Death Punch. Three nights, three different genres of music. One of the many things I love about Summerfest. I've seen FFDP several times already and pretty much knew what to expect, an in your face heavy metal show. Judging by the expansive crowd, which reached back all the way to the concessions, everyone else was expecting the same thing. Well, to be completely honest, I was disappointed. Sure they played a solid setlist of their songs, including Under and Over It, Burn It Down, Never Enough, and The Bleeding, but singer Ivan Moody spent way too much time talking about what was happening at the next stage over (Atmosphere was killing it) and making comments about Lady Gaga. They could have played another song or two. As it was, they only played for just over an hour. Good show, but not long enough. Finished well before any of the other stages. My highlight was their cover of LL Cool J's Mama Said Knock You Out...pretty freakin' cool! Again, while I was slightly disappointed, you can't beat seeing a band like Five Finger Death Punch for the $18 daily admission fee. Maybe I'm just spoiled from seeing so many concerts. First World problems.

I picked up my brother at the airport on Saturday. He's been coming out the last couple of years to experience Summerfest with me. It's great to have him here. We always have a blast. We didn't go to Summerfest Saturday, choosing instead to relax at home. Though I did take him to Sugar Maple for a couple of tasty beverages. He's still learning about craft beer, but already knows that fresh, flavorful, local beer is by far and way better than any of that stuff brewed by the big guys.

We did go to Summerfest on Sunday. Boy, it was a hot one too. The weather has been so erratic. On Wednesday and Thursday it was nearly teeth-chattering cold. I wore jeans and a sweatshirt both nights. Friday was a little bit warmer. Sunday was melty. Once we arrived at the grounds, we headed over to the box office and picked up free, reserved, blue seat tickets for 38 Special. 38 Special is a band I enjoyed growing up and figured, why not. Turned out to be a fantastic show too! At 62 years young, these guys can still bring it. Hammering away on hits like Rockin' Into the Night, Caught Up In You, Back Where You Belong, and Hold On Loosely, the show was full of energy and great music. A great time!

Summerfest is closed today, but we'll be back at it on Tuesday to see Ed Kowalczyk, lead singer of the band Live. Probably stick around for Switchfoot? Who knows?  Good times lie ahead!

Blue on Black

Tears on a river. 

Push on a shove. 

It don't mean much.

Day 2 of Summerfest took me to see Kenny Wayne Shepherd, who, at this point in my music fan career, is quite possibly the best guitarist I have seen live since Eddie Van Halen. So amazing! The night started with Evan Christian, hailing from Milwaukee, who serenaded the crowd with bluesy rhythm and classy vocals. No backing band, just himself, his guitar, and his voice. Great bluesy cover of Stone Temple Pilots' Plush too. Kenny Wayne Shepherd and his band of all starts - Noah Hunt on vocals, Chris Layton (drums) and Reese Wynans (keyboards) from Stevie Ray Vaughan's Double Trouble band, and Tony Franklin (bass) who played in The Firm with legendary guitar player Jimmy Page and vocalist Paul Rogers. A show that surprised me, as I'm not very familiar with Kenny, but it far exceeded any of my expectations. Blue on Black was the one song I really knew. Everything else was great downhome blues with amazing guitar playing. Absolutely loved the finishing song of Jimi Hendrix' Voo Doo Child. 

Two nights of Summerfest. Two different genres of music. First with indie rock from the Arctic Monkeys. Then straight up blues rock with Kenny Wayne Shepherd. We'll have to see what's up next!

Summerfest 2014: Opening Day in the books!

Opening Day of Summerfest 2014 is in the books. It was a fairly uneventful opener though. Fireworks were postponed until tonight. Judging by the crowds, it was well attended. Of course, opening day usually is. Hell, we've been waiting 365 days for Summerfest to come back. Definitely one of the colder nights that I've experienced, but, unlike previous years where I didn't dress appropriately and was forced to buy a sweatshirt, I was prepared last night. People watching was, and is, always epic. Took notice of teenage fashion, or lack there of. I mean, seriously, some of the things these young kids choose to wear. Head bands and high waisted pants on the girls reminded me of Pat Benatar in the early 80s. The guys were like the douchy rich kids from Pretty in Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful...long sleeve, button down shirts with shorts and loafers. I guess fashion is cyclical. I'm not buying it though.

Anyways, I saw Arctic Monkeys last night. Not necessarily a huge fan, but it was one of the better options. Heck, if Metallica invites them to their Orion festival, they are worth checking out, right? Not a bad show. I've certainly seen worse. Bit of a snoozer midway through. You can hear influences of The Beatles and early 70s Aerosmith in their sound. Ahh any night at Summerfest is a better night than at home. Tonight I think it may be Kenny Wayne Shepherd.  Stay tuned and Rock on!

Summer is finally here!

After a long, brutal Winter consisting of record streaks of temperatures under zero degrees and countless inches of snow, Summer is finally here! My apologies for conjuring up nightmarish memories of a long, cold season that didn't seem to want to go away. Here in Wisconsin, one thing is certain. When the weather finally breaks and Old Man Winter finally packs his bags for his vacation, the people here in Wisconsin definitely embrace the warmer months and do it in style. We only have a few short months to enjoy the warm weather before the old guy returns and we don't waste any time. That is one thing I love about living here in Milwaukee. As soon as the sun shines and the temps rise just above 50, everybody heads outside to enjoy it. We didn't hit above 50 until some time in May and, even though you may still have needed a jacket, you were outside. Summer in Wisconsin means many fantastic things. One of those is the beginning of festival season. Beginning in June with PrideFest and then Polish Fest, nearly every week of the Summer there are ethnic and music festivals happening in and around this great city. There is always something to do and a great time to be had doing it. I seem to always discover something new each year that I hadn't done before. Yes, I'm excited that Summer is here! Why? Because Summer in Milwaukee means my absolute favorite festival all year...SUMMERFEST!

In just three short days, the gates will open for this magnificent music festival - 11 days, 11 stages, over 800 acts, and nearly 1 Million of my closest friends! I've got two tickets to the entire thing...

...well, almost the entire thing. These Power Passes give me admission to all 11 days. They just don't get me into the Marcus Amphitheater, where the main headliners play each night. Those tickets cost extra. I've gone to main headliners in the past, but you don't necessarily need to buy those tickets to see some great bands. I will admit that the main headliner lineup is pretty solid, including the likes of Bruno Mars, Lady GaGa, Outkast, Usher, Motley Crue, and Zac Brown Band, but there isn't any of those bands that make me want to spend the extra cash. Maybe I'll score free tickets, like I did last year to Pitbull. You never know.

So who will I see?  That's a great question and one that my friends and I have discussed. This year's lineup is a bit better than last year, but overall it's still not on par with previous years. Let me explain. The last couple of years' lineups has lacked bands in the hard rock and metal genre. That's not the only genre of music I like, which you'd know if you've read my other Summerfest posts. Don't get me wrong...the lack of hard rock and metal bands doesn't take away from the total awesomeness of Summerfest. It just means that I get to see bands that I would not normally get to see. Also doesn't mean that there aren't any hard rock bands. There just aren't any that I haven't seen before.  That's what I'm trying to say. I'm spoiled some because of Summerfest and the other great music venues in town. I've seen so many bands the last ten years alone that there just aren't many newer bands that come through. First World problems, right?! So I digressed a little here and haven't told you who I'm going to see yet.  I don't have a solid plan. I am going to wing it mostly. Hell, I have plenty of options. Some of those options are: Arctic Monkeys, Neon Trees, Crystal Method, Joan Jett, George Thorogood, and Kansas. How about DJ Pauly D? Maybe. Five Finger Death Punch? Absolutely! Rise Against? Definitely! Maybe a new band like Kongos. Rap artists Ludacris or Nas? You just never know.

Summerfest encompasses a few of my favorite Summer things...live music, great beer, people watching, and friends (old and new). Feel free to check back here later as I'll be writing about this year's adventures. Summerfest 2014 starts in three days!