It WAS cooler by the lake

Yesterday makes seven (If I'm counting correctly) straight days of sweltering temperatures in the upper 90's. At one point I saw that the temperature hit 108. That must have been at the airport. Believe it or not, it really was a few degrees cooler by the lake. While the air may have been hot, the music at Summerfest was hot as well. Last night was my sixth night at the World's Largest Music Festival and one that saw me take yet another show at the Marcus Amphitheater. The Marcus Amphitheater, for those that have never been, is the main concert venue on the Summerfest grounds where the main day headliners play. Tickets to these shows are normally more expensive than you daily Summerfest rate of $16, but they do include admission into the the festival. Since I've started going to Summerfest, I had yet to ever purchase a ticket for the Marcus, because, until now, there really hasn't been a band play there that I either haven't already seen OR that I really needed/wanted to see...until this year. Last Thursday, the Foo Fighters were there. Last night, it was Iron Maiden!

I grew up listening to Iron Maiden. They were one of my favorite bands, yet I had missed out on previous opportunities to see them live. It's very rare that their tours take them through the U.S. They are huge, mega stars internationally. Of course, I was psyched when Summerfest announced they were coming. Joining them on tour, and opening, was another classic rocker, Alice Cooper. Considered to be the father of the shock rock era, Alice Cooper's set consisted of lots of props, smoke, and theatrics that he's become well known for. I've never been a huge fan of Alice Cooper, but he did play many of the songs I do like such as "No More Mr. Nice Guy", "I'm Eighteen", "Hey Stoopid", and "Schools Out." It was a fairly short, but good 12 song set.

Not long afterwards, Iron Maiden took the stage and proceeded to rock the crowd with hit after hit. This was their Maiden England tour, in which they based their setlist off of the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album. That just happened to be one of my favorite albums from them and it came around at a time (late 1980's) when I was really into Iron Maiden. Our seats weren't that great, but the show was awesome. Bruce Dickinson is still an incredible singer for this amazing band. Here is Iron Maiden's setlist:

Today is the eighth day of Summerfest and an optional one at that. I'm probably not going to go to the Big Gig tonight. Maybe I'm spoiled some for having this kind of festival in my backyard, but tonight's music lineup just might be the worse of all eleven days. I'm definitely back on Friday. On tap for Friday are The Heroes Lie (a great Milwaukee band!), Art of Dying, and Adelita's Way. I expect it to be another great night of rock music!  Stay thirsty my friends!!