Milwaukee is known for its summer festivals, but none is as anticipated as the Big Gig. Crowds will flock to the lakefront as Summerfest gets underway on Thursday.
To help you plan your first weekend of Summerfest, our friends at Radio Milwaukee shared a few of their recommendations. They’ll be joining us over the course of the festival to talk about the acts, and what sets Summerfest apart from other music festivals.
Carolann Grzybowski and Anthony Foster joined WUWM’s Audrey Nowakowski in-studio to talk about their picks for the first weekend of the festival:
Carolann's Picks
JUNE 18
- Passion Pit: 4:00 p.m. @ American Family Insurance House Stage & 10:15 p.m. @ T-Mobile Stage: "I feel like they just make music that is meant to evoke the young, wild, and free feeling. Having aged 10 years [since Passion Pit played Summerfest in 2016], I'm excited to re-live that," Gryzbowksi says. "Their synth-poppy, indie sleeze music — I still love it."
- Echo & the Bunnymen: 10:00 p.m. @ Generac Power Stage: "British post-punk icons," she says. "That's going to be an insane show."
JUNE 19
- Father John Misty: @ 9:30 PM Generac Power Stage: "He's one of the saddest boys in the biz, and I feel like that's a lot of fun. He does have new music out, and his latest album was really incredible. Some of those songs live, I can't even imagine how cool it's gonna be," Gryzbowski says.
- Amyl & The Sniffers: @ 10:30 PM Miller Lite Oasis Stage: "They are crazy performers, up for a Grammy this last year, and just really leading the way in femme-led punk, so I'm excited for that," she says.
Local Artists:
JUNE 18
- Maximiano: 4:15 p.m. @ T-Mobile Stage: "Really excited that they're playing Summerfest. ... They're just a beautiful songwriter — super genuine, super honest, and they have relatively new music out as well," Gryzbowski says.
JUNE 19
- Emmitt James: 6:15 p.m. @ T-Mobile Stage: "Emmett James is an incredible individual, an incredible artist. ... Incredibly unique in how he thinks about things and how he ties in the community to his work and his music. Really excited that he's playing summer for us this year as well," she says.
Also looking forward to:
Seeing whether festival-goers prioritize function or fashion when it comes to footwear.
Anthony's Picks
JUNE 18
- Charlie Wilson: 10 p.m. @ BMO Pavillion: "He's still out here, still looking good, still a great singer, great voice, great performer. And that's happening on Thursday, opening night, which is always a big deal at Summerfest," says Foster.
JUNE 19
- Don Toliver: 7 p.m. @ American Family Insurance Ampitheater: "Don Toliver is one of the big, big kings of hip hop right now — one of these guys that has like 18,000 people just jumping, phones in the air, like just frenetic, frenetic energy. He’s got a dope album out, Octane, right now. And I do believe this is his first time performing at Summerfest," Foster says.
- The Family Stone Band: 7 p.m. @ Aurora Pavillion: "I grew up on Sly and the Family Stone, and I mean, they're huge — probably one of the most influential bands ever. A multicultural band in the '70s. I mean, extremely funky," Foster says. "But it's a different iteration now. ... Sly Stone's daughter is the one that's leading the band. ... With Sly Stone, the namesake of the band, passing away last year, it's a real nostalgic and sentimental thing."
- Tyrese: 10:15 p.m. @ T-Mobile Stage: "A lot of people don't know that Tyrese is a singer. We know him from Fast and the Furious, but he has a great, great catalog. Wild guy, got a lot of viral moments, you know what I mean? So it's really dope that he's coming to Summerfest," Foster says.
JUNE 20
- Don Felder: 7:30 p.m. @ ULine Warehouse: "He's a former member of the Eagles, and we all love Eagles records. He wrote the music for Hotel California, which is arguably one of the top 10 most recognized greatest songs of all time," Foster says. "He left the Eagles, but he's still a world-renowned guitarist. Really looking forward to that."
- Christopher Cross: 9:30 p.m. @ ULine Warehouse: "There's an excellent documentary about yacht rock out right now, and Christopher Cross is a legend. He's got some great hits — everybody loves 'Sailing,'" he says. "It's gonna be a great, great night for us people who are a little long in the tooth."
- David Lee Roth: 9 p.m. @ BMO Pavillion: "Still looking good, he's gotta be about 70 years old. He don't got the long hair anymore, but we know him from Van Halen." Foster says. "June 20th is the night that all of the older people, the OGs will be out, because it's a lot of music that's catering to them — and David Lee Roth is one of them."
Also looking forward to:
Eating the sampler platter from Saz's.
You can check out the full Summerfest lineup here.
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