Folk-rock band The Lumineers swept into Milwaukee in 2017 as part of their Cleopatra World Tour, bringing over 12,000 fans to the BMO Harris Bradley Center. What the unsuspecting thousands might not have known is that the band filmed a major scene from their “Cleopatra” music video in Milwaukee.
It all started the last time The Lumineers had visited the land of beer and cheese, in June of 2016. They were in town for a show and in desperate need of a filming location for their music video for the titular track of their second album, “Cleopatra.”
Milwaukeeans were obviously enthusiastic about the band; they sold out the Pabst Theater so fast that they had to move the venue to the BMO Harris Pavilion on the Summerfest grounds. And it seemed The Lumineers were enthusiastic about Milwaukee, too…or at least about the beautiful vistas that greeted them the shores of Lake Michigan.
The music video for “Cleopatra” follows a taxi driver ruminating about her past. The actual band members appear in only one scene, when the driver is shown dropping a passenger off at an airport and sees The Lumineers entering, musical instruments in hand. That airport? It’s actually the entrance to Discovery World.
When you watch the video, look closely. You’ll see that Lake Michigan and the Summerfest grounds are the backdrop behind the band members.
Flash forward eight months and The Lumineers were back and more popular than ever, filling up the massive BMO Harris Bradley center with the power of their folksy anthems. That Saturday night, as the band’s charm and talent (particularly that of lead singer Wesley Schultz) made the humongous space feel small and intimate, perhaps the band members remembered that day on Lake Michigan when they immortalized “Cleopatra” in Milwaukee.
