It’s natural to want to move to the music, but the MKE River Roundup takes that impulse to a whole new level: the band is on a pontoon boat, and the audience paddles alongside.
Every Wednesday, June 18 through Aug. 27, local bands and artists will play music floating down the Milwaukee River, with dozens of kayakers, paddleboarders and more following close.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
The idea for the concert series started on land with the Funk Club Wagon. During the early days of the COVID lockdown, Jesse Voelker and a few other musicians hopped on a trailer bed and performed while being pulled around different neighborhoods.
“Then we realized kayaking was socially distant, too,” he says. “So I bought a pontoon boat.”
Dubbed the “Funktoon,” it quickly made a splash that summer, prompting Voelker and his crew to bring it back every year with support from public art nonprofit Joy Engine.
Each concert is three hours, with the boat taking off at 5 p.m. from the Twisted Fisherman, stopping for a break at The Harp and coming back to the starting point, where a second band plays an on-the-ground after-show from 8-10 p.m.
Ticket packages cost $50 and include a kayak rental from Milwaukee Kayak Co. and a beer from Indeed Brewing. People are also welcome to paddle up on their own watercraft and leave a tip for the band with the volunteers kayaking around.
What’s it like performing on the boat? Aside from an abundance of sunshine, not too different from playing on land, Voelker says.
This year’s lineup includes the People Brothers Band, The Hot & Dirty Brass Band, The Stephen Hull Experience and 18 other acts. For everyone that plays, Voelker says, “it’s their favorite gig of the year.”
