The first day of Summerfest always has a certain air to it. The festival is fresh again; there’s newfound excitement for what’s to come. At the same time, it’s all so familiar. Summerfest regulars know their preferred routes through the park, the exact locations of their favorite restaurants, the place where their favorite beer is sold, the best spots at each stage to get the best view of the show.
And there’s a calm joy in this familiarity. It may not be a life-altering experience to meander along the lake, overhearing tiny side-stage acts — the young blonde woman covering “Jolene,” the Cobain clone breaking his guitar strings, the ever-present reggae — as smells of fried food collide with the fishy stench of Lake Michigan, but it’s sort of wonderful to know that in some way, these things will always be there.
With a fresh combination of performers plugging into this familiar framework, the World’s Largest Music Festival was underway. Within ten minutes of walking through the North Gate, I had heard three different bands play on three different stages, and looked on as people of all ages and from all walks of life passed me by.
My lap around the grounds took me to a beer tent by the Harley stage, where a random guy was clearing the crowd to do backflips. When he landed and onlookers clapped, the first guy to fist-bump him was someone wearing some sort of medieval gear. Fifty feet away, a few hundred teenagers jumped up and down to an EDM remix of The Killers’ “When You Were Young.” It was perfectly strange even before noticing the massive crowd of country music fans in large hats headed south to see Marcus headliner Florida Georgia Line.
By 7:15 p.m., I’d somehow ended up at the Johnson Controls World Sound Stage, where the Charles Walker Band was performing. This turned out to be an early Summerfest highlight — funky, blues-ey, high-energy soul is perfect festival music, and any time a band takes turns solo-ing to showcase each member’s unique musicianship, I am IN.
Enjoying a loud live band that had saxophone solos made sense to me, but things that don’t make sense are fun, too. Like a the existence of a Reuben Cone. Or the fact that the dance music crowd at Harley continued to grow and grow, which first confounded me, until I saw how much fun people were having. Or just things like this that just scream AMERICA:
Why yes, there is a Rhinestone Cowgirl store next to a stuffed pretzel stand at #Summerfest. pic.twitter.com/4PUZxXwBbH
— Dan Shafer (@danshaferMKE) June 25, 2015
The main event of the night — for me, at least — arrived at nine bells. My favorite Milwaukee band, Midnight Reruns, was headlining the KNE New Music Stage, and, knowing they have a new album on the way later this year, I was curious as to what they’d have in store for this type of show. The band played a few new songs that definitely piqued my interest, but what what won me over were a handful of Reruns-style covers — “Proud Mary,” “Dancing In The Moonlight,” “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” — that I thoroughly enjoyed. The covers played to the crowd in true Summerfest fashion, but they were different enough versions of the songs to stand on their own. The night’s fireworks began during standout track “Summer Smoker” from their self-titled album, creating this cool, almost cinematic moment. This might be the last time Midnight Reruns plays Summerfest on this small of a stage.
After the Big Bang — and it’s a big bang — the night’s headliners took the stage. It was a perfect night to catch a song or two from several different bands while roaming the grounds. Trombone Shorty was killing it at Briggs, something called “Kaskade” got people dancing at the Harley stage (probably the night’s biggest non-Marcus crowd), I tried to decide whether or not I like Bastille based on the one non-Pompeii song they played as I walked by (sorry, Bastille), I felt my annual sympathy for whichever band got stuck with playing the Uline Warehouse Stage, and the legendary Mavis Staples happened to play “Can You Get To That” right as I sat down to round out the night.
And though the excitement to begin a new Summerfest waned by the night’s end, when the Big Bang reached its finale, lighting up the Milwaukee night sky, people clapped and cheered. Just like last year.
It’s a BIG Bang! https://t.co/mhldiyRLcC
— Dan Shafer (@danshaferMKE) June 25, 2015
