Venue/Event (Summerfest (warning: flash heavy), Milwaukee, WI): Why I’m Spoiled for Life on Music Festivals (4/5)
I’ve been going to Summerfest most years since since1998.
Summerfest is, easily the best music festival I’ve been to. It claims to be the world’s largest music festival, and at least in the midwest, I’ve not found anything that even comes close in capacity, length, or quality. Eleven stages, eleven nights, at the peak of the Midwestern summer it runs from noon to midnight. If you’ve never been and you can get to Milwaukee next June, go. It is the best music in the Midwest.
The best part, unless you’re at the ‘main stage’ at the Marcus Amphitheater, it’s 15$ a day for evenings or 8$ for afternoons. Period.
The main stage acts are killer. Such acts this year included, Justin Beiber, Rush, and Tom Petty. However, in the evening you will get things that are just as good on the free stages. In addition to what I saw this year, some highlights were: The Offspring, Papa Roach, Joan Jett, and Sheryl Crow, just to name a few. There is no assigned seating in the free stages either so if you’re willing to camp you can get as close as you want to these bands..
There’s also the food. You can get the standard midwestern festival food like roasted corn, funnel cake, and cotton candy, but you can also head to the ethnic food court for Thai, Mexican, and German. For festival food its not badly priced.
There’s also extensive shopping. Local artists and artisans come to Summerfest to sell their work and you can find shops for everything from clothes to incense to palm readings.
There are also booths for video game systems and a large section for children including several inflatable castles, face painting and more.
In case you overheat, they have an air-conditioned area as well as the first aid tent and information booths.
And on 3 July they have fireworks
Most years I go more but this year my wallet couldn’t take it quite as much so I only went two days.
So unbelievably worth it
Day one (6/28): Warm up on a Cold Day.
Crowd: (3/5) typical, tired festival crowd. Not a lot of energy but still willing to give what they had left for the band.
Saliva: Click, Click Superstar, pt. 2 (2/5)
I’d been curious about Saliva as the few songs I did have of theirs were solid and I enjoyed them quite a bit.
Little did I know that I would be hearing one of them over and over throughout the show.
I stood up to see the act, hopped up on my bench, and prepared for a long anticipated chance to cut loose and head bang.
Saliva came out and tried to pump the crowd, I rocked a little but as they played something just wasn’t working. Then they played their big number “Click, Click, Boom!” The crowd woke up and we rocked.
Then as the next few numbers played and the got to “Superstar, II” that’s when it hit me. Every, single song with the exception of their one other hit “Always” had the same cord progression as “Click, Click, Boom!” I thought I had to be mistaken, so I tried a little experiment and softly sang “Click, Click, Boom!” under my breath. Sure enough, same song.
Redundancy is lethal to any good band, but sometimes the live show can still be good if the energy is strong. Not so once again. It was as though front man Joesy Scott was miming a concert. He had the approximate energy of a piece of lint. He acted as though he had energy but it fell flat
While it was lovely to hear “Always” and Click Click boom, the show it self was a bit of a waste.
Okay I’m sick of listening to click click boom, next band
Day 2(July 4th): Its too frikin’ hot.
The Crowd (3/5) a little more lively than yesterday’s crowd but I attribute that to Sick Puppies amazing performance.
Adelitas Way: Survive, Dirty little thing. (3/5)
I nabbed their debut album when I saw them last year with Theory of A Dead man and while I had to hop out mid set to get Halestorm’s autographs, it was a nice listen. They’ve grown up a little and I very much look forward to new material. Hearing “Dirty Little Thing“ never gets old. On seeing them a second time they are really growing on me as an up and coming dirty little rock band. I’m keeping this review short as truthfully I only heard about two or three songs and one was a cover of “Survive.”
Sick Puppies: Wake Up The Festival (5/5)
If you pick up one new band this year, pick these guys up. I predict that they will explode in the next year or two. Wonderfully energetic and very talented this Australian born LA based band comes on with an intensity I’ve only really seen in a metal show. They got a hot, tired festival crowd to move, scream and head bang. Considering they weren’t the final act of the evening and that by a show of hands about half the crowd hadn’t seen them before that was a feat.
Front man Shimon Moore has an interesting range, which isn’t expressed as well on the album as it is live. He’s predominantly a tenor, but throws out some grunts and gravely low notes that smolder. He also has incredible energy and a great deal of drive. Not only was he constantly in motion but also, he was constantly encouraging the crowd, priming them and reacting to them. I find even energetic artist can often be flummoxed by an unanticipated crowd reaction, not Shim (as his fans and band mates call him), Shim rolled with even the unexpected reactions. I think that shim alone could have the energy to work an arena, though he sometimes isn’t spot on in choosing the songs to pump the crowd for. That will come with practice.
But, this isn’t the Shimon Moore show.
Bassist Emma Anzai, could also have brought down an arena all by her self. She is a slim little thing, and soft voiced who at first look doesn’t look as though she could carry, let alone play the bass she hammers.
Using both slap bass and plucking, Anzai is on fire on stage. She has a fierce presence not often seen or heard from the bass. She brings out an element you don’t see often in rock shows these days: mind blowing bass solos.
Sick Puppies are far from a one trick pony, in addition to their throttling, head banging rock; they also have songs that are poignant romances that speak to every man.
Halestorm(4/5): One Good Trick from a One Trick Pony
I love Halestorm, but seeing them as the last act didn’t hold up the way I thought it would. Lzzy hale is breathtaking, and has wonderful energy and a voice like none other, but it was very hard for them to follow sick puppies. Which was a little disappointing, considering how much I love theses people.
That being said, what I saw of their set was still as epic as ever. I think they need new material because all of their songs are breakup songs.
I still have faith in them. They are a truly amazing band. However, I think I’ll let my other reviews of their work speak for their talent.
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