Summerfest @ Henry Maier Festival Park - Milwaukee, WI

Day 1

This was our (Jen Machuca and I’s) first time attending the 1968 established SummerFest held annually in Milwaukee, WI; the city that I tenderly know as “the meeting place.” Being from Chicago, Milwaukee has always been the place where old friends from cross country met up with new friends, where old music is swapped and shared with new music, and where the melodic sounds of the midwest let go of any qualms and is set free for all to hear. When I walked through the big red gates of Summerfest, I knew that this too was a meeting place.

From the first step through the gates, the sounds of 12 different stages diverge into one entity to make the sweet sounds of diversity. From rap, rock, folk, to electronic, Summerfest caters to all who dare to set their soul on fire with music. As you make your way through the crowds of the festival you will likely feel a surge of positive energy despite the days rainy skies. A view of people making their way across the park to participate in live music, dippin’ dots in hand, can be seen with an aura of excitement constantly hung around the festival goers throughout the day. If you wanted to look at this excitement from a different perspective, the festival provided a unique opportunity to hop on the skyline ride and slowly make your way from one end of the festival to the other from 60 ft above the ground. This literally transported you from genre to genre as you slowly passed each stage, getting blasted by a new amalgamation of sound with each swing of your dangling legs.

This soaring experience kicked off our day one at Summerfest on June 30th, 2019. As doom and gloom loomed above in the form of thick gray clouds, we traveled across the fest like a pair of goons from above scoping out the best stages to go to that day and landed fondly on the Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard Stage. Once touching back down to earth, we made our way to the stage where we were greeted by communal benches and the first band of the day Picture Yes. Blasting guitars and blaring drums greeted us as our bench neighbors began swiftly swaying their heads back and forth. This continued on into Infinitum until the clock struck 10 p.m. and Welsh band Catfish and the Bottlemen took the stage.

Catfish and The Bottlemen

The crowd erupted in cheers as Catfish and the Bottlemen’s oh so familiar intro (Dean Martin’s “Ain’t that a kick in the head” and covers of Beatles “Helter Skelter”) blasted over the loudspeakers as the boys made their entrance. The Lads (as they are so fondly known) kicked of their set with the song “Longshot” off their newest album The Balance. With the glowing neon lights shining off the 10ft Tucan that had become a staple in the boys stage setup, the crowd went into a frenzy. Benji Blakeway’s (bassist) rampant bass shook the communal benches on which we were all now standing on top off while Bob Hall’s (drummer) maniacal drums sent fans over the edge. At any point in the set you could look in either direction and see a concert goer falling off the bench from dancing too intensely to the sweet sounds of rock and roll. The set continued as such with front man Van Mccan controlling the crowds with his “get back stare” and leaps onto the edge of the stage that had you biting your nails on whether or not he would tip off. With each flash of green, red, and blue, (the Bottlemen’s signature colors) the crowd seemed to become more and more delirious up until the soft strums of their closing song “Tyrants” off of The Balcony. During this final song, hundreds of lighters were slowly brought up to cigarettes dangling out of mouths as member of the audience took a drag in commemoration of the madness that had just ensued. With hands held tightly between friends, and smoke hanging in the air, everyone danced to the will of the Bottlemen one final time before collapsing off the bench and skulking back to their cars. Day 1 had officially been completed, and would definitely be remembered by everyone at the Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard Stage that night.

Day 2

After the previous night’s tomfoolery, I had come down with a mean case of laryngitis and was left literally speechless from Catfish and the Bottlemen’s set on June 30th. With a whiteboard in my hand, and a poncho on my back we made our way once again through the gray clouds and rain to the entrance of Summerfest. With the layout of the fest mapped out from two days before we made our way to the State Farm Music Tent to catch a quick acoustic set from sister duo Reyna.

REYNA

With the rain beating down outside, the tent soon packed full of festival-goers trying to seek shelter. The mob of people in the tent then tenderly swayed to the summer beats that Reyna had to offer. After a stunning set, the mood quickly darkened as severe thunderstorm warning flashed across the jumbo screens accompanied by now treacherous rain. Bamboozled, herds of people sought cover under nearby bar stands. After several gloomy hours, and if induced by magic, the rain ceased and the sun emerged just for Reyna’s performance on main-stage Miller Lite Oasis. With a flash of their trademark orange, Reyna swept the stage with sound and the eager audience quickly swayed in suit. Tapping feet and bobbing heads were visible as far as the eye could see as everyone came together to absorb the chill and throbbing sounds of summer which Reyna provided to a T.

With very little preparation, we were then tossed from the calm stage of Miller Lite Oasis to the Uline stage where anxious energy surged amongst hundreds of teens waiting to see Nashville native band Coin.

COIN

To the pink and yellow of a sunset painted sky, an overwhelming excitement arose from the crowd of teens as these young music goers chanted every note strummed and screamed lyrics of encouragement to every word sung. The indisputable spirit and vigor were thrown back and forth between the crowd and Coin at a rapid-fire pace from start to finish of each song. This exchange continued until we were forced to say our goodbyes to Coin and their jumping crowd and head back over to Miller Lite Oasis for the night’s final performance, CHVRCHES.

CHVRCHES

With the new found stars gracing the sky, lead singer of CHVRCHES Lauren Mayberry took the stage with (what was in her words) “big dick energy,” and with an opening song of “Get out” that is exactly what was delivered. In a twirling dream Lauren made her way across the stage inviting the crowd to reach their hands up to the moon and feel the music that filled the air from stage left to stage right. A deep bass blared throughout the set (literally) shaking the audiences heart and souls to each beat. The entire audience threw their arms around each other and danced like mad through the whole set as the euphoric rhythms consumed the crowd. After an intense set, we made our way out of the festival saying a soft goodbye to Summerfest, the sounds of CHVRCHES still ringing throughout our bodies. Despite the lack of voice, we made a swift and rager promise that we would soon return to Summerfest, and once again be apart of a meeting place.