11 days, 11 stages over 700 bands. That is just a brief summary of the Milwaukee Summerfest, the “Big Gig”. Every summer, usually around July 4th, droves of fans travel to Henry Maier Festival Park on Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to take part in the annual “World’s Largest Music Festival” as dubbed by Guinness World Records in 1999. Summerfest usually has crowds of about 800,000 – 1,000,000 people over the 11 days to see amazing, headlining acts. This has been an annual tradition since 1968. The line-up is a who’s who of popular and familiar bands. The bands range from Pop to Country to Hip Hop to Rap and everything in between. There is absolutely something at Summerfest for everyone. What’s even better is that shows are “free” with purchase of admission of $8 – 15. The headlining acts at the Marcus Amphitheatre are an additional cost however. There are also comedy shows and extreme sports exhibitions. All in all, it’s a pretty outstanding deal. If you’ve never heard, for been to Summerfest for that matter, you really should.
This year the opening headliner is Peter Gabriel and the New Blood Orchestra.
The exceptionally remarkable line-up is as follows, but please keep in mind that this is a very small sampling of the bands performing at the event. The headlining act of the day is bolded.
Wednesday, June 29th
Matisyahu
Buddy Guy
Jack’s Mannequin
Meat Loaf
Saving Abel
Max Weinberg Experience
The Right Now
David Seebach’s Wonders of Magic
Hot Sauce
Thursday, June 30th
Kanye West with special Guest Kid Cudi
Better than Ezra
Owl City
Panic! At the Disco
Neon Trees
George Clinton
REO Speedwagon
Blackberry Smoke
Wanda Jackson
Jeanna Salzer Band
Friday, July 1st
Toby Keith with special guest Eric Church
Girl Talk
Los Lonely Boys
Los Lobos
Anberlin
Third Eye Blind
Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Taj Mahal
I’m Not a Pilot
Friday, July 2nd
Jason Mraz with special guest Guster
Maroon 5
Stephen Marley
The Airborne Toxic Event
Loretta Lynn
Phil Vasser
Hinder
Cowboy Mouth
The Invaders
Saturday July 3rd
Kid Rock with special guests Sheryl Crow, Leroy Powell and the Messengers
Rise Against
Ben Harper
Taking Back Sunday
Blue Oyster Cult
Jayhawks
Fuel
Urge Overkill
Tuesday, July 5th
Def Leppard with special guest Heart
Paul Rodgers
Wiz Khalifa
Young the Giant
Switchfoot
Cinderella
The Wailers
My Darkest Days
Wednesday, July 5th
The Black Keys with special guests Florence + the Machine and Cage the Elephant
O.A.R.
Morris Day and Time
Tonic
Peter Frampton
Danny Gokey (from American Idol Season 9!)
Sick Puppies
Thursday, July 7th
Katy Perry with Marina and the Diamonds
Here Come the Mummies
Michael Franti
G. Love & the Special Sauce
Edwards Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Kansas
Finger Eleven
Yoder Mountain String Band
Friday, July 8th
Jason Aldean with special guests Chris young and Thompson Square
Goo Goo Dolls
Dropkick Murphy’s
Crash Kings
Leon Russell
Parachute
Michelle Branch
Sevendust
Saturday, July 9th
Britney Spears with special guests Nicki Minaj, Jessie and the Toy Boys and Nervo
Dashboard Confessional
The Flaming Lips
Meat Puppets
Alkaline Trio
America
The BoDeans
Buckcherry
De La Soul
Sunday, July 10th
Sugarland with special guest Sara Bareilles
311
The Bravery
Amos Lee
Hollywood Undead
