LIVE REVIEW: Summerfest 2017

By Kristina Balboa
This past weekend I traveled 105 miles to check out the hype that is Summerfest!
Summerfest is Milwaukee’s very own annual music festival that starts the last Wednesday in June. The fest lasts eleven days in total and hosts lots of local Wisconsin bands, as well as many well known musicians and bands.

Also known as “The Big Gig”, the fest draws in a TON of Wisconsin locals and people from all ends of the country.
As a Big Gig first-timer, believe me when I say you absolutely must put “attend Summerfest” on your summer to-do list!
You can shop at any of the hundreds of tents set up from Milwaukee sellers and businesses across the seventy-five acres of land Summerfest resides on.
When you’re not shopping for locally made treasures, you can also ride the sky-gliders for a small fee, stop and get a scoop in a waffle cone at Cedar Crest Ice Cream, and hold down some seats early on to catch your favorite headlining artists.
I was impressed with the amount of activities going on at summer fest and the many different built-in stages to offer entertainment. I wasn’t so impressed with the bleacher styled seating offered at the Miller Lite Oasis Stage, one of eleven stages at the fest.
Of course, my venue disappointments went away as soon as I saw some of the best performances of my life!
Flint Eastwood was one of the bands performing Saturday evening that blew my socks off! Flint Eastwood’s lead singer was a ray of sunshine that promoted self love and individuality. She told the crowd to celebrate the small victories in their life, she said “Just being here today is a small victory. It’s not going to be a drastic change in your life but it will make it a little better and a little more fun. And that’s worth celebrating.”
Another performance that I adored was MUNA; a name I’ve hear many times but never listened to. WOW!

The only way to describe the electricity echoing off the stage during their performance is just, wow.
MUNA’s performance was when I notice it really starting to get crowded.
The performance I was really looking forward to though was seeing Bleachers live for the second time this summer.

Jack Antonoff, the lead singer of Bleachers, spoke about how surreal it was to be back at Summerfest since they first started touring back in 2014; Summerfest was one of their first live shows.
Having released their new album “Gone Now” early last month, I was pretty excited to be able to hear Bleachers perform new songs. Of the newer songs, they played “Everybody Lost Somebody” and “I Miss Those Days”; both spectacular live!
“Don’t Take the Money” and “Good Morning”, my two personal favorites were also performed live and had everyone moving and grooving. To my surprise a lot of older songs were played and those were when people really started jumping up and down, which was seemingly dangerous considering there wasn’t a lot of standing room and everyone ended up standing on the bleachers placed there.
It was interesting to see Bleachers play “Foreign Girls” live, having only played it live twice before.
My Summerfest experience all-in-all was a wonderful experience of great music celebrated with great people.
Make Summerfest a summer priority!
There are still a few dates left to catch a show at Summerfest! The Big Gig starts back up Tuesday, July 4th and runs until Sunday, July 9th.
For tickets and venue info, check out the Summerfest official site:
Summerfest.com