Summerfest 2021

11 Sep, 2021 John Kosiewicz Alternative, Concert Reviews, Country, Hip Hop, Indie, Pop, Rap, Rap Rock, Rock, Southern Rock

Summerfest 2021 Returns

Over 50 years since its inception, Summerfest has grown immensely to become the World’s Largest Music Festival. After two years of shutdowns, isolation, etc, the world was ready to get out for a little more normalcy or at least a little more like pre-pandemic days. For the first time in its history Summerfest was canceled in 2020, because of COVID-19. In 2021, Summerfest’s “Big Gig” returned to the Milwaukee lakefront was one example of a way to get back.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Summerfest 2021 made a few adjustments to its schedule. First, rather than normally occurring in June and July, Summerfest moved to September. The three back-to-back weekends were September 2 – 4, 9 – 11 and 16 – 18. Second, the festival occurred over three weekends for a total of nine days (plus bonus concerts). There was still plenty of music, food and fun, spanned throughout the 75-acre grounds on 11 different stages.

Summerfest 2021 Headliners

2021 American Family Insurance Amphitheater Headliners:

9/1: Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Weezer
9/2: Luke Bryan with Dylan Scott
9/3: Chance the Rapper with 24KGoldn, Teezo Touchdown, DJ Orep
9/4: Twenty-One Pilots
9/8: Jonas Brothers with Kelsea Ballerini & Spencer Sutherland
9/9: Chris Stapleton with Sheryl Crow
9/10: Zac Brown Band with Gabby Barrett
9/11: Dave Chappelle
9/15: Dave Matthews Band
9/16: Megan Thee Stallion with Polo G
9/17: Miley Cyrus with The Kid Larol
9/18: Guns N’ Roses with Mammoth WVH

How I Selected the Days I Attended

Unfortunately, like most people in the world, work prioritizes over
pleasure. Sadly, I was not able to attend all nine days of
Summerfest. In addition, the 100+ mile 2 hour one-way trip up north from
the Chicago area, needed to be considered. With so many great artists
performing each day, how was I going to decide which days to attend? Things
that helped with my consideration were:

My personal schedule
Artists attending each
My friend’s availability

After careful consideration, I chose Friday, September 9 and Saturday, September 10.

Friday, September 9, 2021

The main reason I selected Friday, September 9^th, was because of two artists. Well, specifically, two artists which were performing back-to-back on the Miller Lite Oasis Stage: Grandson and K.Flay. Not only are they both high energy alternative hip hop artists, but they are good friends who have teamed up on a couple of songs. Would they perform together? Who’s set? I planned to stay at Miller Lite Oasis Stage from 6:00 pm when Grandson started, until the end of K.Flay’s set with the hope they might special guest together for a song. Well, I was not disappointed. Grandson had K.Flay hop on stage to perform his song “Peaches”. For those who missed out on the duet, during K.Flay’s set, she brought Grandson back out on stage for “Zen”. Loved the opportunity to catch them both together.

Other artists who highlighted the day were:

George Thorogood and the Destroyers
Coheed and Cambria (see gallery from Summerfest set)
Everclear

Saturday, September 10, 2021

Contrary to Friday’s goal of catching Grandson and K.Flay performing together, my goal for Saturday was to see as many artists as possible in one day, while also focusing a few songs on a couple artists. Highlights of the day include:

Was able to catch 20 artists!!
American Family Insurance Amphitheater Headline artists: Zac Brown Band with Gabby Barrett
Dancer, Violinist, Lindsey Stirling
Blues rock guitarist, Quinn Sullivan

Summerfest 2021 Conclusion

The September weather was beautiful for Summerfest 2021. Definitely, two amazing nights of music and fun. Hoping to squeeze in a few days in again in 2022.

For more details, visit Summerfest.com, Facebook.com/summerfest or Twitter: @Summerfest.