Summerfest 2016

Milwaukee, *Bruce Springsteen voice*, my hometown, is also home to "The World's Largest Music Festival". My parents have been taking me to Summerfest for as long as I can remember. I definitely don't enjoy it nearly as much as I used to, but because I Love Live Music!, I keep going back.

I went a total of four times this year. Yikes.

Weird Al

I saw Weird Al at Summerfest last year, and it was great. This year, he played THE EXACT SAME SET, IN THE EXACT SAME ORDER, WITH THE EXACT SAME COSTUME CHANGES. I understand that he's old and that his schtick probably requires a lot of planning, but I was expecting at least a few slight differences. He does still perform quite well and has certainly kept his WEIRDNESS over the years. Also, is there anything purer in this world than people who know all the words to DEEP CUT Weird Al songs? I really don't think so. 

Violent Femmes

On July 7, my friends and I went to Summerfest begrudgingly. We were supposed to go to see Bully in Green Bay, but no one wanted to drive. We instead went to see the Violent Femmes, and in hindsight, I wish I would have just fucking drove. Because walking around Summerfest is exhausting and expensive, we decided to wait by the stage as soon as we got there. The Femmes had support from two other Milwaukee bands, Brett Newski and Midwest Death Rattle. Brett Newski was like watching a Fountains of Wayne tribute band that wouldn't stop talking in between songs. Midwest Death Rattle had fucking horns. There are no horns in rock n roll.

I should have just assumed that the two boring openers would have foreshadowed a boring headliner, but I like to be optimistic, you know? Well, I'm never doing that again. The Violent Femmes played well, but they were DULL AS HELL. They didn't seem very happy to be there. They barely said anything at all. They opened with their biggest hit "Blister In The Sun", a very tacky move. They then continued to play a bunch of songs that I've never heard. It didn't look like anyone in the audience had ever heard them either. After they played my favorite song "Prove My Love", my friends and I were out of there. We lasted six songs.

Paul McCartney

I saw Paul McCartney, one of the Beatles, and only cried once! I enjoyed this show a lot, but I enjoyed his show in 2013 a little more. I've noticed now that I'm 20, old, and cynical, seeing musicians for the second time loses a lot of the magic. My standards for a Good Show are also a lot higher than they once were.

I think my biggest gripe with this show was that he played more than a few of his contemporary releases. I just want to hear The Beatles all day every day, but that is only my personal preference. He played TEMPORARY SECRETARY, which was very cool. I screamed the chorus while all the old white people looked at me with disgust. Classic. He also played FourFiveSeconds, his 2015 song with Kanye and Rihanna. For a 74 year old man, Paul McCartney can fucking rip. He played for almost three hours and didn't even look a little tired. He told wonderful little stories about his time in The Beatles.

The most powerful part of this concert was when he played "Hey Jude". Singing the NA, NA NA, NA NA NA NAs along with thousands of people is very moving. This is naturally what brought me to tears. MUSIC IS AMAZING.

Weezer

I went into this show expecting nothing. It will be $50 I'll probably regret spending. Whatever.

What did I learn from this show? When you go expecting nothing, you will have a lot more fun. Weezer was VERY GOOD live. Their set list was almost flawless, perfectly blending all of their biggest hits along with songs off their most previous release Weezer (The White Album). They even encored with EL SCORCHO off of Pinkerton, one of my favorite albums ever. They had great stage presence. I was in the very last row of the venue and was screaming my lungs out. I've missed seeing Weezer two times in the past, and seeing them at age 20 was very worth the wait. I never thought I'd say this, but Weezer made my Summerfest 2016 experience worthwhile.

Until next year...