Summerfest - Day 4 July 2nd, 2011

Another hot and humid night at Summerfest. With a large crowd expected for tonight, getting into the grounds took a little longer, with security doing their best TSA impersonation.

I decided to check out a band at 8PM called Fitz & The Tantrums out of LA. We had played the album at the Barnes & Noble I work at, but it got pulled due to a naughty word. The band play a horn driven style of blue-eyed soul and r&b.

The Miller Lite Oasis was jam packed with fans waiting for the nights headliner, Maroon 5. It was so full already, that I could only manage to get a view of the band on the video screens. Lead singer Michael Fitz reminded me of that freak from Arcade Fire, but with a much better voice. While he is the leader of the band, singer Noelle Scaggs threatened to steal the show and kept things interesting. Performing original songs including ones from their latest cd "Picking Up The Pieces," they kept the crowd, who clearly weren't here just for them, on their feet and dancing. A truly awful cover of the Eurythmic's "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of These)," really deflated the crowd though. It was already after 9PM and I wanted to get some food before Loretta Lynn started, so I headed out from Fitz. I like these guys, but I don't see them really making it to the next level.

Country music living legend Loretta Lynn was somehow placed at the Classic Rock Stage. Incredible that they did a bio-pic on her life over 30 years ago, and at 79 years old she is still out there performing. Unfortunately, not many people showed up to see her as the audience was nowhere near the size of the crowds from the last 3 nights at the same stage. I was expecting an older crowd too, but surprisingly it was mostly younger people.

This was one of the strangest shows I've ever seen at Summerfest. Scheduled to start at 10PM, her band and tech guys were fiddling around with a keyboard for some reason and it wasn't until almost 10:20 that the lights went down. Her son and guitarist Ernie Lynn opened with two horrendous songs, and pretty much tried to be Larry, The Cable Guy all night. Then her twin daughters, The Lynns came out and did 3 more songs. It was now 10:35 and still no sign of the headliner.

Finally she came walking out from stage left to a rousing reception. She still looked great for her age and her voice is still intact, but she was wearing a floor length purple gown with long sleeves and buttoned up neck. She had to be really uncomfortable in that in this heat. She asked for people to shout out their favorites and did most of them such as "The Pill," "Rated X," "Fist City" and a great version of "Dear Uncle Sam" that she wrote during the Vietnam War era. She also did a nice Patsy Cline medley including "Walking After Midnight" and "Crazy."

Then someone brought out a chair, and she sat there on stage while her band did versions of the Eagles "Hole In The World" and "How Long" plus "Man Of Constant Sorrow" by the Soggy Bottom Boys. All the while she sat there with the mic, but didn't sing along. After that little interlude, she stood up, did "Coal Miner's Daughter" and that was the end of the show. The whole show, while good, reminded me of the type of show you'd see in Branson or off the strip in Vegas. I'm glad I saw her, and can now cross another legend off my bucket list, but I sure am glad I didn't pay to see her.

One of these years, I'm going to see an entire Phil Vassar show. He plays at the fest every single year, but it always seems like there is somebody else to see instead. I usually catch the end of his set, and did so again tonight. I got to the still crowded, newly remodeled Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard stage for a rousing encore of Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting." Of course the best part of his show is the closing sing-a-long of Billy Joel's "Piano Man." Simply amazing stuff.

Tomorrow night we have the big fireworks show at the lakefront, and Don Felder.