Relive Summerfest’s 10 most memorable milestones
From George Carlin’s arrest to the Rolling Stones show ...
When welcomesa music millions festival of people and tens of thousands of bands across 50 years, there’s bound to be some wild stories — especially when that festival is Summerfest, the world’s largest music festival. Did you hear about the time a comedian got arrested for a profane bit? Or how about the time festgoers swam through floodwaters? If you haven’t, enjoy the 10 greatest milestones from Summerfest’s first 50 years.
1. The first Summerfest:
In 1962, Milwaukee’s mayor Henry Maier established a panel of business and civic leaders to conduct a feasibility study for a major, recurring summer festival. By 1966, it had a name — Summerfest — with an opening run scheduled for July 19 to 28, 1968.
But nearly a year prior to the first Big Gig, rising racial tensions escalated into a riot, prompting Maier to declare a state of emergency and issue a curfew. After that, Summerfest took on a new mission: to help increase racial understanding in a divided city. The first Summerfest featured a diverse roster of entertainment across 35 locations — including a “Salute to African Americans,” an Up with People concert at County Stadium, a polka festival, puppet shows, Walt Whitman poetry readings and a “Youth Fest” on the lakefront.
The mayor and local media praised the first festival, with an estimated million people attending.
2. Sly and the Family Stone packs them in:
The first Summerfest turned a small profit, but the second was in the red by $164,000.
In 1970, the citywide approach was modified, and from that year forward, the festival was contained to the site of a former Army Nike base on the lakefront.
The new strategy was a success ... perhaps too successful in the beginning, when Sly & the Family Stone attracted between 100,000 and 125,000 people,
Milwaukee police said at the time.
The Milwaukee Sentinel reported that Sly Stone was so intimidated by the reported crowd size he refused to leave the Pfister Hotel until festival officials sent three limos by request.
Local radio personalities Bob Reitman and O.C. White kept an agitated crowd relatively calm until Stone took the stage an hour late.
3. George Carlin gets arrested:
George Carlin’s “Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television” were also seven words he couldn’t say at Summerfest.
Following his profane set at the Big Gig on July 21, 1972, Carlin was arrested on disorderly conduct charges after leaving the stage.
This turned out to be fantastic publicity for Carlin, who made it to the front page of the Milwaukee Journal and later joked about the arrest on “The Dick Cavett Show.”
The charges were dismissed by December, but the incident has been immortalized as a landmark moment in the late legendary comic’s career.
4. The Humble Pie riot: Summerfest had avoided a riot with the overflowing Family Stone crowd in 1970, but in 1973, it wasn’t so lucky.
On July 21, during a set by rock band Humble Pie, a crowd stormed a beer tent, smashed beer barrels, broke into locked refrigerators and started bonfires.
About 300 people were arrested by police officers decked out in riot gear.
“We definitely will stay away from rock groups,”
then Summerfest Executive Director and former Green Bay Packer Henry Jordan vowed, and for the next few years, the festival played it safe booking the likes of Gladys Knight, Johnny Cash and the Beach Boys for the main stage.
5. The great Summerfest storm:
The festival has been afflicted by bad weather, but no storm was worse than the one that roared through the grounds around 8:20 p.m. on July 6, 1986.
At first, festgoers didn’t take the foreboding forecasts seriously, with some hooting and hollering whenever the severe weather warning was announced from the main stage, according to the Milwaukee Journal.
By 8:33 p.m., a torrential downpour hit the grounds and the festival abruptly closed.
More than 70,000 people were ushered toward the exits, before the evening’s main acts INXS and Los Lobos got to perform.
According to Summerfest, the water was so deep fans reportedly dived off picnic tables and swam out of the Main Stage entrance.
6. The Marcus Amphitheater debuts:
The Big Gig really hit the big time with the opening of the 23,000-capacity Marcus Amphitheater, now known as the American Family Insurance Amphitheater, on June 25, 1987, with the Beach Boys.
“The Marcus Amphitheater proved exactly what Summerfest officials hoped it would,” Thor Christensen wrote in his Milwaukee Journal review.
“The theater is a grand place to see a concert. Compared with the old Main Stage, with its shoddy ground and free-for-all seating, it’s a godsend.”
The Marcus hosted Paul Simon on his “Graceland” tour, Dolly Parton, Run-DMC and a 23-yearold Whitney Houston that first year.
7. Prince’s final Milwaukee show:
The Purple One was far from punctual on Summerfest’s opening night on June 24, 2004, taking the stage two hours behind schedule.
All seemed forgiven in the wake of a powerhouse set.
“His trademark spins and orgiastic guitar solos are still as sharp as the cut of his clothes, but Thursday night he also showed a warmth and intimacy that sometimes felts lacking during the ’90s,” Gemma Tarlach wrote in her Journal Sentinel review.
The show ended with several women in the crowd invited on stage for the encore, and one local drummer, Mike Kasprzak, crashing the set to jam on some congas.
“I didn’t know if some big (security) guy was going to bulldoze me,” Kasprzak told the Journal Sentinel last year after Prince passed away. “I was blown away that he allowed me to play.”
8. The King of Pop passes away:
As Summerfest was warming up for its first day on June 25, 2009, news of Michael Jackson’s death spread throughout the grounds. Conor Oberst and Talib Kweli paid their respects during their Big Gig sets, but no tribute was as emotional as Stevie Wonder’s Summerfest show on June 28.
For “Superstition,” Wonder changed the chorus to, “We love you Michael / We’ll see you in heaven;” premiered a new song he said he’d donate to the Jackson family; and performed “Get It,” a song of his Jackson had recorded, with the night’s opener John Legend.
During a taped recording of “The Way You Make Me Feel,” Wonder slumped over his piano, overwhelmed, until his daughter Aisha Morris came on stage to comfort him.
“I am not ashamed to express my heart,” Wonder later told the crowd.
9. The Big Gig’s biggest bottleneck:
In June 2013, breakout rock act Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive” was a massive hit, and its June 29 appearance on the Miller Lite Oasis on a gorgeous Saturday night rattled Summerfest. At 7:30 p.m., lines were already stretching into the street, and two hours later, the crowd was still so large, security took the unprecedented move of opening the gates for 15 minutes to thin out the throngs, allowing 5,000 to 7,000 people to get in for free.
In total, 117,000 people were on the grounds that night, according to Milwaukee police.
10. Summerfest scores the Rolling Stones:
In 2015, the Rolling Stones played just 15 cities on their North American tour. Chicago wasn’t one of them; Milwaukee was.
In fact, the Marcus Amphitheater was by far the smallest venue for a tour that primarily stopped at football stadiums.
The show sold out seven minutes after going on sale, and tickets were being offered on StubHub for as much as $10,000. Diehard fans who managed to get in would probably say tickets were worth every penny.
“There were countless moments when the Stones and the backing musicians lived up to the band’s legendary legacy,” read the Journal Sentinel review.