The Weeknd playing Summerfest July 7
Summerfest officials saved this year’s biggest booking coup for their final American Family Insurance Amphitheater announcement.
Pop superstar the Weeknd will headline the festival July 7 — three months after he co-headlines Coachella with Beyoncé and Eminem, and a month before he co-headlines Lollapalooza with Bruno Mars.
It will be the first Milwaukee concert for the Weeknd, the eighth most-streamed artist in the world on Spotify.
It’s also a really good get for Summerfest, considering he’s also at Lollapalooza. In years past, the Chicagobased mega-festival’s radius clause has prevented its most in-demand acts from playing Summerfest — with some exceptions, like Outkast in 2014. This is the first time an artist listed at the top of the Lollapalooza lineup has been permitted to play the Big Gig the same year.
The buzz started building for the Weeknd in 2011, when the Canadian artist born Abel Tesfaye released three mixtapes showcasing a novel, and moody, take on alternative R&B. A guest turn on Drake’s “Take Care” that year raised the Weeknd’s profile, and a compilation album of his mixtapes, “Trilogy,” debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 the following year.
In 2014, the Weeknd started his transformation from eclectic trendsetter to bonafide pop star, beginning with his appearance on Ariana Grande’s “Love Me Harder.”
The sultry “Earned It” for the “Fifty Shades of Grey” soundtrack cemented his status the following year. He’s since released five other huge top 10 hits, including the brooding, self-destructive “The Hills”; the thematically twisted, Michael Jackson-inspired “Can’t Feel My Face”; and disco-kissed Daft Punk collaborations “Starboy” and “I Feel It Coming.”
His latest hit, “Pray for Me,” is the lead single for the Kendrick Lamar-curated “Black Panther” soundtrack. On March 30, the Weeknd released a surprise project — the six-song EP “My Dear Melancholy,” a return more or less to the darker vibe of his earlier work.
Tickets are available beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday at the box office (200 N. Harbor Drive); by calling (800) 7453000 or (866) 448-7849; or visiting ticketmaster.com. Ticket prices for the Milwaukee show have yet to be announced but will include Summerfest general admission July 7. An opening act has yet to be announced.