Best shows of Summerfest Day 10
Here are some of the best shows we saw Saturday.
Phantogram
Much unlike the Big Gig’s previous lineups, Summerfest didn’t skimp on indie music this time around.
Electro-pop duo Phantogram were one of many 88.9-approved artists to headline the festival this year, and their performance at the Miller Lite Oasis stage was one of the festival’s most understated and underrated sets.
Sarah Barthel’s powerful bass grooves and Josh Carter’s deep, monotone singing voice were both reminiscent of electronica pioneers New Order. Phantogram’s set was a refreshing reminder of how much the genre has evolved since its 1980s inception.
Phantogram collaborator Big Boi, who opened for The Weeknd at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater Saturday night, turned rumor into truth by making a pit stop during Phantogram’s show.
The surprise guest breathed life into the set’s finale.
The only letdown? He only stuck around for one song. — Lauren Keene, Special to the Journal Sentinel
Jon Batiste with the Dap-Kings
Jon Batiste is an amiably grinning presence as the bandleader on Stephen Colbert’s late-night show, and he brought that amiability to the Johnson Controls World Sound Stage Saturday night. More important, he also brought the Dap-Kings.
Currently 11 touring members strong, the Dap-Kings have backed powerful soul singers like Amy Winehouse and Sharon Jones. If the earthly departures of those two women still leave holes in the heart, then their supporting musicians did their best at this gig to groove through the losses.
Nodding to his Louisiana upbringing and artistic lineage, Batiste played familiar numbers from the likes of Fats Domino and Ray Charles. Despite a formidable history, he was more interested in entertaining the crowd than challenging it. With said crowd willing and the Dap-Kings able, entertainment was enough. — Jon M. Gilbertson, Special to the Journal Sentinel
Dorothy
I can see why some people complain that Summerfest has too many cover bands during the afternoon and early evening, but I also can see why they do it.
With a good cover band, you get something familiar, and oftentimes you’ll see larger crowds at those sets than you might see for some original artists with the afternoon slots.
Dorothy fit into the latter category at the Harley-Davidson Roadhouse early Saturday evening.
But a good crowd was already in place when the band took the stage 20 minutes late.
As the set progressed, people started flooding in to the already crowded stage, drawn in by Eli Wulfmeier and Owen Barry’s towering guitar riffs, Jason Ganberg’s pummeling drums, and certainly by the band’s namesake, frontwoman Dorothy Martin, whose soaring vocals sounded like a cross between Florence Welch and Eddie Vedder.
Like a cover band, Dorothy’s take on bluesy hard rock immediately sounded familiar. And like a good cover band, the set was a lot of fun. — Piet Levy, plevy@journalsentinel.com