The takeaways
Gibb (whose face appeared on Hawkins’ drum set), was, well, interesting. But you couldn’t help appreciate his go-for-broke attitude.
It was a return to live music for thousands Friday, but it was also a return to the headaches of seeing live music — namely, the seemingly endless lines of people trying to get in. One person on Twitter told me he was in line for 90 minutes. There’s little chance every show at the amphitheater will have waits like that, but remember to give yourself plenty of time to get to a show in the future. And despite those lines, everyone I saw was in a great mood — happy, I suspect, just to be able to be in a long line to see a show again.
I wish the return of concerts meant that the pain of the pandemic was behind us, but, of course, that’s not the case. Rising cases across the country and in Wisconsin due to the delta variant prompted a guidance change on masks by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and while many more people were wearing them Friday compared with the last concert I saw just a few days ago, the vast majority did not. For now, masks are not required in Milwaukee venues, nor are concertgoers being checked for vaccination status. But I know I’ll continue to wear my mask at concerts. As Dave Grohl said Friday night, “Let’s keep our (expletive) together and do this (expletive) more.”
Friday’s opener was rock trio Radkey, a literal band of brothers who played with the carefree, infectious abandon of kids playing rock stars in their bedroom. Their no-fuss, all-thrills tunes filled out the amphitheater nicely, but Radkey will really rule in a club. And you can check them out in that setting when they open for Local H at Shank Hall Nov. 2 and 3.
— Piet Levy
through there for the opener.
But at the risk of spoiling the best-kept secret in the upgraded amphitheater, one of my favorite features is the EUA Terrace (named after the local architecture firm behind the amphitheater’s design, Eppstein Uhen), adjacent to the lawn near the Hoan Bridge. It has tall chairs and views of the stage. And Friday night, it also had the only bar I came across that wasn’t completely slammed. The cashiers seemed shocked that someone came over to buy a water, just as I was shocked I could get one so quickly.