Best, worst of Summerfest’s opening day
The opening day of Summerfest 2022 boasted picture-perfect weather and a lineup as musically diverse as anything the Milwaukee music festival can muster. Here are some of the best (and worst) of what the Big Gig’s grounds stages had to offer Thursday.
Steve Aoki
Miley Cyrus, Zoe Kravitz and Maya Hawke are among entertainment’s “nepotism babies,” but there are plenty of well-connected entertainers with more discreet family connections.
Enter Steve Aoki. The DJ and record producer is the heir to the Benihana restaurant empire. Instead of following in his foodie father’s footsteps, Aoki has found fame and fortune pumping up crowds all over the world with his distinct DJ-ing style.
Nepotism claims didn’t bother the massive crowd Aoki drew to the Miller Lite Oasis Thursday night. Countless times during his set, the long-haired DJ commanded the audience to “Put your (expletive) hands up!” The crowd quickly turned into a sea of fist-bumping millennials with fresh summer tans. But after what we’ve gone through the last two years, some of us just want to party — and Aoki’s energetic set proved he knows how to do that.
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit played the highest-profile “free” stage at Summerfest Thursday night — but if you counted the number of people in the crowd at the BMO Harris Pavilion, you wouldn’t have believed it. As the show started, the reserved-seating sections weren’t even half full, and the back bleachers remained mostly empty throughout the band’s blistering set.
Fans who made the trek were treated to a robust setlist with tracks from the Alabama-born rocker’s solo career and his tenure with Drive-By Truckers. Isbell’s anthemic guitar riffs and confessional lyrics might remind some of Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty, but his aching drawl sets him apart. For that reason alone, it’s likely Isbell gained new fans.
Modest Mouse
After Summerfest’s fireworks, cult favorites Modest Mouse stepped into the deafening applause of a brimming ULine Warehouse audience.
“How are all the living members of your family?” That was the call and response from frontman Isaac Brock before he told the audience he’d been here for Irish Fest. Between obscure rock/alternative songs, he would stop and connect with the overjoyed crowd.
Modest Mouse kept the crowd amped with fan favorites, although their biggest hit, “Float On,” got less response than the underground hits. This was definitely a “deep cuts” crowd.
Special to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel USA TODAY NETWORK – WISCONSIN
Big Boi
Eight years ago, OutKast’s reunion tour made a stop in Milwaukee, and the show wound up being arguably the highlight of that year’s Summerfest.
The tour proved to be OutKast’s final one to date, and while the world is still waiting to see if André 3000 will ever release an album of his own, Big Boi never stopped. All the same, his headlining set Thursday at the Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard felt more like a victory lap than a new-album tour.
Big Boi emerged with an abbreviated “Gasoline Dreams” before a seamless blending of “ATLiens” and “Rosa Parks” had the crowd immersed in the OutKast classics. Rather than the rapid-fire medleys favored by most legacy rappers, he served up generous helpings of “So Fresh, So Clean” and “Ms. Jackson,” and didn’t skimp on “B.O.B.”
“Recreation,” from 2021’s “The Big Sleepover,” was the rare new song in a set that didn’t last an hour. The highs were rousing though predictable.