Sunday, July 6, 2014

01 Jul 14 - Summerfest Day 1


Live from Summerfest, it’s SouthSide!

And she’s painting the town red while there for two days of music, fun and more...
 
 
That’s right, blogspot readers, Chicago’s local scene queen is on the road to conquer the world’s largest music along Milwaukee’s lakefront – Summerfest! And there’s no lie that this fest is billed as “the world’s largest”. It’s huge ...really super freakin’ HUGE! This reviewer spent her first few hours after arriving into town walking from one end and back in between making pitstops along the way back the media trailer to breathe in and size up the challenge of conquering Summerfest, blogspot readers. Can she do it? Can she survive running around visiting the many Summerfest stages in two days? She believes she can!

For 11 days and on 12 stages, Summerfest boosts a unique lineup of musical acts from all genres – from rock, alternative, folk and rap/hip hop to singer/songwriter, reggae and more featuring headlining acts like Lady Gaga, Dave Matthews Bands, Zac Brown Band, and many others performing at Marcus Amphitheater, blogspot readers. Yet, this fest is simply more than just continuous music acts on all of its stages throughout this huge lakefront area. There’s a special area just for kids – Northwestern Mutual Children’s Theater & Playzone where families can relax, participate in daily activities and/or arts and crafts (creating your own tie-dyed shirt), or see a circus/magic/puppetry/music performances designed to entertain at a kid-friendly level.  There’s also market areas placed throughout featuring booths like palm reading and candy shops as well as henna tattoos and body art ...so much more. Amusement rides ...a PS4 trailer for gamers ...an ethnic food market ...paddle boating ...golf ...an arcade and of course a wide selection of food vendors. SO many delightful and tasty things to eat ...it so hard to choose while SouthSide was there. Delicious treats such as roasted corn, stuffed pretzels (awesome), mini donuts, shaved Hawaiian ice, pizza, ribs, fish-n-chips, polish sausage, etc to keep you munching all day long, blogspot readers.

While cruising around the festival, SouthSide did visit a few of its music stages to check out some of musical acts performing during what was dubbed Children’s Day at Summerfest, blogspot readers. Kids entering the Mid gate were greeted by their favorite mascots like the Dragonfly stilt walker and robotics by F.I.R.S.T. built by the teenage members of Charger Robotics Team 537 of Hamilton High School, Sussex, WI. Throughout the festival area, there were performances featuring family-fun activities and music performances by Milwaukee’s School of Rock (at the Harley-Davidson Roadhouse stage) and WAMI Youth Showcase (at the Johnson Controls World Sound stage) where she watched final two songs by opening act Distant Cuzins, a teenage guitar rock band from Oregon (http://www.reverbnation.com/distantcuzins). This reviewer liked the group’s intense guitar rock style and energy before heading to nearby US Cellular Connection stage in time to see Detroit rockers Kaliedo open the day’s lineup there. Along the lakefront inlet, SouthSide discovered a couple of mini stages bursting with the vibrant sounds of music, blogspot readers. At the Renegade Stage, there was singer/songwriter John Grover (http://www.johngroverband.com) and Berto acoustically entertaining an audience with his selection of pop rock originals meanwhile a few feet away, you could learn how to drum Rhumba rhythmic beats with an African drummer and his family.

Well, blogspot readers, it’s time to sign off (for now) to rest and prepare for a VERY busy Day 2 at Summerfest where she would be reviewing as well as interviewing bands before having to return home to review The Black Cadillacs at Schuba’s Tavern. One more note about Summerfest before she ends this blog entry ...there was special parking for your Harley (or Suzuki, etc) and navigating Milwaukee’s public transportation to the fest was a breeze. For one $1, you can ride a special bus round trip (when you leave, just hop on the bus) and it drops you off at the front gate.

See you tomorrow...


Until next time, support your local scene,
SouthSide

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