Summerfest has some real issues. "The World's Largest Rock Festival" in the nation's 31st most populous city ought to be able to fill a few seats in the smaller venues down the lane a bit from the Briggs and Miller stages. But it can't. Even on a Friday night. I can imagine the vendors around those stages crying to the Summerfest organizers, "Get some decent musicians in here so we can sell a coupla french fries fa criss sake!".

But the organizers are having none of it. "We like to bring in the cheap crappy bands year after year so you vendors can stand there twiddling your thumbs while five drunk people jump up and down in front of the crappy band stage." Or so they seem to be saying. Not only are these side venues not good, the music everywhere you go at Summerfest is TOO LOUD! And it's not because I'm getting old that I think this way. I've been saying this since I started coming here in 1974. Ok... Yes I am getting old. But the point is that good music is played at the proper volume, each it's own. But the organizers of Summerfest like to serve they're whites at 76 degrees (so to speak). In other words, they don't know how to stage a proper show anymore, some at a stronger volume, others more constrained. But the Summerfest organizers seem to demand that everything be at max volume... Or a little past maximum. "Surely our audience likes distortion and blood dripping down their earlobes even if they're listening to country or folk." What are these guys good at? These guys are good at drawing a much smaller crowd than Summerfest, with it's epic 50 year reputation, and the ever-smaller city of Milwaukee should command. Maybe I'll be back next year. Maybe I'll go to the Wisconsin State Fair instead.

And let me add another thing. Do you wanna know why (I think) that Milwaukee is the FORMER beer capital of the world? Because, Miller has choked the creativity out of this formerly great city. The beer choices at Summerfest are the proof. Take your pick from corporate beer #1, corporate beer #2, or corporate beer#3. And pay too much for any of the three. Pretend like your drinking something special, but your taste buds don't lie; it's Miller Lite with a little red food coloring and a fancy native American name on the label. With literally hundreds of great micro breweries across this great country, why should goers to the world's largest rock festival be stuck drinking overpriced swill from the river nearby.

Everything about Summerfest is out of date. The vendors (how much fried food can you eat in one night), the beer (no flavor, no quality, no character...), the shops (the toe rings were tonight's best seller, and who buys a painting at a rock festival?), the everything else. You can see from the picture I've attached how big a draw Summerfest is on a Friday night. It must be really something on a Tuesday.