Thankfully it has finally warmed up (that be sarcasm....). I don't know if it has ever been hotter at Summerfest, but there was cloud cover every now and then and a breeze once in awhile, and it is summer, so.....
We went to the Fest with our neighbors Jim and Laura on Thursday. Jim won a nice prize at a golf outing raffle, so we got to the grounds at 10:45 to begin our private tour. Our tour guide was a little late, but it was well worth the wait when we found out it was Bob Babisch, the man who has been booking the acts for Summerfest for the last 35 years. Bob took us around to all the various stages, showed us how things get set up, took us backstage to meet various people, told us stories of different bands and performers. After a long tour of the Marcus Amphitheater, we had lunch at the private dining area behind the new BMO stage. Beautiful views of the city, more stories, Bob answered questions for us, it was a really neat experience. We learned a few things about the grounds and the acts and how they book them, and had a real good time. Bob Babish is a great guy.
After our tour ended we rambled around the grounds for awhile taking in the heat until it was time to catch our first band of the day, Reverend Raven and the Chain Smokin' Altar Boys.They are a blues band out of Chicago, and they put on a good show. We watched from the Captain's Deck, which overlooks the stage (another perk from Jim's golf outing), so there was beer and food, but more important a breeze and cover from the sun. We spent a couple of hours up there enjoying the music and the food/beer and the people watching.
After some more walking around the grounds, we found ourselves watching a country artist named Glen Templeton. He's a new guy, I guess he has a couple of tunes out on the radio, and he seemed likeable enough. We probably got more enjoyment watching the people in the audience. Next we had to make a big decision. To Zac Brown or not Zac Brown? There were obstructed view seats available all day, and we had checked periodically to see if anything else had been released. Laura really wanted to go, Jim would like to go, I could go either way (not that big a fan), Cathie didn't want to go. One final check of the box office and Jim and Laura had good seats for the show, the Misses and I were set to check out other things on the grounds. Think we all were happy.
While Jim and Laura were at the main stage, Cath and I found some other friends to visit with for awhile, found some things to eat, had a couple of beers, and sampled some different music. We stopped at the Dueling Piano bar for awhile (too loud), saw a bit of the Wheeler Brothers (kinda mellow), a little Young The Giant (big crowd), and Death Cab For Cutie, another alt rock type group that wasn't up our alley. After awhile we headed over to our meeting place to wait for the neighbors and do some more people watching. We had a good spot for listening to Mat Kearney (not bad), and after he was done the rocking of Burton Cummings of Guess Who fame (nice crowd but hot under cover). The neighbors said Zac Brown put on a great show, they enjoyed it.
I could tell we were going to have a long wait getting home. When your the first ones there you get to (have to?) park close, but when you leave you have to wait for everyone else. Worse than leaving a Packer game. It's like there is no plan, like the cops have never seen this before. Whatever. We got to the car at 12:40 and made it home at 1:40--and made good time once we got out of downtown. Longest day ever at Summerfest. I enjoyed it, but don't think I could do it again. Definitely skipping the Fest today, tomorrow is real iffy (I hear Aerosmith might have to cancel), and we'll make a decision on Sunday on Sunday. Neil Diamond awaits....
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