My Very First Summerfest Experience

There’s a reason my Summerfest blog took so long to post. In fact, I am still processing the whole experience right now.

I got to see John Mayer in the rain, fireworks, Built to Spill, Son Volt and the Old 97s. I drank a lot of $4.50 beer and paid $15 for parking MORE THAN ONCE. (Yes, we had parking passes. Yes, I may have left them more than once.) I got drunk dudes asking me to take photos and stuff.

Did I like it? It was OK. It was a lot of good music, great weather and walking. But there was also overpriced food, crowds (I’m semi-claustrophobic), lots of drunk people and rain. It was great because it gave me an understanding of what Milwaukee is really about. It also was impetus for the ultra-strict diet my mom put me on because she saw a lot of horizontally-challenged folks.

Apparently, Summerfest makes locals severly emo as well. See Joe’s, Adam’s and Justin’s posts. Each one made me want to grab a sniffle-tissue — for them!

Me, I just walked around aimlessly for a couple of days. Days later I can tell you what I discovered at Summerfest:

1. Water Street, a Peoria, Ill. band. They may have no idea how stupid their name sounds to Milwaukeeans, but their music sounds pretty Phish-y. Here is a photo of the two guitarists playing lead with their guitars behind their backs.

2. Drunk dudes will ask you to take their photos. Repeatedly. I have no idea who these people are, but they were watching Built to Spill.

3. Watching gospel music was probably the most fun I had at Summerfest.

4. The kids playground seemed fun and I wish they had bouncies for grownups too!

5. Fireworks are awesome from the Marcus Amphitheater lawn area.

The view in general is great over there, actually.

6. The biggest thing is, cheesy music or no, I still love John Mayer. That’s unconditional, baybee!