El Valiente, The Blueheels, Flight, and more represent Madison at Summerfest
El Valiente will be playing the Cascio Stage on Monday.
The gravity of a giant music festival like Summerfest was sure to pull a few Madison bands to the Lake Michigan shore. While traveling to Milwaukee to see a band that plays here in town may seem a tad irrational, using that free admission to the festival grounds included with admission to the big-ticket Marcus Amphitheater acts shows some hometown spirit and supports Madison music acts playing the festival.
If you’re planning on seeing Passion Pit’s late show on Thursday, get to the grounds early to see Blake Thomas and Josh Harty play the Cascio Interstate Music Groove Stage at 1:30 p.m., followed that evening on the same stage by Jeremiah Nelson And The Achilles Heel at 6 p.m.
On Friday, catch the post-grunge 20 Reasons Taken on the U.S Cellular stage at 4:15 p.m., and the hushed reverberation rockers Flight will take Cascio Stage at 6 p.m. on Saturday. That should leave just enough time to get to the Marcus Amphitheater to see Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers at 7:30 p.m., if that’s what you’re into.
The Selfish Gene and El Valiente will be on the Cascio on Monday back-to-back, at 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. respectively, a double feature in experimental rock that will be a worthy prelude to the guitar wizardry to be witnessed at Eric Clapton’s performance in the Amphitheater later that evening.
On July 1, consider wandering into the Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard to see The Blueheels at 2 p.m. A huge Rockstar Gomeroke session will be going down at the M&I Classic Rock Stage at 6:30 p.m. as well, allowing a warm-up for the drunken warbling sure to be attempted during The Hold Steady’s set later that night.
Finally, for those dead-set on seeing Carrie Underwood, get an alt-country primer with Whitney Mann on the Cascio Stage July 4 at 1:30 p.m. For something a bit looser, jam out to the Roots Collective on the Potawatomi Bingo Casino Stage at 5 p.m. before catching the Silversun Pickups on the US Cellular Stage that evening.
