Out of the club and into the sun: The A.V. Club’s outdoor summer concert preview
Lyrics Born will be playing this year's Orton Park Festival.
Wisconsin appears to have skipped spring and jumped right into humidity, but the rapturous end to all life on earth was also shelved for another year, meaning it’s thumbs-up on making plans for the summer. For live music enthusiasts looking forward to getting out of the stuffy club and being pelted by the sweltering sun in a sweaty crowd of people, Madison and a few road trip-worthy spots nearby have lots of options worth marking on the calendar.
East Side festivals
Aside from the current road construction nightmare, the Willy Street area is a spectacular place to live, with a big chunk of that allure directly attributed to the Marquette Neighborhood Association’s annual festivals. Waterfront Festival (June 11-12) at Yahara Park Place should be infested with fired-up folks, with Mongolian folk party animals Hanggai is coming June 10 to the Barrymore to officially warm things up. After that, Yoro Ndiaye & Yoonwi will headline Saturday with some acoustic guitar wizardry, and Sunday will wrap up with the rowdy alt-country of The Bottle Rockets, with performances by Fareed Haque & The Flat Earth Ensemble, Robbie Fulks, and Sleeping In The Aviary along the way.
French connection La Fête De Marquette (July 7-10), in its usual spot at the corner of East Washington and Dickinson, kicks off early with guitarist Bambino of Niger at the Willy Street Co-op, takes a pleasantly perplexing side trip on Friday with turntable genius Kid Koala, then Saturday gets into the swamp blues of headliner Anders Osborne and Sunday closes out with Rosie Ledet And The Zydeco Playboys, Glen David Andrews, and the return of Osborne, along with Cyril Neville, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, and James Andrews for the Big Easy-centric “NOLA Jam.”
After a break in the action, the Orton Park Festival (August 25-28) comes in with regulars the Cycropia Aerial Dance Theater on Thursday and Friday, Great Lake Swimmers and cerebral hip-hop head Lyrics Born on Saturday, and prog-rock jazz monsters Mörglbl finishing things up Sunday.
Reliable regulars
People will be storming the Capitol to use the bathrooms instead of protesting the Governor this summer once the Concerts On The Square (June 29-August 3) series fires back up on Wednesdays, and Lunch Time Live (June 21-August 9) provides a nice chance to get out of the office on Tuesdays. Concerts On The Rooftop will be happening most Thursdays this summer at the Monona Terrace and Jazz At Five (Aug. 10-Sept. 7) will be right off the square on Wednesdays, so the area around the Capitol should still be full most days—but with far fewer picket signs.
The Terrace
The beer-soaked caveats of catching a show at the Memorial Union Terrace are well established. But those that can brave the elements and deal with the fact that 80 percent of the bystanders are oblivious to the show and couldn't give less of a shit if other folks might be trying to enjoy it, the rewards will be rich this summer. Whether Madison’s El Clan Destino is erecting a polyrhythmic playhouse with its Afro-Cuban grooves (June 11), Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. (June 16) is wrapping its indie-pop in NASCAR fashion, or Battles—along with The Fresh & Onlys— (July 16) is twisting its listeners’ brains into pretzels with its vaulted calculus rock, this summer’s lineup dedicates itself to the almighty rhythm. Well, except for during the annual Rhythm And Booms night (July 2) when the poor/amazing Bill Callahan will be battling both the crackle of fireworks and the sound of the crowd vomiting an assortment of grilled meats and homemade potato salad onto itself.
While the lineup is perhaps a bit light on hip-hop, The A.V. Club is delighted to announce that Dumate and the Billie James Project (featuring Dudu Stinks, whose mighty concept outing—Billie James Is Not Your Lover—grabbed the number one spot in our top 10 albums of 2010) will be sharing a bill during our Local Band Wednesdays series (July 20). Local party-rap popsters Star Persons (June 24) will snag the stage with the curiously named Humpasaur Jones—yeesh.
To garage-rockers and lovelorn indie-rockers, there’s the fuzzy cosmonauts in Chicago’s Cave (July 7), Canadian shredders PS I Love You (July 14), stately pop dandies The Ladybug Transistor (July 9), and sobering rock duo The Rosebuds (July 21). Davey Von Bohlen will make his second jaunt to the isthmus in two months, this time with Maritime (June 18) in tow to drown out the crowd noise, and All Tiny Creatures (July 30) will deliver whirling sonics and progressive pop tunes. If none of this sounds appealing, be sure to check out 2010 American Idol winner Lee DeWyze (June 23).
Road trips
While the grass is looking pretty damned green in our own backyard, a look at this year’s Summerfest lineup should send many folks eagerly bolting toward the nearest exit. The “Big Gig” scorches on opening night with sets from Hall & Oates and Peter motherfucking Gabriel and the New Blood Orchestra (June 29). Once concertgoers reattach their skulls after Gabriel, they should be ready to pick between Wanda Jackson, George Clinton, and Kanye West (June 30). Okay, we admit that this choice should be pretty obvious. Pop addicts are in for further tooth-rotting via sets from paparazzi favorites like Katy Perry (July 7) and Britney Spears with Nicki Minaj (July 9). Those vehemently opposed to that shit will still shed a tear when they watch Meat Puppets open (yes, open) for Alkaline Trio (July 9). Of course, you could always just wait until the Puppets finish up and wander toward either De La Soul or The Flaming Lips instead. We’re also excited to catch the Hermit Of Mink Hollow himself, Todd Rundgren (July 10) as he wraps up Summerfest.
There are plenty of other options for those that chose to avoid the whole Summerfest scene. The Pitchfork Music Festival (July 15-17) will take place at Union Park in Chicago and will, as always, deliver just as much to cranky oldsters (Thurston Moore, Guided By Voices, Superchunk) as it does to hype-gulping, blog addicts (Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, Toro Y Moi, Twin Shadow). There’s also plenty of middle ground to stomp on, with sets from the likes of Neko Case, the freshly reunited Dismemberment Plan, and the Keith Morris-fronted hardcore supergroup OFF! Not too mention that the partially Madison and Los Angeles-based Zola Jesus will churn out a collection of creeping synth-pop. Of course, we’d be remiss to forget this year’s Eminem-headlined Lollapalooza (Aug. 5-7), which unravels at Chicago’s Grant Park. The epic clusterfuck also reeled in Foo Fighters, The Cars, Cee Lo Green, Death From Above 1979, and dozens of others for this year’s installment.
If you missed the Flaming Lips at Summerfest, you can still catch Wayne Coyne in his giant hamster ball at the SoundTown Festival (Aug. 19-20) at Float Rite Park in Somerset, Wisconsin, where the Lips will be joined by hip-hop legends Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick as well as pop masters The New Pornographers. Further hip-hop nostalgia can be guzzled down at the Oktoberfest Grounds in La Crosse, Wisconsin with a visit from Cypress Hill, Naughty By Nature, and Warren G (Aug. 20). Sturgeon Bay offers another fun excursion in the form of this year’s Steel Bridge Songfest (June 9-12), which will feature Madisonion songsmith Jeremiah Nelson and rap-rockers Weapons Of Mass DeFunktion.
