Foo Fighters Summerfest Show June 28

The Foo Fighters will perform at Summerfest 2012 on June 28.  Mr. Dave Grohl fronts the band.  Taylor Hawkins, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett, and Nate Mendel are also members of the band that has sold millions of disks since 1996.  This is a special event, as the band is not going on a summer tour. They have a special love for fans in Milwaukee. 
The Foo Fighters won multiple Grammy awards, and are considered to be one of the best rock bands of the era. Foo Fighters Summerfest tickets go on sale this Friday.  Their support bands have yet to be locked in.

Summerfest Welcomes Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson will perform at Summerfest on June 29.  This concert announcement fills the second to last open date for the Marcus Amphitheater spots.  2012 Summerfest fans will once again have three country shows to choose from, a couple of classic rock shows, a DJ extravaganza, and some odds and ends.  Yes, I'm saying a Kelly Clarkson show is either an "odd" or an "end".

Clarkson is best known for winning the first season of American Idol.  Undoubtedly, she is also the highest profile winner of a show that culls the proverbial wheat from the chaff, talent wise.  Thousands of singers take a stab at the casting call, but there can be only one.  She was the first.  Since then, she has sold millions of disks and singles. Factoid: Her single titled A Moment Like This took a "rocket ride" to number one.  That song holds the record for the largest jump in the charts to number one, ever.

Kelly Clarkson cut her musical teeth in Northeast Texas, performing in her high school plays, where she was told that her vocal talents were a gift from above.  Singing lessons helped too. In short order, she was out of high school and looking at a pair of recording contracts.  She turned down both, stating that the contracts would have shackled her musically. You can only be a teen star during your teen years, and this girl wanted more.  She's 30 years old now, and has many multi-platinum hits to her name. The name of her 2012 tour is "Stronger." I'll bet that she's right.  Opening for Clarkson is The Fray.  The Fray has enjoyed success for a decade now.  They have come a long way from their church gigs.      

Summerfest Headliners for 2012 | Eleven Stages of Great Music

It looks like another great lineup of Summerfest headliners for 2012. With the Marcus Amp. shows almost completely booked, we look to the "side" stages and their headliners that will fill the benches and tables. Who will be at the Roadhouse, the US Cellular, the Miller Lite Stage, etc? The following is just a sample of some of the bands that will be in Milwaukee during Summerfest.



Summerfest Grounds Stage Headline Acts

• Kellie Pickler
• The BoDeans
• Chevelle
• Cowboy Mouth
• Hanson
• Joe Walsh
• Tune-Yards
• Art of Dying
• Hollywood Undead
• Civil Twilight
• The Walkmen
• Chicago
• ZZ Top
• 311
• Burton Cummings

Be sure to check back for more bookings as spring turns to early summer. There are many local bands that will open the festival each day, and lets not forget the Cascio stage. With entertainment starting each day at noon, running until midnight, there is sure to be a band that you will love.

Tiesto To Perform at Summerfest 2012

Is this the first Summerfest headline show to feature a DJ? Yes, it is. Tiesto will perform at the Marcus Amphitheater on July 3. Many other performers will join Tiesto: Steve Aoki, Pierce Fulton, Tommy Trash and Zedd. Tiesto is one of the most famous DJ's in the world. This show will certainly draw fans from far and wide.

Tiesto is not the youngest DJ currently riding high on the popularity of the genre. He's been performing on stages since the mid 80's and produced his first disk (titled Magik) in the 1990's. It's safe to say that his style of music is House and Electro House. One of his more notable performances included a stint at the 2004 Summer Olympics. By that time, Tiesto would be ranked as one of the most popular DJ's known to man. He would go on to have his own radio show, produce dozens of records, and do philanthropic work.

Rascal Flatts to Play Summerfest June 27

It will be none other than Rascal Flatts headlining Summerfest on June 27. It's been nearly thirteen years since the band signed on with Lyric Street. Now they can be found on the Big Machine record label. Rascal Flatts has made nine albums, with each one of them going platinum. They have eleven number one hit songs to their name, the latest coming in 2010. They are currently supporting their 2012 album titled Changed.

Rascal Flatts 2012 Changed Tour
The current 2012 Rascal Flatts tour starts with a show in Hartford on June 15. There are a few stand alone shows in April and May, but those are not part of the summer schedule. Prior to the Milwaukee show, the band will perform at the Farm Bureau Live at Virgina Beach event on June 24. They will play the Blossom Music Center in Cleveland, on June 29. The final Rascal Flatts show is booked for October 26 in Tampa. It looks like Eli Young will be backing up the band on most of tour dates. Tickets for Rascal Flatts at the Marcus Amp. go on sale May 14.
Rascal Flatts is one of those bands who found nearly instant success in the country music business. They performed just three songs in front of a record producer, and were signed on. Their first single made it all the way to the top ten on the country music charts. The other two singles from that same group of songs also found their way to the top of the charts. With the success of their first album, the pressure was on to make a second. The band went on to co-produce that second effort, and found themselves with a number one single titled "These Days." By 2008, the band had enough hit songs to make a greatest hits disk where they included a few holiday numbers.

Summerfest Grounds Undergo Controlled Burn Yesterday

The smoke could be seen drifting through the streets of downtown Milwaukee yesterday. Some thought that there was a fire in the Third Ward. It was a "controlled burn" of the grasses that surround the Marcus Amphitheater on the Summerfest grounds. The Milwaukee Fire Department had everything under control, as they burned off what had become a potential fire hazard. This unusually dry and warm winter left tall, dead grass along the hills that are built up around the Marcus Amp. With little relief in site, Summerfest management felt it would be wise to have the grasses burned off. Still, it left many people searching for the source of the smoke and ash that permeated the area.

Big Time Rush Summerfest Show July 6

The Backstreet Boys and NSYNC stole the hearts of teenage girls everywhere in the 1990s with their boyish good looks and catchy love songs. While the “boy band” phase slowly faded away by the turn of the new century, a new male group known as Big Time Rush has captured the attention of a new generation of young fans. The pop quartet will be a headlining act at the Summerfest 2012 event at the Marcus Amphitheater in Milwaukee on July 6.

The group, comprised of Kendall Schmidt, James Maslow, Logan Henderson, and Carlos Pena, began receiving attention since their debut on a Nickelodeon-produced sitcom, named after the band, in late 2009. The premise of the show consists of four young hockey players from Minnesota that go to Hollywood to audition to be in a boy band. Their daily adventures and misadventures with producers, record labels, and each other, provide plenty of entertainment in the comedy/drama/musical sitcom.

The show’s premiere episode was the most watched live-action debut in Nickelodeon’s history. It was signed to a third season in 2011. Big Time Rush will see their first film, “Big Time Movie,” make its premiere on March 10 on Nickelodeon.

Their Gold-certified debut album, “BTR,” was released in October of 2010. It peaked at number one for Top Soundtracks, number three for Top Digital Albums, and number three on the Billboard 200. “BTR” is a mixture of musical styles, including R&B, dance, and rock.

“Elevate,” the group’s second album, was released in November of last year, and debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200. It has sold over 200,000 copies according to Nielsen Soundscan as of the beginning of March. Their “Big Time Summer Tour” begins in Columbus, Ohio, the day before the Summerfest show, and will continue in 50 states across the United States and Canada, and concludes in September.

Summerfest, dubbed “The World’s Largest Music Festival,” is an 11 day event that will feature hundreds of musical acts, including Iron Maiden, Neil Diamond, Lady Antebellum, and the Beach Boys. It will begin on June 27, and finish up on July 8.