Summerfest in Milwaukee!

Headed over to Milwaukee to see the opening night of Summerfest. Arrived around 6:30 to a very cool but beautiful night on Lake Michigan along with some great music and even fireworks. Our four year-in-a-row German guest and musician extraordinaire, Chris, was really excited about seeing grunge/rock bands Flyleaf and Puddle of Mud. Of course, I had never heard of them, but I'm a believer now. I really liked Flyleaf - the woman's voice is amazing. Puddle of Mudd was Seattle-grungy. Good sound but jeesh, the singer looked to be channeling Cobain right on stage.....

Of course we had to take a ride on the cables cars. Here's Chris and Eric in the car ahead of us. You can see there were tons O' people there last night.

And no trip to summerfest would be complete without a trip down a musical memory lane. At the far stage was Bad Boy. I was introduced to this mid-west rock band 20 years ago by Eric who went to see almost every show they'd perform at the old Headliners. I think it was New Year's Eve in 1986 that I first saw the band with Todd and Eric. And last night, it was rather trippy standing again with Eric and Todd watching the band. Major flashback happening there.... At 9:00, we caught some awesome fireworks and a bit of the Violent Femmes. I always have a picture in my mind of their 80s post-punky look and last night they were really looking like suburban dads, of which, I guess they probably are....

This was my first time back to Summerfest in probably 15 years. I don't think it will be another 15-year dry spell. I loved the atmosphere, the people and the music pumping from 10 different stages. Pretty awesome. Hit the highway back to Madison around 1:00 am and was in bed sleeping by 2:30 am.