These are all the arena, amphitheater and stadium concerts happening in Milwaukee in 2022
It's been a long time coming, but it looks like we're finally going to get a full calendar year of concerts.
The last time that happened was 2019 when Milwaukee had a record for the most arena, amphitheater and stadium-size concerts in the city's history. That was thanks largely to the Milwaukee Bucks' Fiserv Forum, which hosted 32 concerts for its first full calendar year of operation, far surpassing any arena's annual concert slate in the city's history.
On top of that, there were shows in 2019 at the Milwaukee Brewers' Miller Park (now American Family Field), Alpine Valley Music Theatre, the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena and the American Family Insurance Amphitheater. But the live music industry shut down at the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Milwaukee venues only started hosting shows again this past July.
Business has been a bit bumpy since, but there are signs of optimism. The American Family Insurance Amphitheater, which reopened after undergoing a $51.3 million renovation, hosted 18 concerts in 2021 — the most in a single year since 2004, and enough to make it the 12th top-grossing amphitheater in the world for the year, according to concert trade publication Pollstar. It's expected to host 22 in 2022, according to parent company Milwaukee World Festival Inc.'s calendar of events.
Based on box-office returns in 2021, Pollstar is projecting the top 100 tours in 2022 will collectively gross $5.63 billion and will collectively sell about 65 million tickets, a 12% jump from 2019.
Of course, we're not past the pandemic yet, and some shows were postponed and canceled earlier this year. But so long as vaccines continue to be effective, concerts will continue, and it's clear there's going to be some major artists eager to make up for lost time with Milwaukee stops.
Make sure to keep checking back to this list throughout 2022 for up-to-date information. We'll also add links to our reviews for many of these shows.
January
20: Kane Brown with Chase Rice and Restless Road (Fiserv Forum)
February
20: Ghost & Volbeat with Twin Temple (Fiserv Forum)
23: Dua Lipa with Caroline Polachek and Lolo Zouaï (Fiserv Forum)
24: Tyler, The Creator with Kali Uchis, Vince Staples and Teezo Touchdown (Fiserv Forum)
March
12: Journey with Toto (Fiserv Forum)
13: TobyMac with Crowder, CAIN, Cochren & Co., and Terrian (UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena)
30: Eagles (Fiserv Forum)
April
2: Elton John (Fiserv Forum)
5: Bon Jovi (Fiserv Forum)
May
6: Hog Fest with Godsmack, Three Days Grace, Asking Alexandria, Wage War and Lilith Czar (Fiserv Forum)
14: Kenny Chesney with Dan + Shay, Old Dominion and Carly Pearce (American Family Field)
28: Eric Church with the Brothers Osborne and Parker McCollum (American Family Field)
June
4: Slipknot with Cypress Hill and Ho99o9 (Alpine Valley Music Theatre)
7: REO Speedwagon and Styx with Loverboy (American Family Insurance Amphitheater)
15: New Kids on the Block with Salt-N-Pepa, Rick Astley and En Vogue (Fiserv Forum)
21: Josh Groban with Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Lucia Micarelli and Eleri Ward (American Family Insurance Amphitheater)
23: Jason Aldean with Gabby Barrett (American Family Insurance Amphitheater, Summerfest)
24: Justin Bieber with Jaden, Harry Hudson and ¿Téo? (American Family Insurance Amphitheater, Summerfest)
25: Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa and Wu-Tang Clan (American Family Insurance Amphitheater, Summerfest)
30: Disturbed and Lamb of God with Chevelle and New Medicine (American Family Insurance Amphitheater, Summerfest)
July
1: Machine Gun Kelly with Avril Lavigne and Iann Dior (American Family Insurance Amphitheater, Summerfest)
2: Halsey with the Marias and Abby Roberts (American Family Insurance Amphitheater, Summerfest)
2 and 3: Dave Matthews Band (Alpine Valley Music Theatre)
7: Rod Stewart with Cheap Trick (American Family Insurance Amphitheater, Summerfest)
8: Backstreet Boys (American Family Insurance Amphitheater, Summerfest)
9: Thomas Rhett with Ryan Hurd and Rhett Akins (American Family Insurance Amphitheater, Summerfest)
9: Rage Against The Machine with Run The Jewels (Alpine Valley Music Theatre)
10: Santana and Earth, Wind and Fire (American Family Insurance Amphitheater)
12: Shawn Mendes with Dermot Kennedy (Fiserv Forum)
17: Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard with Poison and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (American Family Field)
23: Alanis Morissette with Garbage (American Family Insurance Amphitheater)
28: Roger Waters (Fiserv Forum)
August
5: Luke Bryan with Riley Green, Mitchell Tenpenny and DJ Rock (American Family Insurance Amphitheater)
5: Brandi Carlile with Lake Street Dive and Celisse (Fiserv Forum)
12 to 14: Phish (Alpine Valley Music Theatre)
18: Kendrick Lamar with Baby Keem and Tanna Leone (Fiserv Forum)
22: Alice in Chains and Breaking Benjamin with Bush (American Family Insurance Amphitheater)
26: Pitbull with Iggy Azalea and SiriusXM Globalization DJs (American Family Insurance Amphitheater)
28: Keith Urban with Ingrid Andress (American Family Insurance Amphitheater)
September
16 and 17: Triple Rainbow with Griz (Alpine Valley Music Theatre)
October
7: Five Finger Death Punch with Megadeth, The Hu and Fire From The Gods (American Family Insurance Amphitheater)
8: Chris Stapleton with Elle King and Morgan Wade (Fiserv Forum)
23: Carrie Underwood with Jimmie Allen (Fiserv Forum)
30: Smashing Pumpkins with Jane's Addiction and Poppy (Fiserv Forum)
Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.
Piet also talks concerts, local music and more on "TAP'd In" with Evan Rytlewski. Hear it at 8 a.m. Thursdays on WYMS-FM (88.9), or wherever you get your podcasts.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee concerts in 2022 to have a full calendar year of shows
