French Montana, For King & Country and the best and worst of Day 3 of Summerfest's Weekend 3, the 2022 Big Gig's last day
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Summerfest wrapped up its 2022 run with a Saturday of performances from some new faces and some not-so-new ones.
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French Montana
Moroccan-born rapper French Montana (born Karim Kharbouch) moved at age 13 with his family to the Bronx, where he first built a reputation through a series of street DVDs while in his twenties. Now 37, Montana has been racking up more sexual misconduct allegations than hits the past couple of years, yet there he was, topping the bill at the BMO Harris Pavilion on Summerfest’s closing night.
Popular tracks like “Shot Caller” and “Ain’t Worried About Nothin” had the crowd jumping early, a sizable turnout despite the decreasing temperatures. Between two-minute snippets of songs heavily augmented by the crowd, Montana and his crew milked every crowd-baiting cliché in the book.
Tributes to the likes of Kodak Black and DMX went over about equally well; most likely, a beat and a spot to dance on a Saturday night were plenty to please this crowd.
— Cal Roach, Special to the Journal Sentinel
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Rick Springfield
Rick Springfield has had a lengthy and varied career. In addition to releasing 17 studio albums, he has appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows. Springfield also opened up about his struggles with depression in his 2010 bestselling memoir "Late Late at Night."
Saturday night on the Uline Warehouse stage, the still boyishly handsome Springfield was strumming a glittery silver guitar, and proved he hasn't lost his youthful energy or undeniable stage presence.
Springfield and his smiling band treated the large, appreciative, mixed-aged audience to a batch of his '80s hits.
Ever the showman, he leaped around on stage, hosted a crowd singalong to "Don't Talk to Strangers," and, much to the audience's delight, stepped off the stage and greeted fans in the first row during the lament to modern technology, "Human Touch." During perennial jukebox favorite "Jessie's Girl," Springfield stripped off his shirt, revealing his lean, muscular torso.
"I have ADD and I can't take my (expletive) eyes off it," Springfield explained during the Summerfest closing-night fireworks display, before launching into a deliciously riff-heavy cover of the Troggs' "Wild Thing."
— Catherine Jozwik, Special to the Journal Sentinel
For King & Country
No big-name music festival in the country brings in more Christian-themed acts than Summerfest, and Saturday’s Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard headliner, For King & Country, put on one of the entire fest’s biggest spectacles for an adoring crowd to close out Summerfest Saturday night.
The Australian-born duo of brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone, backed by a a six-piece band, were situated on and among huge LED cubes; the video and light spectacle was truly dazzling at times.
The brothers’ banter, on the other hand, tended to drag. Their intention was great and their vulnerability was admirable, and at times even moving; they just stalled the momentum of an otherwise uplifting performance multiple times.
Drawing from obvious influences like Coldplay and Mutemath, the band’s earnest, percussive pop-rock sound had character and dynamic even if it lacked originality. A video cameo from Dolly Parton for “God Only Knows” certainly didn’t hurt, either.
— Cal Roach
Death Cab for Cutie
It's hard to believe that influential indie rockers Death Cab for Cutie have been making music for a quarter of a century.
The gigantic crowd at the Generac Power Stage Saturday night (there was barely room to stand) proved that the group has amassed legions of fans young and old over their 25-year career.
Death Cab started off their set with the moody "I Dreamt We Spoke Again," followed by a mix of songs from their 10 studio albums, including 2022's "Asphalt Meadows."
Frontman-guitarist Ben Gibbard, clad in a simple black T-shirt and skinny black jeans, enchanted the audience with his tender voice, although at times his poetic, evocative lyrics sounded a bit muddled by the melodic guitars and keyboard. But overall, the band sounded crisp and seemed very much at ease on stage. Gibbard's keyboard playing on "Blacking Out the Friction" was especially beautiful.
"I'm upset now. I hoped we'd get through our recital without any mistakes," Gibbard confessed at one point. Not that the engaged crowd appeared to notice.
— Catherine Jozwik
Zola Jesus
Zola Jesus couldn’t help being a striking presence at the UScellular Connection Stage Saturday evening: She was pale with black hair in the midst of slanting sunshine and a cliché-blue sky.
And her voice, once it emerged from the initial glitches of the sound mix, was even more striking. The woman otherwise known as Nika Roza Danilova suggested Kate Bush — moody, atmospheric, potentially shy if spooked — with the strut of a rock ’n’ roll belter and R&B pipes.
Backed by a drummer, a bassist/keyboardist and a violist, she generated considerable amounts of dark brooding, particularly via songs from her most recent album, “Arkhon,” but she leavened that brooding with memories of seeing Britney Spears at Summerfest or the mention of Merrill, Wisconsin, as where she’s from.
She must stand out in the Northwoods as well.
— Jon M. Gilbertson, Special to the Journal Sentinel
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Bob Mould
Summerfest saved its best single stage lineup for the last day at the Generac Power Stage, with Illuminati Hotties opening, Death Cab for Cutie closing, and Dry Cleaning and Parquet Courts playing in between.
And I’d wager all of those bands were geeked to share the same bill with an artist who likely was a key inspiration to them: Bob Mould of Husker Du fame.
Now 61, Mould on Saturday afternoon was as energetic and engaged live as he’s ever been, a tightly wound performer who seemed to release all his tension through ripping guitar work and neck-vein-bulging singing. Husker Du gems like “Flip Your Wig,” “I Apologize” and “Hoover Dam” co-existed perfectly with taut rockers songs like “Sinners and Their Repentances” and “The Descent,” and a large crowd gathered to soak up a last bit of Summerfest fun on a sunny afternoon.
I’d wager some of the younger musicians sharing the Generac stage Saturday were standing in the wings taking notes, too.
— Piet Levy, plevy@journalsentinel.com
Dry Cleaning
Witnessing the four-piece London band Dry Cleaning at the Generac Power Stage late Saturday afternoon was a dislocating experience not unlike happening upon the Velvet Underground at some hippie event during the Summer of Love: cool, and all the more so for being quite out of place.
Lead singer Florence Shaw was not unlike the Velvets' Lou Reed: much more inclined to speak rather than sing, although her matter-of-fact declaiming also recalled Debora Iyall of 1980s one-hit-wonder Romeo Void, or currently intriguing Aussie punk Courtney Barnett.
Bassist Lewis Maynard and drummer Nick Buxton made sure people could do an experimental-rock approximation of dancing, and guitarist Tom Dowse provided spiky slashes and dots of color to Shaw’s appealing grays.
If Dry Cleaning didn’t make sense for Summerfest, it did make pleasurable artistic sense.
— Jon M. Gilbertson
Illuminati Hotties
Summerfest has been offering a growing number of noted names during the afternoon in recent years — but it’s safe to say they’ve never had anything so cool so early as Illuminati Hotties Saturday. Sarah Tudzin’s buzzy band rocked the Generac Power Stage at 1:45 p.m. for Summerfest’s closing day.
“Milwaukee Summerfest 2022, let me tell you. I woke up at age 2 and I said, ‘That’s where I’m going to be someday,’” Tudzin said late in the band’s 50-minute set. “And guess what, I (expletive) made it! Yeah!”
So maybe there was a tinge of sarcasm in that comment, but Tudzin’s humor is a signature component of Hotties’ appeal.
“Guess I am the drugstore brand, but I still work hard plus I’m cheaper,” Tudzin sang over wavy guitar feedback for “Ppl Plzr.” She jumped from one fun metaphor to another on “Pool Hopping” (one example: “You’re twisted like an ampersand”), and came up with a fresh description for tripping on drugs for the dizzying “MMMOOOAAAAAAYAYA” (“I sit around like an old tortilla/Folded and flat, full of mold and bugs”).
Clever lines like those, blended with the four-piece’s raw punk sound, made Hotties’ set irresistible, and the band drew a nice-sized crowd despite the early hour on the very last day of a three-weekend festival. Can you imagine if Summerfest always had awesome out-of-town bands like this one before 2 p.m.? Let’s keep dreaming that’s what the Big Gig is going to be like someday.
— Piet Levy
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: French Montana, Zola Jesus and best, worst of Day 9 of Summerfest 2022
