(no subject)
Well Summerfest '09 is officially over, and while there weren't a whole lot of things we were excited about seeing it ended up being a pretty good year. I was there five days total, and I was surprised by how busy it was!! I've never seen so many people there before and It makes me wonder if they had some kind of record breaking year. Here's a short recap of what I saw:
FRIDAY JUNE 26th
Jason, Sam and I went early to see Beach Patrol at the Cascio stage. They played an amazing show and said that they can't believe how much fun it is to play outside--they have played a few outdoor shows lately and it really is a fun kind of atmosphere. I really enjoyed the Cascio stage, as there were lots of local acts in a more intimate environment. You are closer to the bands and you can hear a lot of interesting new music. The plan was to hang out and catch a glimpse of The Offspring and/or Dropkick Murphys, but my CRAZY allergies went into hyperdrive shortly after Beach Patrol's set, so Jason and I went home. We hear later that The Offspring sounded awful because of the crappy sound at the Miller Lite Oasis, but I was still sad about missing Dropkick Murphys.
WEDNESDAY JULY 1st
This was the next day I went to Summerfest and the first day that I went with Kelly, my Summerfest buddy. This was one of my favorite days because we saw Blueheels at the Cascio Stage, a little bit of Foghat at M&I, and some Rusted Root. The Blueheels played a GREAT show, and I was lucky enough to find an ATM so I could get their new live CD which has one of my favorite Blueheels songs on it. After that we headed over to Foghat, which was alright but a little boring considering we aren't all that farmiliar with their music. We listened for a bit and then went to see Rusted Root, which is a tradition for us every year. We didn't try to get up front this time because we decided we've seen them enough that we didn't want to deal with the usual violent crowd. We got good spots on the top row of one of the side bleachers and enjoyed about half of the show before deciding to leave. It was a good night!
THURSDAY JULY 2nd
We went without really having a specific band we wanted to see. We decided to move around between Matisyahu, Judas Priest, and Guster (strange combination I know--we have eccentric and varied musical tastes!!). We couldn't even get close enough to Matisyahu to really hear clearly (it was SOOOO BUSY on Thursday night), so we didn't stay long. I ended up enjoying walking back and forth between Judas Priest and Guster. They were both fun to see. I think the funniest part of the evening was when Judas Priest was done playing "Living after Midnight" we could hear the same song playing at the neighboring Guster stage. Curious, Kelly and I walked back over there to notice that Guster was playing an entertaining medley of songs by other artists performing at Summerfest. Teehee.
FRIDAY JULY 3rd
My last day at Summerfest with Kelly. We made our rounds to all the shops and enjoyed a lengthier viewing of Ecaudor Manta. At night Sam, Emily and Sarah were going to see Shinedown so we spent some time sitting with them while we waited. We left kind of early this night and went to visit Cody at The Abbey where he bartends. I'm not a big Shinedown fan and I actually already saw them perform when Jason and I saw Seether and Our Lady Peace at the UP state fair a few years ago. Probably the most exciting part of that day was when Emily decided to impulse get a tattoo in the tattoo RV on the Summerfest grounds. Thankfully it turned out to be really awesome--it's a feather with "Oneida" written in the native language above it. It looks amazing and it really fits Emily's personality.
SUNDAY JULY 5th
Musically this was definitely my favorite day at Summerfest. Before I get to that I will briefly tell you about the rest of the day. Erin, Sam and I went before 3pm so we could get in for free (thank you WE energies!!) and walked around, shopped, ate, etc. Erin got an industrial piercing in the tattoo/piercing tent. Apparently everyone is impulsive! I met up with Mary shortly after that and we camped out at the stage so we could be in the front row for Elvis freaking Costello!!!!! I was SO excited--I had never seen him live and I am a longtime fan. We lucked out because the band that opened for Costello was also super awesome!! They are called Katzenjammer and it is made up of four adorable Norwegian girls all playing a variety of instruments. They are very unique and entertaining. They mixed a lot of old and new sounds for a cool eclectic sound. They had an accordian, stand-up bass (with a kitty cat face on it), a trumpet, and even a kazoo. It was a REALLY fun show. I suggest you all check them out!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aswXKmV0wDo
http://www.myspace.com/katzenjammerne
http://www.stageway.no/katzenjammer/
Katzenjammer!! Awesome stand-up bass!
Elvis Costello was, of course, amazing. I'm so glad that I got to be right up front for it!! The first time he left the stage I knew there would be an encore, but I still turned to Mary and said, "That was a short set!" because I wasn't expecting the encore would be seven songs! I was so glad he played a long show, because he puts on such a great live performance. Even though he didn't play my favorite song, it was still an awesome show and I'm so glad I decided to go. By this day I was SUPER tired and getting a little tired of walking around in crowds, but it was definitely worth it to see Katzenjammer and Elvis Costello!
Here he is:
The quality isn't that great because I had to use the flash and there were lots of lights. I had to keep the security guard's head in there because he looks JUST like our friend Tyler--it was weird.
Alright--well that was longer than I imagined it would be. That's all I've got for now! I'm hoping to spend a relaxing evening at home tonight. I'm worn out!!