SZA, Kenny Chesney, Tacos and Tequila Fest, more: Milwaukee’s busiest music day ever?

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June 22 is a choose-your-own-live-music adventure in the Milwaukee area the likes of which the city has never seen.

It’ll be the first Saturday for this year’s Summerfest, which features its typical anything-goes lineup, from R&B superstar SZA in the American Family Insurance Amphitheater to Goo Goo Dolls in the BMO Pavilion. Also playing that day at the music fest at Maier Festival Park: soul band Black Pumas, the Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey, Latin singer-songwriter Luis Figueroa and “undead” funk group Here Come the Mummies.

But that’s not the only music on the agenda for the day. Dave Matthews Band is closing out a two-night run at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy — another concert option on a Summerfest date that’s happened before during the Big Gig.

Plus, there’s also another big music festival in the area on the day of Summerfest — and that’s a first. It’s happening at Franklin Field, with the second area installment of the Tacos and Tequila Festival, led by Ludacris, T.I. and other early aughts hip-hop hitmakers.

And that’s still not all. In another first, there’ll be a massive American Family Field concert opposite Summerfest, with Kenny Chesney and Big Gig favorites Zac Brown Band playing the Milwaukee Brewers ballpark.

Add in shows at the Rave, Cactus Club and two Pabst Theater Group venues (including a sold-out They Might Be Giants concert at the Pabst Theater), and you’ve got the biggest day for concerts in the city’s history.

“In a lot of bigger cities, it’s like every other Saturday,” said Charlie Goldstone, co-president of Madison-based, Live Nation-backed concert promoter FPC Live. The company isn’t producing any of the Milwaukee-area shows on June 22 but says the unprecedented abundance of live music in the area on one date is “amazing.”

“The idea that Milwaukee can’t do this, we just never really bought into that philosophy, especially if you want Milwaukee to grow and mature as a concert market,” Goldstone continued. “That is what you’re seeing. The promoters and venues are not afraid to do those things because they know it will be successful.”

More: Here’s the Summerfest 2024 lineup by date, time and stage for the Milwaukee music festival

More: How Milwaukee Brewers’ American Family Field became one of country’s top concert stadiums

Concert options have grown post-pandemic in Milwaukee

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, when Summerfest would roll around, generally the other Milwaukee venues would shut down. There were rare exceptions, like Dave Matthews Band concerts at Alpine, or a She & Him show with Zooey Deschanel at the Riverside Theater in 2013, or an Ariana Grande Fiserv Forum concert in 2019. (The latter originally been scheduled for before Summerfest but was postponed.)

Since the pandemic, however, artists and venues have ramped up bookings to make up for all the gig-free nights from March 2020 through the first half of 2021.

And people have been going out to concerts in record numbers. In 2023, the top 100 tours worldwide made $9.17 billion, according to concert trade magazine Pollstar, a 46% increase from 2022, with ticket sales for those tours up 18.4%.  

As a result, shows at other venues in town during Summerfest has become a new normal. The Pabst Theater Group will have six shows opposite Summerfest during the festival’s nine-day run. The Rave has seven, including a sold-out concert with Ole 60 June 21, and what’s bound to be one of the Rave’s biggest nights of the summer, with The Kid Laroi, in the Eagles Ballroom on Summerfest’s closing night on July 6.

“Coming out of the pandemic, something people will never take for granted again is the opportunity to gather and go to live events,” said Joshua James, senior vice president of operations for Kansas City-based Social House Entertainment, the promoter behind Tacos and Tequila Festival and the emo-focused Not Just a Phase Fest on June 23, also at Franklin Field.

“When people have the funds to do it, they will not pass up the opportunity.”

Developing a niche for staging festivals at minor-league baseball parks beginning in Kansas City in 2021, Social House caught the attention of Franklin Field operators ROC Ventures in early 2023. That gave them enough runway to stage Tacos and Tequila for the first time at Franklin Field last September, with the intention of making it an annual event.

But James said summer is an ideal window for their festivals, and based on venue and artist availability, June 22 this year was the optimal date.

“At the time of our announcing and putting our tickets on sale, Kenny Chesney wasn’t announced, and Summerfest had not released their lineup,” James said. “We’re taking a chance, but we’re not intimidated by other events going on in Milwaukee. The market is hungry for live events.”

Milwaukee Brewers’ Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Jason Hartlund, who oversees concerts at American Family Field, said: “We are really at the mercy of scheduling as far as availability goes. (If a tour) expresses interest in the ballpark, we jump at it.”

Chesney has played the Brewers’ stadium more than any other artist at other venues in town — five times since 2013, with each concert at or near capacity. With frequent Milwaukee visitors Zac Brown Band on the bill — they’ve headlined a dozen major shows in the market since 2012 — plus up-and-comer Megan Moroney, who won new female artist of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards — the June 22 Chesney tour stop is a safe play, even opposite Summerfest.

“When Summerfest went from a straight 11 days (with a dark day in the middle) to a nine-day format and spread out to more weekends, I think that was bound to happen at some point,” Hartlund said of a Milwaukee stadium concert happening concurrently with the city’s biggest music festival. “The market can certainly support it. We all draw from northern Illinois and the entire state. I know they’ll do well down there, and I think we will do all right ourselves.”

Despite so many shows on June 22, most are selling well

Even with more major music events in the market than ever on a single day, most of them are selling well.

The pit is sold out for Dave Matthews Band at Alpine Valley June 22, and nearly all of the seats are taken.

Most of the sections at American Family Field for Chesney are sold out or mostly sold out, which suggests about 40,000 people will be at that show.

There are still plenty of tickets available for SZA’s Milwaukee debut — the last of the major Milwaukee concerts June 22 to go on sale in April, after she was already named the premiere headliner for Lollapalooza in Chicago in August. But most of the seats in the lowest sections of the seating bowl for SZA’s show are taken, and Summerfest’s other ticketed concert that night — the Goo Goo Dolls at the BMO Pavilion — is sold out. (Additional viewing will be available toward the back of the venue for Summerfest general admission ticketholders on a first-come, first-served basis for the Goo Goo Dolls.)

“The value we are able to give our patrons is incredibly significant,” Sarah Pancheri, CEO of Summerfest parent company Milwaukee World Festival Inc., told the Journal Sentinel when asked about competition on June 22. Pancheri emphasized the festival’s $28 general-admission ticket, which provides access to all of the stages besides the amphitheater, and the 14 different promotions that get people in for free throughout the festival.

“We believe what we offer is a special experience,” Pancheri said.

James said that ticket sales for Tacos and Tequila Festival are ahead of where they were a week prior to the September edition, putting the festival on track to reach its 10,000-person capacity despite being opposite Summerfest — and following criticism last September over food and drink shortages, parking issues and long lines. The complaints prompted an apology from Social House and ROC Ventures.

“To be frank, last year, we left those events walking away with a couple of black eyes,” James said. “It didn’t feel good, but when you get knocked down, you get back up again. After that event, our teams went to work … to better ourselves and better the event.”

James said capacity was capped at 10,000, despite hosting 15,000 for a Tacos and Tequila Festival at a smaller venue in Kansas City this summer, to ensure a comfortable experience for attendees. Organizers also will be offering shuttle service this year and opening the parking lots much earlier to alleviate traffic congestion.

“We’re definitely putting our best foot forward to make a better experience for everybody,” James said.

And he thinks their experience is selling well, despite the competition from the other big music events that day, because “they’re all different and all bring somewhat different crowds.”

There’s a bit of overlap — Dave Matthews Band once toured with Zac Brown Band, and Umphrey’s McGee, a Summerfest headliner June 22, is also under that jam band umbrella — but Chesney and Zac Brown will draw country fans, while SZA will appeal to a younger pop and R&B audience. And Tacos and Tequila, which is only open to people over 21, will predominantly cater to 25-to-45-year-olds, James said.

“It’s something to say for the Milwaukee market that it can handle all these premier events at the same time,” James said. “The economic impact is just wonderful.”

Whether this many live music events in Milwaukee will be a more regular occurrence, James can’t say. But Milwaukee has been seen and will see multiple big concerts on a single date.

On April 13, Luke Combs played a sold American Family Field, and Nicki Minaj played a sold-out Fiserv Forum.

And the July 26 weekend also will be stuffed with multiple major music events in the Milwaukee area, including the Harley-Davidson Homecoming Festival, Tejano America Fest at Potawatomi Casino Hotel, Phish at Alpine Valley, and two American Family Insurance Amphitheater shows (with Santana and Alanis Morissette) — plus the Milwaukee Air & Water Show, German Fest, Milwaukee Brewfest and Washington County Fair.

Goldstone hopes that days with multiple major Milwaukee concerts “happens much more often.”

“More activity is better for the city,” he said. “It helps us all do our jobs.”

Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on X at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.

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