Photo via Visit Milwaukee
Wisconsin State Fair
Wisconsin State Fair milk jug sign
The Wisconsin State Fair’s Main Stage is a balancing act of tradition and surprise. This year’s headliners hew toward country, R&B, classic rock of various types and pop music old and new. It wouldn’t be the State Fair without comedy, children’s music and something for church-going folks. This year’s Fair covers all those bases with a lineup that should inspire many to splurge on more than general admission tickets.
Thursday July 31
- Midland
- 7:30 p.m.
The Main Stage opens for 2025 with a bit of a wild card in Midland. Though signed to a major country label, the trio employ organic instrumentation and hard-living sentiments that position them more toward the music’s indie/alt perimeters. The group members’ previous backgrounds in various aspects of showbiz have called their genre bona fides into question by some gatekeepers, but questions of Midland’s authenticity dissolve when their music is so genuine.
Friday August 1
- Boyz II Men
- 7:30 p.m.
To think of how dominant Boyz II Men were in the ‘90s is to be reminded of just how long ago it’s been since smooth, romantic male harmonies were prominent in soul and pop. Though the act has slimmed down from a quartet to a trio after their hit-making peak, their performances of slow jams and up-tempo bangers shouldn’t in any way suffer. And who knows? Maybe some young singers seeing them will be inspired to revive the style Boyz II Men took to such dizzying heights.
Photo via Wisconsin State Fair
Wisconsin State Fair
Visitors enjoy Wisconsin State Fair
Saturday August 2
- Ne-Yo
- 7:30 p.m.
Shaffer Smith gave himself a musical alias that reads like a Matrix character. But the only dystopia his songs address involves romantic matters. From the mid-’00s to early ’10s, Ne-Yo regularly graced R&B and pop radio with odes extolling femininity, decrying his own romantic shortcomings, and hailing the good life singing has afforded him. His run of multi-format hits should prompt a wave of blissful nostalgia with his relatively innocent and respectful oldies.
Sundy August 3
- Queensryche, Great White & Quiet Riot
- 6 p.m.
Go figure that one of the lowest-price Main Stage shows this year is going to probably provide the biggest bang for a fairgoer’s buck. Between Queensryche’s progressive leanings, Great White’s glam proclivities and Quiet Riot’s working stiff aesthetic, this is a bill that encapsulates the gamut of ‘80s commercial radio metal prior to the explosions of thrash and grunge. Whether it’s a triumph for headbangers that those once rebellious and confrontational sounds are now fit for the State Fair is a debate for another time.
Monday August 4
- We the Kingdom
- 7:30 p.m.
If the premise of contemporary Christian music was to mirror worldly style with sanctified lyrical content, We the Kingdom are refreshingly defiant. The quartet have arrived upon a hybrid of country-leaning Americana and older school soul that sounds organic, not concocted in some Nashville boardroom. They may be playing primarily for their fellow faithful, but anyone appreciative of rootsy hooks, harmony and heart could find themselves enjoying We the Kingdom’s buoyant earnestness.
Tuesday August 5
- Kidz Bop
- 7:30 p.m.
Kidz Bop has always offered a curious proposition: recasting often sexy and salacious pop hits with lyrics sung by bright-faced, multi-cultural youngsters to make music acceptable for grade schoolers and, at least as importantly, their parents. Countless Kidz Bop Kids have graced stages since the concept’s 2000 inception. What’s apparently not broken doesn’t seem to need fixing, as the latest Kids ensemble’s latest long player finds them tackling recent chart toppers by Sabrina Carpenter, Morgan Wallen and Chapell Roan, among others.
Wednesday August 6
- Jon Pardi
- 7:30 p.m.
Jon Pardi’s twang and hooks helped bring traditional sounds back to country airwaves in the mid-2010s after the morass of bro’ beauhunks like Florida Georgia Line dominated for too long. Still beholden to Nashville’s Music Row machine, Pardi has more often than not maintained a balance between rootsiness and fitting onto playlists filled with electronic beats and other unnatural sheens. His latest album, Honkytonk Hollywood, shifts that balance more toward the latter, but Pardi won’t likely deny the spirit of the cowboy hat he still sports.
Photo via Wisconsin State Fair
Wisconsin State Fair
Visitors to the Wisconsin State Fair take a selfie by the WonderFair Wheel
Thursday August 7
- Gabriel "Fluffy”Iglesias
- 7:30 p.m.
One of America’s most popular and family-friendliest stand-up comedians has taken to adopting the gently self-effacing nickname he used on his way up. Though Gabel Iglesias isn’t fluffy (weighty, that is) as he once was, there’s no use in begrudging him the additional branding. He continues to offer uproarious slice-of-life shtick in a relatable way that resonates across a wide following. Maybe having to miss his cancelled 2024 State Far appearance will only make him—dare it be said?—hungrier this year.
Friday August 8
- Darius Rucker
- 7:30 p.m.
Darius Rucker’s calculated risk worked out for him. Maybe going from lead singer for briefly world-beating rootsy frat rockers Hootie & The Blowfish to being a country solo star worked out because it was such a natural progression for the man with the husky baritone. The rebrand should give Rucker a decade’s worth of resonant singalongs when he hits the Bank Five Nine Main Stage.
Saturday August 9
- Lynyrd Skynyrd
- 7:30 p.m.
Didn’t these paragons of Southern rock play their farewell tour several years ago? Whatever the reason for Lynyrd Skynyrd’s regrouping, the timing is fortuitous. What with the ascendance of Southern-style hard rockers such as Blackberry Smoke and Whiskey Myers blowing up within the indie country/Americana sphere, who better than the "Sweet Home Alabama”guys to provide a reminder of the sound’s roots?
Sunday August 10
- The “Happy Together” Tour
- 6 p.m.
The 16th iteration of this revue featuring mid-1960s-to-early-’70s AM radio pop/rock acts still includes members of the band responsible for its namesake hit. Joining the Turtles on this run will be The Cowsills, The Vogues, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, Little Anthony (sans Imperials), and Jay & The Americans minus the late Jay Black. Even if some—or all?—of the acts don’t feature all the original members heard on their golden oldies, the greater point of Happy Together is nostalgia for those who recall the hits and an introduction to a time of classic pop.
