It was retro night at Summerfest’sBrigg’s and Stratton stage Sunday night, with two heavy hitting revival acts,Kings Go Forth and Robert Randolph and The Family Band, competing to see whocould get the crowd moving. Both succeeded.
Kings Go Forth assuredly enjoyed the bestsummer from a Milwaukee-based band last year, releasing their debut, TheOutsiders Are Back, on DavidByrne’s label Luaka Bop. So, it was fitting to see them atop a Summerfest mainstage, where they wooed existing fans and garnered many new ones. If there everwas an argument that more local groups should open for headliners, it was onstage Sunday night. The ten-piece ensemble sounded refreshing despite theirfoundation in ’70s soul.
On a night lead singer Black Wolf declared Milwaukee the world’s newsoul capital, it seemed like a struggle to pick up the audience from justbopping their heads on the benches. Wolf and company would eventually succeed,however, bringing them to their feet while burning through “Now We’re Gone,”showing off their pitch-perfect three-part harmonies on “High on Your Love,”and closing their set with their biggest hit, “One Day.” If these guys weren’twinning over the crowd with their music, it must have been with their uncannyenthusiasm. Wolf strutted across the stage like a man possessed, pointing outpeople and saying, “I see you.” We see you, too. And we like what we see.
%uFFFDRobert Randolph followed with an impressiveset that mainly flaunted his pedal steel chops. Nobody else makes the pedalsteel look as cool as Randolph.Firing through blues riffs, he evokes guitar masters Stevie Ray Vaughan andJimi Hendrix.
Whether it’s getting the crowd to do hisfavorite dance move or sitting back on his seat and clapping his hands and feetsimultaneously in the air, Randolphwas engaged throughout the show. Though the jam band influence was unmistakableas he stretched songs out for ages, his hit single “Ain’t Nothing Wrong WithThat” diverged from that enduring structure and was ripped through quickly andmost satisfyingly. One let down, however, was the absence of his live staple“Shake Your Hips” from the set, meaning the normal cavalcade of women in theaudience didn’t get a chance to shake it up on stage. Oh well, there was enoughdancing off-stage to suffice.
