To the good people at Summerfest-
I was thrilled last month when you announced plans for a new alternative music festival this June. The lakefront Summerfest grounds are one of the city’s defining resources, and it’s encouraging to see them put to additional use in any way.
This festival holds particular promise. It could be integral in branding Milwaukee as a lively, cutting-edge city for young adults, something that Summerfest itself, with its classic-rock dominated lineup and its obligation to cater to the broader city, has been unable to do. It would be invaluable to Milwaukee’s image to have a hip, prestigious spin off of the city’s signature event.
So let’s make sure it’s done right.
I’ve heard whispers of a few rumored headliners, and they didn’t inspire a great deal of confidence. In order for this new festival to stand out, its lineup can’t just be a retread of Summerfest’s U.S. Cellular Connection stage. If this new festival is going to be dominated by heavy alternative and post-grunge bands, young professionals will stay home.
Nobody expects this festival to be Milwaukee’s answer to the Pitchfork Music Festival, but to reach an audience genuinely underserved by Summerfest proper, this festival needs to be anchored by at least a handful of indie-rock bands. These indie artists are often less expensive to book than their commercial peers, and just a few of them will lend the festival the cache it seeks.
If you’re looking for suggestions, look at past calendars for the Pabst Theater and Turner Hall Ballroomthose venues have proven that indie-rock is a real draw in this city. Or consult the with the radio stations. Ask the FM 102.1 DJs which bands they’d most like to seenot just which bands receive the most airplay on their stationand solicit suggestions from WMSE and Radio Milwaukee, stations that could offer Milwaukee-specific variety that would distinguish these event from by-the-numbers modern-rock festivals.
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With a little coordination this could be a festival the city could really pride itself on. It’s not too late to make that happen.
Sincerely,
Evan Rytlewski
