summerfest.com
Like most festivals, Summerfest tends to save its biggest headliners for after dark, but that doesn't mean there isn't anything going out of your way to see during the daylight hours. For the last decade some of the festival's best acts have played during the afternoon as part of the Emerging Artists Series, which will return this summer to Johnson Controls World Sound Stage with 88Nine Radio Milwaukee and Shepherd Express with one of its most loaded lineups yet.
The series has an impressive track record, with past performers including Walk The Moon, Nathaniel Rateliff, Maren Morris, X Ambassadors, BØRNS and The Record Company (you can find a complete list here). This year's lineup features a selection of already well-established national acts (including Chicago's Ratboys and Lowdown Brass Band, and Nashville's Soccer Mommy, whose album Clean is one of the best reviewed indie-rock releases of 2018) and an absolute wealth of local acts, among them Paper Holland, Telethon, Faux Fiction, Luxi, Rocket Paloma, Joe Richter, Bo & Airo, Daydream Retrievers and many others.
You can see the complete lineup below.
Read more of our Summerfest coverage, including editor picks, concert previews, daily promotions and opinions here.
