Summerfest Preview: July 1, 2017

Take a look at the featured Summerfest acts for July 1, 2017. Scroll down for the full lineup.

Zac Brown Band
American Family Insurance Amphitheater
7:30 p.m.

Their sound alternates between soulful and infectious, unabashedly country yetnot limited by the restraints the label puts on some performers. Some fansenjoy the Zac Brown Band for their songs, but most come for the moveablemusical feast the band carries with them wherever it plays.

Zac Brown received his first guitar from his mother at age 8, and he has yet toput it down. He did take two years of guitar lessons, but he found his directionin the bluegrass sounds of his native Georgia and has never looked back. Theband met with varying levels of success during the early 2000s, sometimesheadlining festivals, and other times sleeping in its tour bus for lack offunds. But a variety of events and opportunities have continued to drive theband forward, eventually earning it the Best New Vocal Group Award from theAcademy of Country Music in 2009 and New Artist of the Year from the CountryMusic Association Awards in 2010.

From the delicate sounds of “Sweet Annie” to beachside bounce of “Jump RightIn,” the Zac Brown Band manages to touch its fans in a variety of ways. And allof those touches are positive ones. (Michael Muckian)

Collective Soul
Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard
10 p.m.

Nineties bands thrive atSummerfest, which is why Collective Soul—which bounced onto the 1994 Americanmusic scene amid Alice in Chains, The Offspring and Jeff Buckley with a happyditty about heaven’s light called “Shine”—is perfect for the Big Gig. A stringof catchy pop-rock singles (“Gel,” “Precious Declaration,” “December”) carriedCollective Soul through the late-’90s, but the band never stopped releasing newmusic, putting out five records between 2000 and 2015.

The band played 160 shows in eight countries in support of its ninth and latestalbum, See What You Started by Continuing,a refined update on an unmistakable sound that received positive reviews, and anew album is slated for release later this year. Lead singer and chiefsongwriter Ed Roland also has a solo album on the way, as well as another discwith The Sweet Tea Project, his collaboration with Georgia musicians playing banjo, mandolin, steelguitar and ukulele. Ed’s little brother and Collective Soul guitarist DeanRoland has a side gig, too, in the alt-rock duo Magnets & Ghosts. Collective Soul’s Summerfest gig will be its first followinga short tour with fellow ’90s stalwarts Tonic and Our Lady Peace. Let nostalgiareign! (Michael Popke)

The Naked & Famous
Miller Lite Oasis
5 p.m.

A catchy name is one way for a band to attract attention. The Naked &Famous, formed in 2007, already have a decade behind them, and the indieelectronic band from Auckland, New Zealand, is attracting a global following. Thegroup’s performances seethe with youthful angst, pulsing to a distinctiverhythm. Combine the lyrics about love’s labors lost with the music’s incessantelectronic heartbeat, and you have the perfect recipe for emotional yearning—somethingat which the band is very good.

The youngquintet is fronted by Alisa Xayalith, a 31-year-old daughter of Laotianrefugees who was born in Auckland. Introduced to her native music by herfather, Xayalith taught herself guitar and her interest in music grew fromthere. As for the band’s name, it comes from English musician Tricky’s song“Tricky Kid,” an ambivalent ode to the notion of celebrity. Tricky quotes theline, “everyone wants to be naked and famous,” taken from a song of the samename by the now defunct Seattle group The Presidents of the United States ofAmerica.

The five-member band had no doubt already mastered the art of being naked.Famous may be just a few more chords away. (Michael Muckian)