Summerfest Preview: July 6, 2017

Check out what's happening at Summerfest on July 6, 2017. Scroll down for the full lineup.

BJ The Chicago Kid
Johnson Controls World Stage
10 p.m.

On his majorlabel debut, 2016’s In My Mind, BJthe Chicago Kid faces a tough dilemma. He’s tempted to stay up past his bedtimeto partake in some late-night activities with an attractive woman, but he knowshe really should be getting a good night’s sleep for church the next day. Likeany seasoned R&B singer, he chooses the seduction, even though he can’thelp but pray for salvation (“Hopefully we can go to heaven / Cause I’mstaying, I’m staying”). That duality between God and the singer’s sinfulchoices lies at the heart of the smooth-sounding, contemplative album, and Godseems to be on the losing end.

BJ TheChicago Kid spent nearly a decade on the precipice of the limelight—singingback-up on tour with Usher, Stevie Wonder and Mary J. Blige. He eventuallyreleased his first mixtape in 2009 and earned himself name guesting on earlyrecords of two of the strongest voices in rap music right now, Chance theRapper and Kendrick Lamar. On In My Mind,they return the favor, adding their distinct impressions on the earnest soul ofthe insatiable crooner. But the leading man emerges from those songs with themost shine, even if he does believe his soul faces an uncertain future. (KevinMueller)

REO Speedwagon
BMO Harris Pavilion
9:45 p.m.

REO Speedwagon’slast non-holiday studio album was 2007’s FindYour Own Way Home, and the band hasn’t cracked the Billboard Hot 100 foralmost two decades. But that doesn’t matter with REO, which, just likeSummerfest, is celebrating 50 years in 2017. (Never mind that only one of thefive members, keyboardist Neal Doughty, has been around since the beginning.) Witha deep catalogue that runs from early-’70s hits “Ridin’ the Storm Out” and“Sophisticated Lady” to MTV-era No. 1 singles like “Keep on Lovin’ You” and“Can’t Fight This Feeling,” there’s no need to play anything post-1987—though1990’s “Love Is a Rock” is still a cool song.

When not touring with bands like Chicago, Styx and Def Leppard, REO finds otherways to roll with the changes. In 2015, the group collaborated with countrysinger-songwriter Sara Evans on “Crossroads,” CMT’s flagship music series, andearlier this year, REO was part of the Rock Legends Cruise V with the PatBenatar, Don Felder, the Marshall Tucker Band and Todd Rundgren. Then in April,1977’s double live album You Get What YouPlay For was reissued on blue vinyl—a classic reminder of this band’s solidMidwestern roots and timeless appeal. (Michael Popke)

AWOLNATION
Uline Warehouse
10 p.m.

The only thing that tells us more about a band than its name may be the openingof one of its songs. Consider the first line of AWOLNATION’s original versionof “Run”: “I am a human being capable of doing terrible things.” Back that withdiscordant, soaring guitar chords supported by a robotic electronic beat, andyou have a pretty clear idea what AWOLNATION is about. That’s if the namewasn’t enough of a clue.

Vocalist AaronBruno fronts the Los Angeles-based power quartet that has been categorized asalternative or industrial rock, electro-pop or synth-pop. Despite theperformers’ lack of black-and-white makeup, “electro-Goth” might also be afitting moniker based on Bruno’s sometimes brutal vocals and the music’s oftendark, anti-social lyrics.

The band does have an interesting backstory. Bruno, an L.A. music sceneveteran, was approached in ’09 by Red Bull Records, which offered free use ofits recording facilities. As an enterprising musician, he laid down a fewtracks of his own composition, created a band and released a digital debutalbum, Megalithic Symphony, in 2011.The band’s first single from the album, the equally caustic “Sail,” wentplatinum, eventually selling 5.5 million copies in the U.S.; such is thecontinued social disenfranchisement of today’s music fans. (Michael Muckian)