Summerfest to resume performances while concerts postponed at Alpine Valley, Tacos and Tequila Fest

Several music concerts in Milwaukee and the area were paused or canceled Saturday for inclement weather, as thunderstorms swept through southern Wisconsin.

Summerfest announced it would resume performances on all stages at 10 p.m.

The Dave Matthews Band concert scheduled to take place Saturday at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, southwest of Milwaukee, was postponed Saturday because of inclement weather and has been postponed until a later date, according to a post on the venue's Instagram page. A new date for the show will be announced.

Shows at the Summerfest music festival were paused Saturday evening due to the weather.

Anime, the opener for R&B superstar SZA, paused its show at Summerfest and concert-goers were encouraged to take cover as rain and thunder approached.

TRENDING: Was that Kim Kardashian at the SZA concert at Milwaukee's Summerfest Saturday night?

Several counties in southern Wisconsin were under tornado warnings for part of the evening Saturday following multiple sightings of tornadoes, including near Watertown and Janesville, according to the National Weather Service. Much of southern Wisconsin was under a tornado watch, which is less serious than a tornado warning, for the duration of Saturday evening.

Flash flooding was also reported in several counties in southern Wisconsin, according to the NWS.

The storms hit Wisconsin on what would have been a particularly busy day for outdoor music concerts.

Confusion at Summerfest's American Family Insurance Amphitheater due to severe weather

There was anger, confusion then elation at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater Saturday night ahead of superstar SZA’s highly anticipated Milwaukee debut.At 8:22 p.m., opener Aminé had to put his set on pause “due to lightning and the weather,” although storms had yet to hit Maier Festival Park. That prompted some boos - then deafening boos and cries for SZA three minutes later - when the video screens in the amphitheater read, “Evacuation Due to Current Weather Conditions please calmly exit Summerfest.”

Fans in the amphitheater erupted with chants of “SZA SZA SZA.” Then at 8:26 p.m., the message on the screens in the amphitheater changed to “Attention Severe Thunderstorm Warning … There are no storm shelters on site.”Then at 8:29 p.m. an announcement came over the amphitheater speakers: “This is not an evacuation order,” received with deafening cheers and chants of “We want SZA” over cheerleader-style claps.More announcements confirmed the show would go on, with people in the bleachers told to come down to the covered lower bowl of the venue. Fans were also told they could leave the grounds and would be permitted back in after the storm passes. The rain and lightning started rolling over Maier Festival Park around 8:45 p.m., with gates opening up, after the storm passed about an hour later, and headliners hitting stages around 10 p.m. SZA took the stage at 10:35 p.m., ending her show two minutes before the festival’s midnight curfew.

Fans get intimate moment with Brother Elsey

The band Brother Elsey did not let the bad weather stop them from sharing their harmonic sounds. After the storms passed and before headlining performances resumed, the band of siblings sat at the edge of the Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard stage and gave an acoustic concert to less than 100 fans who braved the storm. Fans got an intimate moment with the popular alternative-indie band from Detroit.

The band is made up of brothers Brady, Beau, and Jack Stablein, and member Dalton Thomas.

Shannon Graves of Milwaukee was excited to get up close to the band with her partner. Having seen them once before, she said listening to her favorite songs in a more personal setting was worth the rain.

“We travel a lot for concerts,” Graves said. “We’ve traveled all over Canada just for festivals or shows of bands and we’ve never had something like this happen before. So it’s very cool.”

Tacos and Tequila Fest canceled

The Tacos and Tequila Festival at Franklin Field confirmed on Facebook that it had canceled the remainder of the event Saturday night with the arrival of the night's storms. In the Facebook post, organizers said they "were able to closely monitor (the storm) and get in as much of the show as possible," although commenters on social media said the plug was pulled on the show a couple of songs into the performance of the festival's headliner, Ludacris.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Summerfest to resume performances after weather delays