From Tyler Childers to Keith Urban, the best and worst of Summerfest 2024, Weekend 2

Rain again brought some drama to Summerfest for its second weekend of 2024, with downpours rolling over Maier Festival Park during some headlining sets Friday. Except unlike on June 22, the lightning stayed at bay, and the shows all went on without any pauses.

That scores of soaked fans stuck around spoke volumes about the high quality of shows — although some sets this past Thursday through Saturday left us disappointed.

Here's the best, worst and wildest things we encountered during Weekend 2 of Summerfest 2024.

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Best performances

Tyler Childers showed why he deserved to have one of the largest crowds at this year's Summerfest at a sold-out American Family Insurance Amphitheater Friday. His stage presence was so charismatic, it was like he'd become a completely different person since his last show in town in 2019. His band has significantly sharpened its chops, too, evident with a series of jaw-dropping solos throughout the two-hour set.

Pop band MUNA is deep in album mode for its fourth full-length LP, but at its one-off Summerfest set Thursday, it was as if the band members were fresh off polishing their set on Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour, as they danced and sprinted and spanked their way through one euphoric queer-joy banger after another.

Rising country star Jessie Murph on Friday wasn't just reviewer Erik Ernst's favorite Summerfest set this weekend — it was one of his favorites in years. "Her poise, and genuine appreciation for the response of the fans who stuck it out through the ongoing downpour was palpable," Ernst wrote.

Reviewer Damon Joy praised '90s punk luminaries Sleater-Kinney for taking their longtime fans "back to the good 'ol days," while reviewer Catherine Jozwik was fond of indie rock up-and-comers Flipturn's "irresistible combination" of "searing, tuneful (guitar) riffs" and "the entire band's unflagging momentum."

And reviewer Cal Roach admired EDM A-lister Illenium's "multisensory feast" in the amphitheater Thursday, a show that "didn't skimp on the bass drops."

Most disappointing performances

Cal Roach may have liked Illenium, but he was less impressed with the second amphitheater show he saw this weekend. "Fans know what they're getting by now with Keith Urban, and he rolled out the hits like always on Saturday, but he seemed to be pretty much coasting on nostalgia and image, with very little substance underneath the pop-country sheen," he said.

Some cut corners took a toll on Tiffany’s Thursday afternoon set. With piped-in drums, the ‘80s hitmaker and her guitarist tried to make up for their sparse setup with overwrought singing and stumbling showboating, respectively. Tiffany’s enthusiasm, at least, partially compensated for the awkwardness.

Damon Joy admits that some of Ken Carson's fans Thursday night looked like they were having "the best night of their lives," but he wasn't impressed by the set, sans DJ, during which the rising rap star "was basically being a backup rapper for his own prerecorded set."

Prerecorded vocals also dominated fast-rising rapper BigXThaPlug’s set, to the point that there were significant stretches where his live vocals weren’t audible.

Milwaukee MVP

For about the past five years, Milwaukee street rappers have been getting hundreds of thousands, even millions of streams, and drawing media attention from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone and other major media outlets. You'd think Summerfest would have capitalized on that heat, but, until this year, there have been very few bookings. So when SteveDaStoner got his big shot at the Generac Power Stage Saturday, he made up for lost time, sharing the stage and mic with fellow local rappers like Mook G and Carvie P (plus some rapping kids and singing elders). That share-the-wealth mentality made him all the more endearing. No wonder Ludacris wanted to do a free surprise show with him at 3rd Street Market Hall when he was in town recently.

Best performance I saw that we didn't formally review

The media trailer on the Summerfest grounds is right behind the Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard, which can be a great thing, or a rough one, depending on whose playing. But catching up on a bunch of work between reviews Thursday afternoon, I relished the sounds of Chicago post-punk band Brigitte Calls Me Baby as my soundtrack. When I realized I was running late to catch a set I needed to review, I booked it out of the trailer to hustle to the other end of the park — only to stop dead in my tracks at the sound of frontman Wes Leavins' spellbinding croon for the band's signature song "Impressively Average"—- deadlines be damned.

Genre (still) needing representation

In 2014, South Korean band Crayon Pop opened for Lady Gaga at Summerfest. Since then, K-Pop has become a global force, but there haven’t been any bookings, until seemingly this year with HYO slotted for Aurora Pavilion. But the K-Pop veteran instead opted for a DJ set — a fun one, Erik Ernst wrote. But the return of an actual K-Pop performance at Summerfest will have to wait for another year.

Pointed political statements

Both MUNA and Eve 6 weighed in from Summerfest stages this past weekend on the conflict in Gaza. MUNA singer Katie Gavin dedicated “I Know a Place,” a song written to give hope to people in the LGBTQ+ community who are ostracized, to people in Palestine. And Eve 6's Jon Siebels had a huge sticker on his guitar that read, “End Palestinian Occupation.”

Best needle drop

As people fled the American Family Insurance Amphitheater through the rain after Tyler Childers’ set Friday, a savvy DJ at the adjacent South Party Pavilion had the perfect song for them: “Umbrella” by Rihanna.

Summerfest staffer shout-out

There have been plenty of friendly staffers at Summerfest, but one environmental worker in particular named Mario stood out to Erik Ernst Friday. He "was greeting everyone he walked past while doing his work," Ernst said, asking everyone "how their night was going and how they were enjoying themselves. It was fun to see him spreading so much joy while working at the festival. I enjoyed chatting with him … a real feel-good highlight on a rainy evening."

Best reason to roam along the park lakefront

There’s a Ferris wheel, people watching, nice views and breezes, and free samples galore, but the best attraction are the unofficial stages sprinkled along the trail. I strolled over to one of them Friday, the Wisconsin Area Music Industry Stage, to check out Sam Karody. (His mother made quite the persuasive argument to see his set. Maybe she needs to launch a PR agency.) I’m glad I did because Karody’s original rock tunes and cover of a Bollywood song were quite charming. So as much terrific music as Summerfest officially has, there’s more good stuff to discover.

Best local doctor endorsement

Childers was very chatty at Summerfest Friday, but he said that, at his previous show in Indiana, he "felt like a turd" with severe allergies acting up. So when he rolled into Milwaukee he said he sought out Dr. Alia Fox at H20 Health for some IV therapy. By Friday night, Childers said, he felt "absolutely lovely."

Strangest scheduling

Summerfest has had some odd scheduling choices over the years, but none as perplexing as two Thursday evening stage closers: DJs Illenium and Alison Wonderland (the former at the amphitheater, the latter the Miller Lite Oasis). Summerfest Director of Entertainment Scott Ziel previously told me Illenium's show would wrap in the amphitheater before Wonderland began at the Oasis — and sure enough it did, with some Illenium fans making their way over to Wonderland. That said, neither stage was particularly slammed, which makes me wonder if the shows might have each done better on different days.

Best singing in the rain

Illenium and Alison Wonderland on the same night wasn’t the only perplexing scheduling at Summerfest this past weekend. The same night that Childers headlined the amphitheater, like-minded Charles Wesley Godwin was booked for Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard. With the latter scheduled to start at 10:45, I’d wager fest officials hoped he’d lure some Childers fans, but with Childers not done until 11:30, anyone who saw the full amp show had to miss most of Godwin. That said — despite the late hour and the rain — a “Take Me Home, Country Roads” singalong is hard to turn down, so scores of Childers fans did flock to the Briggs stage for Godwin’s late-set John Denver cover — to the point that it felt like “all of Summerfest had suddenly showed up,” Cal Roach wrote in his review.

More: SZA, storms, Kardashian and Motley Crue: The best and worst of Summerfest 2024, Weekend 1

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More: BigXThaPlug, Ethel Cain, and the best and worst on Day 6 of Summerfest 2024 in Milwaukee

Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or [email protected]. Follow him on X at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: The best and worst of Summerfest 2024's Weekend 2 in Milwaukee