Summerfest, the largest music festival, as recognized by Guinness World Records, returned for its 58th annual event in Milwaukee. The festival has yet to return to its pre-COVID attendance numbers, as 2019 recorded an attendance of 718,144 patrons.
The post-attendance decline may be attributed to overlap with weather storms, pandemic recovery and the format of the event going through different iterations, as 2025 switched to over nine days across three weekends.
You can find more detailed information/reviews in Prowl Radio‘s “Summerfest 2026 Review” and UWM Post‘s week one, week two and week three coverage of the iconic Milwaukee music festival. Find more Summerfest photos in UWM Post‘s “Summerfest Photo Gallery” from Zuriel Lott.
Summerfest: Pre-Opening Day
Garth Brooks opened Summerfest with two nights of playing his hits to sold-out crowds of fans. The country music icon is known for his stage presence and for always giving an exhilarating performance that gets the audience singing and dancing along.
With lyrics like “Blame it on my roots,” which is from Brooks’ song “Friends in Low Places,”
there is bound to be some rambunctious behavior. Luckily, only one member of the audience walked away with their head busted open.
Summerfest: Week One
June 18 – Opening Day
Summerfest began with its first set at the Aurora Healthcare Pavilion with the MKE Live Groove. It featured a wide range of local Wisconsin artists.
The day was also marked as “Show Your College Pride Day,” with numerous colleges setting up tents near the entrance. These include Carroll University, Milwaukee Area Technical College, Marquette University, UW-Milwaukee and UW-Whitewater.
The T-Mobile Stage hosted local Milwaukee artist, Micha Emrich. The Pop/Soul artist added a flair to his performance with stage dancers beside him. He performed a wide variety of covers and songs of his own, such as “Secrets” from his 2024 album, “PROMISES.”
Shortly after Emrich’s set came Milwaukee Indie artist Maximiano. They bridge the gap between Folk, Americana and Indie rock in their projects. Near the end of their set, they condemned ICE and the Palestinian genocide in Gaza.
Near the end of the night, the Summerfest crowd had been filled with pink country attire as Megan Moroney fans had come to see the opening day headliner performance of Summerfest at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater.
Fireworks were launched into the night sky by the lake to celebrate the start of the next three weeks of Summerfest.
June 19 – All Wisconsin and Father John Misty
Artist Emmitt James performed on the T-Mobile Stage. After his departure to Los Angeles for eight years, he has come back to his birthplace in Milwaukee. His music is a fusion of Hip-Hop and Jazz.
James stated on the stage that he has been in therapy for two years after his 2024 album, “It’s Giving Healed Black Man.” He would further preach for the importance of mental health, as many of his songs are set around these issues.
After the crowd of black leather shorts and “Octane” tour shirts had entered the amphitheater for the Don Toliver Concert, Father John Misty, a major inside rock artist, took the stage at the Generac Stage. Possibly the largest ground stage crowd yet, the set was visually very red and filled with smoke to give a dreamy vibe to pair with the songs he performed.
June 20 – Rock Wisconsin and History Made
The first set at the T-Mobile Stage was held by Lauren Gottshal, an artist outside of Chicago who has moved to Nashville. She performed many of her songs at Summerfest, notably with her 2025 single, “Chicago, Me & You.” It is a love letter to her hometown and her upbringing.
The Johnsonville Summerville Stage hosted Divas & Jazz, which is composed of female vocalists in the Milwaukee area. They took their audience on a jazz journey with covers of some of the most famous jazz artists like Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald.
The Miller Lite Stage featured a Milwaukee/Racine punk rock band called American Progress. They performed their works like “Ace of Spades” and “You Aint Goin Nowhere.” They brought in a thrilling performance on set. Their main guitarist walked down to the photo pit to be next to the audience.
The day ended with a headliner performance from Carin Leon, and many of the fans were wearing vaqueros. He became the first regional Mexican artist to be a main headliner, as stated by the organizers.
Summerfest: Week Two
Summerfest in Milwaukee week two saw Ed Sheeran, Cody Johnson and Post Malone headline at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater.
June 25 – School of Rock and Milwaukee Legend McCurdy
Early in the day, Summerfest saw a wide range of performances from students of the School of Rock. Later in the afternoon, Milwaukee songwriter Pat McCurdy took the Generac Power Stage.
McCurdy is a local icon in the city known for their songs, “I Love the Green and Gold” and “The Trophy Song,” released shortly after the Green Bay Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV. Recently, a documentary on his life won an audience award in the Milwaukee Film Festival.
By the end of the night, there were long lines at the merchandise booth for Halestorm. Even throughout the day, small conversations could be heard about Halestorm. The anticipation made it seem as if they were the headliner at the amphitheater.
June 26 – Alt Rock and DJs
Again, the School of Rock performed into the early afternoon.
Grouplove, an alternative rock band, has produced numerous songs that have charted. Their first single, “Colours,” hit No. 15 on the Modern Rock charts. Their biggest commercial success came in November 2011 with the release of “Tongue Tied.” The band performed on the Uline Warehouse Stage.
The night concluded with Summerfest’s Sound Waves DJ Series at the Aurora Pavilion. This night was hosted by Milwaukee DJ, Mr. New York. The set was dedicated to R&B and hosted small local Milwaukee artists in its opener, including Micah Emrich, Shae Harris and Rob Knapp.
June 27 – A Star is Ready to be Born
The day started early with Fuzzysurf at the Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard. The Milwaukee band proclaims itself to have a focus on indie power-pop and surf-rock. Formed in 2017, they have released four studio albums, with their latest in 2025, “Chameleons.”
Simultaneously, the T-Mobile Stage was held by another Milwaukee artist, Vincent Van Great. They had previously performed live at a Milwaukee Bucks game during halftime. He has also opened for artists like Byrson Tiller, Tory Lanez, Lupa Fiasco and Eric Andre.
Pop artist MARIS took over the T-Mobile Stage in the afternoon, and she had the crowd in the palm of her hands. At the concert, she previewed a song titled “Losing People.” It will be featured in her EP titled “MOSH PIT,” which will be released on September 17.
As an artist, she has developed a clearly defined pop-rock sound, and she has a knack for creating catchy hooks. Her persona and musical style are like Chappell Roan with inspiration from artists like Prince, Queen and Whitney Houston.
Attendees were fortunate to witness this early performance in her career because she is an artist just waiting to be discovered and blown up.
Summerfest Week Three
Summerfest in Milwaukee approached the last weekend of the year with heavy hitters in its lineup from Muse, Alex Warren and Jelly Roll. The weekend also overlapped with the Fourth of July, which was marked by issues, as multiple fights had occurred on the grounds.
July 2 – Locally Grown Artistry
The day featured local Wisconsin artists on the grounds. One of these included Mexican-Milwaukee rapper El Sebas performing on the Miller Lite Stage. His songs are a fusion of Latin and hip hop.
Across the grounds, at the T-Mobile Stage, Indie rock artist KennyHoopla headlined the stage. Born in Cleveland, he and his family moved to Oshkosh in his early childhood.
KennyHoopla’s biggest success came in 2020 when he reached No. 8 with two singles on the U.S Alternative Airplay charts. The singles were “How Will I Rest in Peace if I’m Buried by a Highway?” and “Estella.”
At the end of the night, as part of the Sound Waves DJ Series, Milwaukee DJ GIRLNEXTDOOR took over the Aurora Pavilion.
Muse was the headliner, and when they were announced, we only knew of them for creating “Supermassive Black Hole” from the Twilight soundtrack.
The concert started strong, with smoke and red and white flashing lights. This was the best aspect of the show; the lighting proceeded to be incredible for the rest of the time.
About a quarter into the show, they performed “Supermassive Black Hole.” They played it with an extended intro, and the vocals were so good live. The crowd got so hyped, and the flashing white floating boxes on stage were very mesmerizing.
Unfortunately, most of the music they performed was not as heavy rock as one might expect it to be, and sort of sounded like Christian rock.
July 3 – Flo Rida with Djay Mando
The crowd packed into the T-Mobile stage to witness a collaboration performance by Djay Mando and Flo Rida. The Milwaukee DJ had the crowd jumping with hits local to Milwaukee like “There It Is” by 414BigFrank and SunnyLou.
Mando had total control of the crowd, with the attendees doing the mannequin challenge from 2016, which featured the song “Black Beatles” by Rae Sremmurd.
Shortly after the set, Flo Rida took the stage. He gave a wild performance that featured throwing roses towards the crowd and champagne showers onto the fan pit.
July 4 – Fourth of July Celebrations
At the start of the day, the Milwaukee Acoustic duo, John Nicholson and Susan Nicholson of Frogwater, took the Johnsonville Summerville Stage. They bring a blend of Celtic, bluegrass and pop to their music.
At the end of the night, Sam Barber performed on the BMO Pavilion stage. The country star has started to gain traction in recent years, such as his 2024 album, “Restless Mind,” hitting No. 9 on the Top Country Albums chart.
Barber’s latest project, from April 2026, “Broken View,” peaked at No. 12. He recently won the 2026 American Music Awards category for “Breakthrough Country Artist.”
Jelly Roll closed out the night as the headliner performance. An appropriate choice for celebrating America’s 250th birthday.
Looking Forward – Summerfest 2027
Next year, the iconic music festival will take place in Milwaukee on the dates June 24-26, July 1-3 and July 8-10.
This was included in MKZine!
“MKZine: Student Lifestyle Guide” – Volume 1, Issue 1 – September 2026
“MKZine: Student Lifestyle Guide” is available for viewing online here: https://uwmpost.com/special-projects/mkzine-uwm-student-lifestyle-guide
