MILWAUKEE — When you think of Summerfest, what comes to mind? For some it’s the headliners, for others it’s the numerous food vendors, but for local Wisconsin bands it’s a way to showcase their music and talents at one of the biggest music festivals right in their home state.
“It’s an experience kind of unlike anything else,” John Tyler, guitarist from the Racine County based band Weird Science said. “It’s really a right of passage. It’s a chance to do something that a lot of big name acts have done over the years.”
Ben Read, guitarist from the West Bend based band Fall Back, shared how the band is coming back for their second Summerfest performance but this year on a much bigger scale.
“I don’t think it’s something that comes up in everyone’s lives like ‘oh we played Summerfest’; it’s definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Read said. “I wasn’t sure if we would ever be able to play at Summerfest again especially at a bigger stage like this. I would love to be able to headline [Summerfest] someday.”
Lots of hours, days, and weeks of preparation go into every performance on any Summerfest stage — big or small. It’s all about showing up and delivering your best performance possible while having some fun.
“You really have to have everything wired together tightly technically and you gotta have your music polished. Because this is not a stage where you want things to go not according to plan,” Tyler said.
You can catch Fall Back as they take the Miller Lite Oasis Stage on June 23 at 2:30pm.
“We didn’t play on a bigger stage like this,” Read said. “This is definitely going to be a new and interesting experience for us.”
Weird Science is set to rock the Guitars 4 Vets Wami Stage on Thursday June 29 at 9:00pm.
“These little stages are good places to see great music. There’s so many national headliners on the big stages but these little stages are not for lesser musicians these are just for less known musicians,” Tyler said.
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