| Summerfest The Briggs and Stratton Big Backyard On The Road With MaggieMay... We headed back to Milwaukee and made it an early night. Sort of! The Girls wanted to show their support of my creative efforts, so they made a pot of coffee and watched me write. They gave me their own opinions of the evening which I listened to thoughtfully, then completely ignored. HAHA Whomever travels with me is forced to listen to me read out loud various bits and pieces and is expected to laugh at the appropriate places or die. They are very good sports about it, which is why I enjoy traveling with them. It wasn't too long before they both faded away into the sunset, but I was in to it and kept a solitary midnight vigil with the comforting snoring of my lady companions to keep me company. Writing is a great thing, a wonderful creative experience, but it plays havoc with your sleep, and it did with mine. We rose leisurely and headed down to eat around three. No one was around the lobby and I thought that was a little odd. 
The REASON they weren't there was they had all lit over to Summerfest
and nabbed their seats. LOL That realization dawned on us a
few hours too late. We took a taxi over and entered what looked like
a state fair without animals. SueC wanted to ride the skylift that
ran overhead from one end of the fair to the other, but we distracted her.
Our first view of the Briggs and Stratton Big Backyard was pretty surprising.
It didn't look like much! (And boy, is THAT an understatement!)
Just the name had filled me with a sick feeling of unease, and seeing it
wasn't the least reassuring. I had every right to be there. My
husband is a macho tool-guy who not only owns numerous B&S engines but
can FIX them too. (Ooooh, what a rush!) I tell him that if medicine
doesn't work out, he can always put up a shingle offering small engine repair.
The concert was set for 10pm, but the center seats (benches that became
harder with each passing moment) were already full of excited gals in Moody
Blues tshirts on our arrival at 5:30, so we got what we could and set out
on the road to Summerfest Hell. LOLThere are 11 different stages at Summerfest providing live offerings that range from the the frightening to the bizarre, from Big Nick and the Cydecos to Day Old Bread and the Soul Pigs. It's a garage band lovers delight! 
I haven't heard of most of these groups and suspect YOU will never hear
of most of these groups. In addition to a truckload of unknowns and
locals are known acts including...Weird Al Yankovic! Steve Winwood, Everclear, Little Richard, Spyro Gyra, Blues Traveler, Dark Star Orchestra, Cheap Trick, Joe Cocker, Andrew W.K., Michelle Shocked, India.Arie, Rusted Root, Ben folds, Michelle Branch, George Thorogood & the Destroyers, David Lee Roth, Quiet Riot, and Los Lobos were the featured acts along with TMB on the various stages. This list doesn't include the "big" acts appearing at the Marcus Amphitheater. There is a hell of a lot of music at Summerfest. My Summerfest experience was limited to the old Briggs and Stratton Big Backyard. That was more than enough for me! Summerfest is located on the banks of Lake Michigan and you catch glimpses of the lake through and between tents and a LOT of people. 
There are beer tents and stalls every few feet and every single person,
small children and the elderly are carrying a beer. Lukewarm beer for
baby bottles was also available. Beer, beer, beer! It's good for
what ALES you. <snicker> Walking through the Summerfest
crowd involves avoiding all of these glasses of beer, and while I successfully
*did* for the most part, I felt something cool drip on my toes and realized
someone had tilted their full beer on me as we were deciding which direction
to take. As I look back at the experience, I think I should have had
SEVERAL the moment we arrived and it would have lessened the shock at beholding
the venue for the first time.THE VENUE I had been warned by SueC about the venue, but she just couldn't do it justice. You had to see it, to believe it. The stage was another black box, but rimmed in neon and with a big neon Briggs and Stratton sign on the top. CL said it looked like a bad scene from HeeHaw. It looked like a roadhouse, but the backdrop of the interior featured a variety of painted garden rakes, shovels, etc. sigh Elegant, it was not! There was a large plaza in front of it. 
The back of the plaza was set up with picnic tables similar to an Oktoberfest
scene but the area in front of the stage had long rows of metal benches.
We had thought that it was a standing kind of deal, but we were wrong.
The stage was high, no doubt so that all the people on this flat area could see the artists. I'd guess it was at least 6 feet high. There was a 10ft deep pit area with a gate in front of it and security guards were milling in and out over the evening. There was a 9 unit speaker hanging on either side and four 1 and 1/2 ft by 4 ft set of speakers on both sides, with two 2 ft high speakers facing into the crowd. I suspect it was a house sound system. The most amazing thing was the HIGHWAY leering overhead. Yes, we were under a highway overpass. With CARS going over it! LOL Well...it kept us in the shade and I figured it would provide protection from rain. I still MARVEL to think that I attended a Moody Blues concert under a highway. (MaggieMay shaking her head in disbelief) What is it going to be next? THE FASHION REPORT GE - Jimi Hendrix shirt, black slacks JL - White long slvd linen over shirt, black tank top : ), Leathers, boots JH- Sherbet long slvd shirt (NEW!!!), untucked, BLUE JEANS, studded boots Bernie - White outfit, red patterned belt Norda - Camisole, black hiphuggers Justin came out in a gorgeous and very wonderfully summery new pink/violet long slvd shirt. It had a gauzy look and was patterned with lines of a darker sherbet color. He looks SO good in that color. It's straight in front, and has a bit of a tail in back. He wore it untucked over blue jeans (SIGH) and finished the look with the studded boots. I LOVE the shirt! It's a great look, very becoming, very summer and relaxed. It made me wish that the summer tour was going to go all summer long. GREAT shirt! The jeans are too good to be true, tho a small rip would be...well, perfect. Lord! I've been to one too many Dwight Yoakum concerts, haven't I? THE CONCERT Despite the late, 10pm start (which was an agony all by itself), the ENTIRE 2003 setlist was played without an intermission. We got there and then could not leave the venue - we HAD to hold onto our seats, such as they were. 
We had live entertainment to keep us company - first Spider George and
the Web then the Briggs Bluesbusters. I kind of liked Spider George
and really enjoyed their signature song - Tarantula. LOL The
Briggs Bluesbusters were another deal all together. I found them incredibly
ANNOYING. Both their male and female lead singers took annoying to
new heights and their back up band was a bunch of old guys that stood in
a line together and read the music as if for the first time. What a
bunch of amateurs! I wouldn't give these guys the stage at the local
Eagles fellowship hall. They did a fair rendition of Meatloaf's Paradise
by the Dashboard Lights. I loudly sang along when they got to the part:Now I'm praying for the end of time! Oh *I* was praying all right, praying to God to hit that stage with lightning, send a tornado, whatever it would take to get the Briggs Bluesbusters OFF the stage. They started at 7:30 and played until 9:30, with one heavenly break that was WAY too short. I particularly enjoyed the sight of their elderly back up singer, and think the Moodies should consider her if Bernie doesn't work out. It was some of the worst covers I've ever heard. SueC pointed out to me that the Briggs group must be pretty big in Milwaukee because several people wanted to meet them afterward and set up backyard parties and Bar Mitzvahs. All I can say is, God bless their little hearts! At least they didn't cover NIGHTS which might have resulted in major rioting, egg throwing and hooting. I'm surprised they didn't think of it. 
What was GREAT about Summerfest was the HUGE crowd that came to hear The
Moody Blues. This was bigger, MUCH bigger than Appleton, which had
been the largest crowd I had seen since, um...maybe Indianapolis in 1999 (and
they haven't been back to my hometown since then!) I think the entire
plaza was filled - all the tables, the benches with crowds of people standing
on either side and in the back. SueC estimated the crowd to be between
10,000 and 3 million (!!! she needs to work on her estimation skills)
but I wouldn't have been a BIT surprised if it was around 15,000. It
was a very good concert! Some notes...The sound, at least in my seat, was pretty bad. <shrug> What do you want for free? LOL I used ear plugs. Not only do they block out part of the sound when it's very loud, they also filter out some distortion. Graeme bowed to Norda as he came out onstage and Norda curtseys back - it's so cute. GD had a minor lyrics flub, nothing to compare with the GD Disaster late of Edmonton. It's very unsettling to hear and SEE JH and JL singing different lyrics. This one was limited with a smart recovery. Lean On Me had a BIG awful sounding note during the Strat solo. 
After LoM was over, JH didn't change off, but was seen "fiddling" with
it and finally indicated the transmitter was out and that he hoped they had
another one. I guess the transmitters are attached directly to their
SKIN, because Justin was pulling at his transmitter and making faces.
Here I always thought they were just attached to their belts! He PITIFULLY
said: "It Hurts"! I still do *not* understand what the heck was hurting
him, but he was making a pretty big deal (and being hilariously funny with
it, too!) about it. POOR Justin! Messing around with the Strat
took a lot of time up there and JL dealt with it by saying "It's LIVE music".
LOL He waited a minute and JH and JohnB STILL weren't done, so he
said it again. JohnB FINALLY got the Strat off him and JH put on the
Red Gibson and then was attached by an umbilical cord. Hey, it worked
and that's all that matters. The bass on SZ at the beginning was vibrating
my ears THROUGH the ear plugs, but finally shaped up. 
H&H started off with GE saying "I look smaller than on telly, don't
I?" LOL!!! Great version, as always. JH came out with
the Strat for SeeSaw, but quickly changed to the sunburst Gibson.
It gave a different sound, but was ok. (Note for those who are concerned
with the health of Justin's various guitars: they are fine.
It was a venue "glitch".) The view from the stage HAD to be amazing. It's got to be a huge thrill to play for an audience that big. Everyone onstage seemed to be in a good mood and seemed too, to enjoy it as much as the audience. The large crowd was the most notable thing about Summerfest. I *know* it had to have been a good experience from the stage, but it was less than great from the audience. People were packed in pretty closely and it got very warm out there in the near middle of the second row. I had sat there for almost 7 hours by the concert's end, and that with the heat of a packed crowd made me half-sick. The rude woman next to me and SueC had saved "a couple" of seats for friends (I found that not unreasonable) then moved SIX people in there right before the concert. She THEN had the gall to complain to the nearest security guard that I was "saving" a seat (which she wanted for her large crew) and SET the guard on me. LOL I don't know what SueC was thinking when she had the nerve to go to the ladies room for 15 minutes. A LARGE number of people tried to file in in FRONT of the people sitting on the front row and I saw near fist fights over it. The scene at the end was wild - people standing on the benches, jumping up and down. This wasn't a laid-back hippie crowd, but a more aggressive, inconsiderate beer drinking group. I'm not sure front row would have been worth the effort it took to maintain your position. In the end, my opinion of the evening, despite a fine concert by TMB would have to be: I SURVIVED SUMMERFEST! MaggieMay Let me think on it, baby baby Let me think on it. Let me think on it, I'll give you an answer in the morning. I GOTTA KNOW RIGHT NOW! Photos courtesy of SueC |
