But priority No. 1 after parking the car was finding something to eat, since neither of us had a solid lunch in between all of our running around earlier in the day. We passed through the gates a little after 5 p.m. and embarked on our first pass through the grounds, looking for the most appetizing menu ... Soon enough, Martino’s caught my eye and I went for a Chicago style hot dog piled with relish, onions, a couple tomatoes and, wouldn’t you know it, the first pickle I’ve ever eaten in my life. Funny, I was so hungry that for once even a pickle looked appetizing to me. And it was pretty tasty, too -- I just might have acquired a new taste ... Then after a little more browsing, Kates settled on a gyro from Greek Village, and from there we carried our food baskets to the M&I Classic Rock stage on the south end of the grounds for The Britins ...
We arrived at the stage about 10 minutes into their show, and I think we found the last available picnic bench in the place. All you had to do was look at these guys dressed in their gray Beatles suits and you understood why the place was packed. People are suckers for Beatles bands, especially when they dress the part … These guys had people dancing on the picnic tables in no time as they ran off “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” “All My Loving,” “Boys,” “Hard Day’s Night,” “I Should've Known Better,” “Help!” “I Feel Fine,” “In My Life,” “Day Tripper” and “Drive My Car.”These guys looked the part, played the part and talked the part, British accents and all. I loved 'em from start to finish ... Kates was a little more critical, however, pointing out the guys went slightly out of tune when they needed to hit higher notes, and she was having trouble overlooking a fifth Beatle, who accompanied the band with a keyboard and other instruments ...
No matter, the band pulled out “Twist and Shout” as the final number of their "pre Sgt. Pepper" set, and the number of people dancing on picnic tables nearly doubled. The star in our corner of the stage area was a middle-aged man who took to a picnic table without any regard of who was watching him. And when an grandmother handed him an inflatable Spongebob Squarepants, he used it as a dance partner ...After a 15-minute break, the Britins returned to the stage for its "Sgt. Pepper" garb and they just might have been the worst Beatle costumes ever worn. The looked like cheap knockoffs; like Halloween costumes made out of that cheap plastic or vinyl material
To start off the set, they offered up “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band / A Little Help From My Friends,” “Hello Goodbye,” “Good Day Sunshine,” “Fixing A Hole” and “Eleanor Rigby,” which is when Kates and I decided to move on ...
* * *
On our to-do list in between catching the Britins and heading to the Briggs & Stratton stage for the rest of the night's performers was taking a ride on Summerfest's iconic Skyglider. In five years of going to Summerfest, I'd never hitched a ride on the thing, and darn it, this year I wanted that experience ...
Like a ski lift, the glider takes patrons from one end of the grounds to another. Kates and I paid the $3 apiece to get our tickets and then took our place in the line, which moved swiftly as the glider's attendants herded riders in and out of the area. "This is quite the operation," I mused to Kates ... The gliders don’t stop, so when they tell you to go, you go and you get to the yellow box painted on the ground as quickly as possible. Within moments there’s a glider coming up fast behind you, taking your feet out from under you and lifting you high into the air above Summerfest … Talk about a rush.
The sensation of being lifted above the grounds, my feet dangling to nowhere, was a little bit of an adjustment for the first couple minutes or so of the ride. Then the awe of the scenery set in -- seeing all the hordes of people wandering below, sampling each stage we passed, pretty much seeing the magnitude of the Summerfest grounds from a bird's eye view. Again, a rush.* * *
Afterward, I purchased my bucket of Mountain Dew for the night and Kates went for a cup of raspberry sherbet at Cold Stone Creamery. Then we headed for the Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard to catch the remainder of the Briggs Bluesbusters show and then Lindsey Buckingham at 10 p.m.
About those Bluesbusters: Don’t let the “blues” in their name fool you. I was mesmerized by these guys last year, so I was thrilled when I noticed they were opening for Buckingham last night. Year after year, this huge collection of amateur, but very talented, musicians has got to be one of most entertaining bands to play Summerfest ...
The membership of the house band for Briggs & Stratton includes employees, friends and family members who make up a wide range of ages and abilities. The band numbers fluctuate from song to song, but they capped out tonight at 13 strong with the help of Reed Kailing, a former member of the Grass Roots and Badfinger.
We caught them charming yet another crowd with their covers of Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash. We caught them singing McCartney's “Band on the Run,” Petty’s “American Girl,” Bryan Adams’ “Summer of ‘69,” Melissa Etheridge’s “I’m The Only One,” The Grass Roots’ “Temptation Eyes,” and The Boss’s “Born to Run.” As usual they raised the energy bar with every number, and their finales are something to savor. Tonight, the band wrapped their set with their fantastic take on The Who’s “Baba O’ Riley,” -- keytar and all -- and a crowd sing-a-long of Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone.”
The Bluesbusters were off the stage by 9, although I’m not sure the crowd was ready to see them go. I’m thinking they easily could have stolen another 30 minutes on the stage before Buckingham came on …
* * *
To pass the hour between the Bluesbusters and Buckingham, Kates and I tag-teamed with some Solitaire on the iPod … For the record, I’d played about 20 games since discovering the game on the iPod a few weeks ago, and I’d settled on the idea that it was impossible to win. … Last night was Kates first-ever attempt at the game and she endured just six or seven losses before she won, not once, but two consecutive games …
In the meantime, I surveyed the crowd and decided Kates and I were two in maybe a dozen or so twenty-somethings sprinkled throughout the crowd. Yep, with Buckingham, an icon of the '70s pop scene, scheduled to play, we were surrounded by Baby Boomers.
… But after hanging in a bowl of somewhat immature college-aged fans at Friday night's OAR show, it was a welcomed change of pace. Still, I did see a few of the boomers, albeit a little slower and with more regard for their beverages, push their way through the crowd in pursuit of the best seats ...
No doubt the place to be last night for the young bucks -- at least for those who couldn’t afford to hit the Marcus for The Fray -- was the Miller Lite Oasis for the Goo Goo Dolls. That place already appeared packed at 6 p.m., and once again, I might have been in the mix had we not seen them perform last summer… Surely Lifehouse drew a crowd at the Zippo Rock Stage, too.
Going in to last night, I tried not to get my expectations too high. In the last couple years, seemingly out of nowhere, I’ve developed quite an admiration for Fleetwood Mac. Like any fan of the band, I assume, I’ve become a huge fan of the “Rumours” album and I enjoy their self-titled release almost as much.” Kates and I both adore “Never Going Back Again,” (there's a sweet live video of it here!) and Buckingham’s guitar work and vocals on songs like “Go Your Own Way,” “Second Hand News” and “Don’t Stop” thrill me every time I hear them (especially on THIS version)…
But, I knew next to nothing about his solo work. In fact, I hardly realized he had an established solo career until I began reading more into Fleetwood Mac and I caught some of the reviews for his “Under The Skin” release last year …
So I'd decided I was ready for anything ...
* * *
In the end Buckingham was more than satisfying Saturday night, offering a solid two-hour set steeped with a bountiful mix of Fleetwood Mac favorites and his solo work.
In between repeated standing ovations, thunderous clapping and uninhibited cheering, there were several words and classifications thrown out throughout the night to describe Buckingham -- an American treasure, uber-amazing, eccentric -- and all of them fit the bill.Buckingham took the stage alone and kicked off the intimate performance with “Not Too Late,” as the sight of his fingers galloping effortlessly on his guitar strings nearly sucked the air out from underneath the Hoan Bridge. He followed it up with another solo effort, “Trouble” and then opened the lid on his Fleetwood Mac catalog with “Never Going Back Again,” though his vocals on the latter were shaky, raspy, forced and, well, disappointing.
Quickly afterward, he was joined on the stage by a three-man backing band and the group wasted no time plowing into an energizing “Second Hand News” that dynamited the crowd to its feet while transporting a good portion of them back to younger days (after the song, a giddy older woman standing next to me was giggling like a starstruck teenager), or in my case to driving my car earlier in the day ...
Buckingham cemented his reputation as a tremendous guitar player early in the set and ran from stage right to stage left, rocking with a youthful exuberance throughout the night. But at times he failed to keep the momentum going and that had the crowd playing a game of stand-up, sit-down for parts of the set.
That game was quite a bit easier to endure, however, than the deafening and distorted sound quality, which I don’t think was any fault of Buckingham’s crew but rather the poorly placed Briggs stage, which sits squarely underneath the Hoan Bridge. Near the end of the performance, several fans could be seen holding hands to their ears, trying anything to stop the numbness, and I think the young girl seated on the bench in front of us and huddled under her mother’s wing was actually crying from the pain of the noise. Kates and I were wearing ear plugs, but I’m still dealing with an intense ringing in my ears this morning.
But on with the show. Buckingham moved on to another one of his solo efforts with “Castaway Dreams,” a take on growing up, then the self-described “uber-strange” Fleetwood tune “Red Rover.” He also turned in some dazzling guitar work on “Big Love” and “World Turning.”
And on the percussive “Tusk,” Buckingham got the crowd bursting to its feet once again. I had briefly fantasized that perhaps the UW marching band would appear from behind the stage with the accompaniment, but instead the backing musicians worked their keyboards and drums to replicate the sound originally recorded by the USC Trojan marching band (another great live version here!). In the meantime, a man in front of me whaled on his air horn.Buckingham closed the first part of his set with a ferocious “Go Your Own Way” that had him punching and swatting at the neck of his guitar. And then after a short breather, he returned to the stage with the bouncy “Holiday Road” and a lovely “Show You How.”
As the clock struck midnight, Buckingham was wrapping up his performance -- and his nine-month tour. The band got a little mushy on each other as Buckingham introduced the others and gushed about hos great their tour had been -- with his “Shut Us Down.” In the background, the PA system was announcing the grounds were closing and patrons were being encouraged to leave the grounds. But Buckingham hardly seemed to care, bowing into his guitar and singing softly, “No, I will stay around / As long as I can /As long as I can.”
No comments:
Post a Comment