Summerfest 2026 Review
Summerfest - June 18-20, 25-27, July 2-4
Written by: Prowl members |July 14, 2026
Summerfest 2026 has concluded! We ate cheese curds, we rode the skyglider and we explored the festival’s wide array of music. Milwaukee’s main music event of the year brought us over 600 artists with country music stars like Garth Brooks and Megan Moroney, and smaller names like SIIN, Case Oats and Living Colour. Prowl Radio members review the sets they saw over the three weekends to tell you which sets were a hit, and which ones were a miss.
Garth Brooks - June 16
Ethan Ainley
Garth Brooks opened Summerfest with two nights of playing his hits to sold-out crowds of fans. I was there on night one as he kicked off the Summerfest season with a high-energy performance of his hits and some covers.
Brooks 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, I only saw one member of the audience walking away with their head busted open.
Right at the beginning, he made it clear to the audience that this wasn’t going to be one of those concerts where the artist only plays the “new stuff.” He was ready to take us on an audio tour experience of the hits.
The legendary country singer came with his dad jokes, as he always does, and made everyone feel comfortable getting a little country in the concert space.
Brooks forgot to bring his wedding ring out to the stage and asked the crowd not to tell the Queen he forgot about it. The Queen being his wife and country music legend Trisha Yearwood. He joked that if this went on TikTok, then she would probably see it.
I won’t lie; this moment did get me excited for a possible Yearwood appearance. However, he quickly told the audience she wasn’t here.
Summerfest wasn’t even safe from some light shade from Brooks. He joked about wanting to come back to Milwaukee because the crowd was so great, and next time, having it somewhere with cheaper tickets.
As always, Brooks took the time to spotlight each member of his band. He highlighted how long they had been performing with him and gave personal anecdotes about each. It drove home that he and his crew are family.
Before giving the final electrifying performance of the night with his full band, Brooks came out for the encore with just himself and the guitar. In a stripped-down manner, he covered some songs with just him and a guitar.
Brooks was a longtime get for Summerfest as they had courted the arguable “king of country music” for quite some time. This was finally the year, and it was one of the artist’s few stops in the United States in 2026.
As a country music and Garth Brooks fan, I had a blast at my first Brooks concert, and he lives up to all those Entertainer of the Year awards. I speak for the whole crowd when I say we were prepared to “not go down (‘til the sun came up)” if it meant Brooks would keep performing.
Maris - June 27
I was familiar with a few MARIS songs because they were recommended by the Spotify algorithm. However, I was sold on this artist’s star potential after seeing her incredible performance.
MARIS had the crowd in the palm of her hands, especially the pit, which featured her die-hard fans going crazy for every song. Anyone else not already a die-hard fan was turned into one after the performance she gave.
Great places to start with her discography are the songs “Missing Me,” “Body Is On Fire,” “Salt Water Taffy,” “False Idol” and “MOSH PIT.”
At the concert, she previewed an unreleased song titled “Losing People,” which has since been released on streaming. It will be featured in her EP titled “MOSH PIT,” which will be released on September 17.
Her performance included most of her discography as well as a cover of One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful.”
MARIS is behind the entire production of her performances and merchandise. This includes her costuming and makeup, as well as her tie-dyed t-shirts saying, “MARIS MADE ME GAY-ER.” She wore a bra top made of metal pop tabs, and her signature makeup is a giant sparkly star across the face.
The performance engaged the audience on several levels, and she did a fantastic job at encouraging participation.
This included a moment when she asked the crowd to look at the stranger next to them and repeat self-affirming and self-love phrases to each other.
Other moments include asking fans to FaceTime a friend when she started performing “Missing Me.” MARIS then took some phones from the crowd and brought the friend on FaceTime around the stage.
MARIS, her persona and musical style are like Chappell Roan with inspiration from artists like Prince, Queen and Whitney Houston. She has developed a clearly defined pop-rock sound, and she has a knack for creating catchy hooks.
I’m grateful to have witnessed this early performance in her career because she is just an artist waiting to be discovered and blown up.
Audrey Nuna - June 27
Audrey Nuna had a great stage production and performed some songs from Huntrix/K-Pop Demon Hunters. Unfortunately, I found her performance overall to be disappointing and not my personal vibe.
I loved watching the rehearsed choreography done with back-up dancers. The crowd also helped uplift the experience with their pumped energy. However, it started to become robotic at a certain point.
The performance needed more variance and fewer clean, rehearsed moments. I wanted to see more improvisational and crowd interaction than what was in the concert.
Sadly, the merch from Nuna was also quite disappointing. It was white printed letters that spelled out her name on a totally white t-shirt. Therefore, you could barely make out what the shirt said. From a distance, I thought plain white t-shirts were being sold at the merch stand.
Nuna was very electric and had a stellar personality, but I found this to be a disappointing conclusion to a night of live music. I saw that a great time was had by the bigger fans of her music.
The Ocean Blue - July 2
Ian Dugenske
This past Spring, I found myself knee-deep in the discography of The Ocean Blue, the Pennsylvania-born indie-pop band who started in the late 80s. With a sound akin to The Smiths and early New Order, I was hooked and it took me by surprise when Summerfest announced their lineup this year with The Ocean Blue billed to play for the festival’s third weekend. As July 2nd rolled around, I braced myself to catch the band play during the blazing Milwaukee heat wave.
The Ocean Blue has been around since the 80s, and after hearing their early-afternoon set at the Uline Warehouse stage at Summerfest, the band played with an exceptional sound, as age seems only to be a matter of appearance for the act of five. After a brief soundcheck, the ‘core four’ members, including frontman David Schelzel and bassist Bobby Mittan (both who have stuck with the band since its formation,) as well as touring member Brian Tighe, took to the stage to crack open the set with “Drifting, Falling.” Opening with the second single from their debut, self-titled album, Tighe opened the set with the iconic saxophone riff, launching the rest of the band into the melancholic track that would set the tone for their performance.
Highlights from their festival performance include, “Give It A Try,” which turned into a full-blown shoegaze wave of sound that was truly euphoric to hear, “Myron” a deeper-cut from their first album tied to a seemingly medieval tale of knights, and “A Familiar Face,” the closer to that self-titled album with its lovely galloping melody in the drums and soaring saxophone parts. Of course, mainstays like “Ballerina Out of Control,” and the closing track to the setlist, “Between Something and Nothing,” with its guitar solo that, just as it is powerful in the recording, were truly incredible to hear live.
With how The Ocean Blue has surfaced and re-surfaced over the years with each album release coming out every seven or so years, being able to catch this band and have them bring a wonderful flavor of synths, jangly guitars, and saxophone to the Summerfest lineup was easily a highlight of this summer. Given the venue of the Uline Warehouse stage at Summerfest, it was fitting for the band to not only play to a dedicated crowd cultivated from all around the Midwest, but as well as to the scenic view of Lake Michigan serving as a backdrop for their set, with blue, cerulean skies overhead.
The Ocean Blue - July 2
Jose Rodriguez
I, alongside two girls, were by far the youngest people at their set by a good 30 years! I had a great time chit-chatting with the Gen-X members of the audience, including the lady who owns the D.I.X LGBT+ bar here in Milwaukee! I remember how she was impressed that they were one of the few legacy bands that still had their hair (even if it was going grey)! Every single (older) person I talked to in the audience had discovered The Ocean Blue during the promotional cycle of their self-titled debut album. The gentleman next to me discovered them when the band played a set at their college in Pittsburg all the way back in 1989! The Ocean Blue sounded super energized and David Schelzel’s (singer) voice hasn’t aged a day! They had a small, but extremely enthusiastic audience that knew the words to every song. While they mostly played songs from their debut album, they sprinkled in crowd favorites like “Ballerina Out of Control” and “Sublime” from their later albums into their setlist. Their second guitarist Oed Ronne and their additional saxophone player made it so the band sounded extremely lush during songs like “Drifting, Falling” and “Ask Me Jon”. My only complaint about their set was that it was too short!
Living Colour - July 2
Case Oats - July 2
Before Living Colour’s set, I started to wander around to different stages. I found Case Oats (a band I had never heard of) at an almost empty stage near the end of their set. I loved their song “Bitter Root Lake” and ended up loving their sound.
Gin Blossoms - July 2
After going to random vendor booths and BMX showcases, the Gin Blossoms finally started their set at 9:30. They started with their classic “Follow You Down” before going into their usual set. When the band got to “As Long as It Matters,” singer Robin Wilson noted how they were one of three bands to lose a Grammy to The Beatles because of this song. At the end of their setlist, they played their biggest hits “Hey Jealousy” and “Til I Hear It From You.” After that, most people made their way to the exit, but during their encore the band started to play covers of “Just Like Heaven” and “Folsom Prison Blues” that made the audience go crazy!
Muse - July 2
Stephanie Serrano
When Muse was announced as a headliner, I only knew them for creating “Supermassive Black Hole” from the Twilight soundtrack and being the reason Dan and Phil are together. My friends wanted to go, so why not? I love live music so much, I’m down for anything. Unfortunately, while this concert was a lot of fun, it was not the greatest.
This was my first ever visit to Summerfest and as a Wisconsin transplant, I was HYPE. The whole experience was super overwhelming with the crowds, loud music and drunk people everywhere. I ate a hot dog and got Pikachu face paint.
I sat in the very back of the American Family Insurance Amphitheater on the bleachers. The concert started off strong, with smoke and red and white flashing lights. This was my favorite aspect of the show, the lighting proceeded to be incredible for the rest of the time. I also really liked the tacky red flame outfit that frontman Matt Bellamy wore.
They started off with a live debut of “Hexagons,” which is off their newest album The Wow! Signal. This opening was definitely a highlight of the performance for sure. The intro starts out loud and slowly builds up with an electronic beat before layering some heavy shredding on an electric guitar. It was the best opening song they could have picked.
About 1/4th into the show, they performed “Supermassive Black Hole,” and let me tell you, it was incredible. They played it with an extended intro and the vocals were so good live. The crowd got so hype and the flashing white floating boxes on stage were very mesmerizing. Another highlight was when they played “Plug In Baby.” I was happy they performed this because I was a fan of this song before coming to the show. Hearing it live was great, the guitar shredding was very impressive and the vocals were also good.
Throughout the performance, they flipped between fan favorites such as “Hysteria” and “Plug In Baby” and new songs like “Unraveling” and “Be With You.” While I did not enjoy every song, the lighting design was eye-catching and interesting to watch as it bumped to the beat of the music.
I was not sure what to expect since I am not a Muse fan. Unfortunately, most of their music is not as heavy rock as I expected it to be, and sort of sounded like Christian rock to me, which I am not a fan of personally. Honestly, I caught myself wanting to leave towards the end of it. Muse did not gain another fan this day, sorry!