This morning the Wisconsin State Fair added two new headliners to its Main Stage lineup. Rock 'n' roll icon Huey Lewis and The News will bring the power of love to the State Fair on Saturday, Aug. 4, while TLC will bring the party – no scrubs invited! – on Friday, Aug. 10.
Huey Lewis and The News's early work was a little too New Wave for some tastes, but when "Sports" came out in 1983, the band really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album had a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gave the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but Huey has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor.
The group would go on to release 19 top ten singles in between the '80s and '90s, including "Hip to be Square," "The Heart of Rock & Roll" and the "Back to the Future" radio hit "The Power of Love" – which even earned the band an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song in 1986.
Fellow Grammy-nominated icons The Wailers will join Huey Lewis that night, serving as the evening's opening act with reggae hits like "No Woman, No Cry" and "Three Little Birds."
Meanwhile, '90s hip-hop pop group TLC will hit the stage a little less than a week later, bringing Billboard Hot 100 hits like "Creep," "Waterfalls," "No Scrubs" and "Unpretty." Over the band's impressive run before and after the turn of the millennium, TLC received 17 Grammy nominations, as well as five wins, twice triumphing as Best R&B Album for "CrazySexyCool" in 1996 and "FanMail" in 2000. TLC will be joined this summer at State Fair by fellow '90s girl group hitmaker En Vogue ("Free Your Mind"), who will serve as the night's opening act.
Seating at both Huey Lewis and TLC will be reserved, with tickets costing $29 and $39. Tickets for both shows will go on sale beginning Friday, March 16, at 9 a.m. at the Wisconsin State Fair's website as well as in person at the State Fair box office – located at 7722 W. Greenfield Ave. – and over the phone at 1-800-514-3849.
And stay tuned to OnMilwaukee for more State Fair and summer festival updates as they arrive.
As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.
When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.
