The Big Gig arrives on the lakefront this week and having been a Summerfest regular for nearly 30 years now, I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on some memorable shows I've seen on the stages of the Henry Maier Festival Grounds in the Third Ward.

I'll do my best to get the dates right, but 30 is a lot of years ...

The first summer I lived in Milwaukee, I spent a lot of time at Summerfest and especially at the Rock Stage, which was then on the south end of the grounds.

That year I saw Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Violent Femmes and REM on the Rock Stage, but, more than anything, I remember seeing Milwaukee's own Colour Radio, playing its synthpop in the sunshine. I remember Dark Facade there, too, but can't be sure if it was that year or the next.

The same year, my brother asked me to go with him to see Eric Clapton (at least The Blasters opened!) and Kool & the Gang on the Main Stage, which is where the Rock Stage is now located.

By the following year, Colour Radio was headlining the Rock Stage and I again saw the Femmes and REM there, along with the awesome Rank and File, who also played at UWM in '84 (the same night Run DMC was at the Eagles Club).

In '86, the Femmes headlined what might still be the best hometown bill on the Main Stage, with The R&B Cadets and the just-signed BoDeans opening.

By the '90s, I was actually seeing Summerfest from the other side of the stage barricades and had memorable shows with Del Amitri – at which singer Justin Currie gave me a great present (books!) and assured me 30 was nothing to fear – K's Choice, The Caulfields, Semisonic and others.

That was also the decade of Jellyfish and the annual Reggae Sunsplash on the Miller Stage and Wilco, Son Volt and Citizen King on the Leinie Lodge (now the U.S. Cellular Connection).

It was around the same era that I got to spend some time at the Big Gig with my drumming hero, Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace – star of the film "Rockers" – when he was there to play with Madison's Michael Stone.

It's hard to believe it's been 12 years since Joe Strummer kicked ass on the Rock Stage on my birthday in 1999.

The best show I've seen in recent years at Summerfest was Elvis Costello and the Imposters on the M&I Classic Rock Stage in 2009. At first some wondered why Costello was on a "Classic Rock" stage, which conjured images of something entirely else.

But for some of us, it made perfect sense. There is no more classic rock and roll than Elvis Costello.

It's hard to guess what the most memorable show of Summerfest 2011 will be – it's not always the gig you expect – but I'm ready for it.