You might not know this -- although you could probably guess -- local bands have a lot of opinions about Summerfest and playing the Big Gig.
For the bands that never make the cut, there is griping and dissatisfaction. From the ones that do, however, sometimes there is still griping. That's because not every gig at Summerfest is at 10 p.m. on the Miller Lite Oasis or at 7:30 p.m. in the Amphitheater.
What is perhaps the most controversial slot is the nooner on any of the side stages. While tons of bands clamor to get a Summerfest gig, it seems like many of them are disappointed to learn that the gig they land is at noon on, say, the Rock Stage. After all, the headliner and its fans are likely 10 hours away.
"I've never played that slot before, but I would think that any opportunity to play Summerfest would be a great opportunity in and of itself," says Kevin Brandt, who is a Summerfest regular.
One of the talent buyers at Summerfest attests to that.
"Let's put it simply," says Vic Thomas, "if your band can draw a crowd at noon, it will be noticed!"
And, remember Thomas and his cohorts are people, too. They have jobs to do and they have long memories. So, they know exactly on whom they count and on whom they cannot.
"From a buyer's perspective, somebody's got to do it," says Thomas. "It may sound trite, but I always remember when people give me resistance about playing at noon."
From a hard-working band's perspective, however, a noon slot could seem like a token gesture. Especially if that band has spent a long year traveling to gigs, pinching pennies to record and spending countless hours on the phone trying to get gigs, do publicity and keep a band together.
"It was a love / hate feeling," admits Brian Wooldridge of The Wooldridge Brothers, who made his Summerfest debut in the late 1980s with his then-band the Squares. "I always loved playing it, no matter what the time ... I guess I never felt that Summerfest ever really wanted to support local music, it was more like they felt they had to do a little something for it ... like give local bands the noon slot."
But most bands would agree with Thomas when he says, "better to play at noon then to not play at all."
I know that when I was gig-hungry, I certainly agreed. We saw a noon slot as an opportunity to get in the door, get to know the talent buyers and the stage crews and become familiar faces. And we knew that if we showed up on time, went with the flow and drew a decent crowd, we could perhaps ask for a little better slot or a little more money each year.
Thomas says that the noon slots are also a good way for the Summerfest buyers to check out some new local bands and try some new approaches.
"We are going more to using a lot of the noon slots for Battle of the Bands winners. I personally like these because normally these bands are below the Summerfest radar and it is great opportunity for the band to show us their stuff. And remember that the stage manager at every stage is taking notes and relaying this to them buyers."
And, you know what? For the most part, it worked, despite the fact that we really had very little leverage at a festival that books the likes of Tom Petty and Tim McGraw. Our leverage was that we were a known quantity and maybe best of all, a reliable quantity that filled some seats and sold some beer. We knew those stage managers were watching.
For Up and Under battle of the bands 2008 winner Fat J and the Pinners, their noon slot was a great opportunity.
"We'd all played Summerfest independently of each other, but until (then we'd) never had the chance to do it as a band," guitarist Gabe Bowling told OnMilwaukee.com's Julie Lawrence in May. "We really wanted it."
For some bands, a weekday noon slot -- when Downtown workers descended on the Big Gig for lunch --- is preferable to, say, a 2 p.m. slot when those workers were all back at their desks. And on weekends, noon, 2 p.m., 3 p.m. ... it was all the same. Summerfest, in case you haven't noticed, is crowded all day long on weekends.
Thomas agrees.
"Out of all of the noon slots, the weekends, the 3rd, the 4th (of July) and whenever the Family Day is -- when we let everyone for free from noon to 3 p.m. -- are great slots. It may be slow when you start, but it will fill up fast!
Thomas says more and more big-name local bands are slated to play nooners, too, these days.
"And this is something that you may see more of because we are constantly being asked to bring bigger crowds down to the grounds earlier in the day," he notes.
Thomas also says that, one year, the Bodeans played a noon slot on the very same day they headlined the Old Style Stage.
In the end, while a good Summerfest slot can help raise your band's profile or get you close to a headliner that could notice you, your long-term success is very likely not tied to the time of day you play at Summerfest.
We opened for national acts in the dark at Summerfest at least twice and we had another national act open for us, one year. They were great experiences and we enjoyed talking to those bands, but one of them was dropped by its label the following week and another imploded in a whiskey catastrophe soon after.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
