By Matt Mueller Culture Editor Published Jun 26, 2017 at 6:01 PM

After a literal year of hype – remember the signs up at last year's festival? – the Biggest Gig will finally begin on Wednesday, bringing 11 days of tasty food, hopefully lovely summer weather and simply the best people-watching. Oh, and music – obviously music. And here are the acts pop culture editor Matt Mueller is already laying down blankets on bleachers to save seats for.

Wednesday, June 28

Day one of the Big Gig means Flume at 10 p.m. at the Miller Lite Oasis. To the olds out there: No, Summerfest 50 isn't opening up its biggest ground stage this year with a giant water slide attraction (but tell me that wouldn't be awesome). Flume is actually an Australian DJ who's blown up this past year with a Grammy-winning album ("Skin") and several radio-ready hits like "Never Be Like You" featuring Kai and "Say It" with Tove Lo. Personally, though, my favorite's his collaboration with Beck, "Tiny Cities." 

Thursday, June 29

How is Hanson so ... normal? Shouldn't kids in the spotlight grow up to be fame-desperate and constant tabloid fodder? And yet here they are, still together, giving really humble, normal sounding interviews and charming audiences with "MMMBop" as well as pun-loving pop culture editors by crafting a beer called "MMMHop." Good for them – and I'm actually looking forward to their headliner gig Thursday night at the U.S. Cellular Connection Stage and unironically enjoying living in the '90s again.

Friday, June 30

A part of me has an urge to go see House of Pain play Badgers game favorite "Jump Around" for probably 90 minutes at 9:45 p.m. at the BMO Harris Pavilion. But then another part of me – particularly my calf muscles – politely chimes in to remind me that I get exhausted after about just 30 seconds of hopping around to "Jump Around" because I have a colt's legs and a grandpa's joints.

So it's peppy pop dude Jon Bellion then at 10:15 p.m. at the Miller Lite Oasis – and, most importantly, his lead-in Barns Courtney at 8 p.m. He may only have a five-song EP to his young career, but all five rollicking sawmill rock songs are fire (well, literally, only one is called "Fire," but you understand what I'm saying). 

Saturday, July 1

Bebe Rexha may sound like the name of a Transformer character, but she's actually a very popular singer who's contributed vocals to massive hits like G-Easy's "Me, Myself & I" and Martin Garrix's "In the Name of Love," as well as her own current hit "The Way I Are." She'll be at the U.S. Cellular Connection Stage at 10 p.m. hosting what should be a pretty outstanding dance party – or a very unfortunate one for those who glimpse me and what can only be very generously described as "my dance moves."

Sunday, July 2

The last time I saw Andy Grammar, he opened for DJ Paris Hilton at Summerfest – and I don't want to risk seeing him on stage and having some PTSD-like flashbacks to that unfortunate evening. So I'll be elsewhere Sunday night. 

Tuesday, July 4

Apparently everybody hates The Chainsmokers these days – from deadmau5 to this Esquire article from January to probably even your mom, because don't those nice boys know smoking is bad for your health. When Nickelback is giving you life advice, something's gone awry. And the worst part? THEIR MUSIC IS SO CATCHY! So of course I'm going to their Amp show, and I'm probably to hate them – and even more so hate myself for singing along to every song.

Wednesday, July 5

Rock legend Tom Petty will headline the Amphitheater, and while it would be nice to cross him off my concert bucket list, the exciting draw here for me  – and this might be musical heresy – is opener Chris Stapleton, whose joint-headliner gig with Alabama Shakes last summer was one of the best live shows I've seen. Unfortunately, I lost the office knife fight for reviewer tickets, so instead it'll be a rare night of rest for me. And regret. Rest and regret. 

Thursday, July 6

Rock legend Tom Petty will headline the Amphitheater, and while it would be nice to cross him off my concert bucket list, the exciting draw here for me – and this might be musical heresy – is opener Chris Staple ... wait a second, didn't I just say this? Did I just have a stroke? DID SOMEBODY JUST MAKE TOAST?! Oh, phew, Summerfest just booked Petty for two nights. 

Anyways, while Stapleton again is a tempting draw, I'm going to do local duty and see a passel of Milwaukee performers at the Johnson Controls World Stage, including D'Amato at 4:15 p.m., Vincent VanGREAT at 6:45 p.m. and Lex Allen at 8 p.m. 414, let's hear one more!

Friday, July 7

Two years ago, Walk the Moon rode onto the U.S. Cellular Connection Stage just in time for its ridiculously catchy smash hit "Shut Up And Dance." Since then, the Cincinnati-born pop rockers have come down to earth a bit, but after that bright Summerfest show worthy of the absurdly large crowd they drew, I'm willing to venture their way again at 10:15 p.m. at the Miller Oasis.

Saturday, July 8

"Cake by the Ocean" will become cake by the lake as the Joe Jonas-fronted pop group DNCE takes the Miller Lite Oasis stage Saturday night. But really, there had better be cake. 

Sunday, July 9

It was always going to be tough for Summerfest to find a headliner act big enough to compete with the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney of yesteryears. And yet somehow, I think they pulled it off – or at least gotten damn near close – with the Outlaw Musical Festival, basically Summerfest doing its best Xzibit impression and saying, "Yo dawg, I heard you like music festivals, so I put a music festival in your music festival." 

The day-long festival within the festival has everything: old legends to see while you still can (Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson), steadily rising up-and-comers (Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, Margo Price, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real), soulful singer-songwriter standbys Sheryl Crow and Jason Isbell. It's beyond what you could ever imagine from just one day at Summerfest. 

Matt Mueller Culture Editor

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.