The first three days of Summerfest 2026 are in the books.
Or is that five?
This year, the customary nine days of one of America’s largest and longest-running music festivals (taking place this year June 18 to 20, June 25 to 27 and July 2 to 4) was complemented by two bonus nights of concerts June 16 and 17 with one of the biggest stars in the world.
And for those first five days of the Milwaukee music festival, the weather was great, and the music often greater – well most of it.
Here are some key takeaways from Summerfest 2026 so far.
Our favorite performances
Technically he wasn’t part of weekend one, but we’ve just got to mention Garth Brooks. At the first of two sold-out Summerfest kickoff concerts June 16 at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater – his only North American concerts this year – Brooks brought the trademark enthusiasm, merged with the everyman appeal of country classics like “Friends In Low Places” and “The Dance,” that have naturally made him one of the top-selling artists in the world.
But weekend one was also a reminder that some of Summerfest’s best artists call Milwaukee home. Two sets especially were evidence of that – from singer-songwriter Maximiano June 18, and Emmitt James June 19, who each recruited some of the city’s finest musicians to bring songs from some of Milwaukee’s finest albums of the last few years to life.
Writer Damon Joy said Charlie Wilson, now 73, wasn’t able to be as mobile at the BMO Pavilion June 18 as in years past, “but his voice remains rich and powerful,” he wrote in his review. Another bonus of his set: Joy wrote Wilson “wore what may have been the shiniest suit jacket ever seen by man.”
Third Eye Blind, headlining opening night this year at Uline Warehouse after headlining the BMO Pavilion for closing night last year, charmed their faithful fans, wrote Joey Schamber, while Catherine Jozwik got a kick seeing the women-led Welsh punk band Panic Shack at the Miller Lite Oasis June 19. And Tedd Lookatch praised the Summerfest comebacks for Passion Pit and Echo and the Bunnymen June 18 – the former after a 10-year absence between albums, the latter following frontman Ian McCulloch’s car accident earlier this month.
And Cal Roach suggested Australian multi-instrumentalist Tash Sultana put on the most impressive performance they’ve seen this year. “Sultana’s headlining set at the Miller Lite Oasis June 18 transported fans into a soulful psychedelic genre-blender that all flowed together impossibly well…” Roach wrote. “By set’s end it seemed there was approximately nothing in the realm of music Sultana couldn’t do.”
The most disappointing performances
Holly Humberstone has scored opening gigs for both Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo, so Cal Roach said he was “hoping for so much more” from headlining set at Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard June 18, suggesting her latest album was “more energetic that what I saw on stage.”
Catherine Jozwik wrote that Adrien Nunez was genuine performing on this same stage June 19, but he has to sharpen his stage chops (“his vocals occasionally fell flat and his energy was a bit lacking at times,” she wrote in his review). And while she praised Don Felder’s performance at Uline Warehouse June 20, Jozwik wrote that “he was a bit long-winded in his reminisces of his times with the Eagles that he shared with the audience, some of whom were getting noticeably frustrated due to some stage technical issues. A guy behind me even yelled out ‘Land the plane!'”
Best history-making booking (and proposal)
As great of a job that Summerfest’s booking team has done to create a “something for everyone” lineup each year, there have been areas where they’ve fallen short at times, especially when it comes to Latin music. But this year they began what hopefully will become a new era: for the first time in the festival’s 58-year-history, an artist who sings primarily in Spanish, headlined the festival’s biggest stage, with Carín León at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater June 20. Yes, it may have drawn the smallest amphitheater crowd so far this year, but Milwaukee has sold-out several Spanish-language concerts (including Los Bukis at Mexican Fiesta in this very venue). Summerfest absolutely needs to continue to live up to its mission with more shows like León’s, who for his part offered a night filled with incredible passion and musicianship fitting for the special occasion. But it was the most special occassion for one couple who tearfully got engaged and kissed during one of León’s beautifully-sung, romantic ballads as a surge of cheers erupted around them.
Most anticlimactic finale
As the saying goes, in show business, you gotta wow them in the end. Rapper and singer Don Toliver at the amphitheater June 19 wowed them in the beginning, but then kind of gave up. With rattling bass and blasts of fire, Toliver started his show with “E85,” a banger off his latest Billboard 200 charttopping album “Octane.” He also performed it at the end – but Toliver himself seemed spent, making the encore appearance underwhelming. He left the stage after that, with a DJ cuing up a Toliver recording. Surely they were setting up for an encore. Except when the song ended, the house lights came up. (Making matters more awkward, the stage screens accidentally flashed a production guy’s Windows desktop at the end.) Ultimately the wildest thing about this wild show was how Toliver and his team could have made such a strong effort at the show only for Toliver to throw in the towel before the end.
Best color coordination
Megan Moroney performed for the biggest crowd of her 2026 tour at a sold-out American Family Insurance Amphitheater for Summerfest’s opening night June 18. And I’d wager at least 60% of some 20,000 fans, maybe more, wore bright pink in honor of Moroney’s “Cloud 9” album art aesthetic, which doubled as the primary color for a bright show to complement her vibrant songwriting.
Best future (possible) video content
Journal Sentinel Executive Editor Greg Borowski was at night two of Garth Brooks’ Summerfest residency, his only North American concerts announced for 2026. When Brooks sang “Shameless,” Borowski said he stopped the song because he messed up, and that they were filming the concert. He didn’t give any other details on stage, or on social media (there has been one sizzle reel on Facebook, but it didn’t feature that song), so keep an eye out for sort of Garth Brooks Summerfest performance video – hopefully.
Most memorable exchange
“Are you a reporter or something,” the guy sitting next to me asked at Megan Moroney’s show.
“Yeah,” I said, “I’m with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.”
He nodded and replied, “You seemed out of place.”
I knew I should have worn pink.
The most, um, candid Summerfest concert
Perhaps he was paying respect to George Carlin’s famed Summerfest show that landed him in jail and became a testament to free speech – or, more likely, not – but David Lee Roth was quite explicit headlining the BMO Pavilion stage June 20, prompting Damon Joy to bust out the all caps to describe Roth’s “WILD” stories. What were those stories? “I can’t repeat anything without a trip to HR,” Joy wrote. Fair enough.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Megan Moroney and more: The best and worst of Summerfest 2026 week one
Reporting by Piet Levy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Piet Levy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
