Garth Brooks has long had a reputation for bringing infectious passion every time he sets foot on a stage. It’s one of the reasons he’s one of the top-grossing touring artists of all time.
But his Summerfest 2026 kickoff in Milwaukee June 16, this one was truly special – for the sold-out crowd of 23,000 people, and most definitely for him.
This show, and a second sold-out concert at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater June 17, are Brooks’ first Milwaukee concerts since 2015. They’re also the only North American concerts he’s booked this summer.
This was a hell of a get for Summerfest – or “the legendary Summerfest” as the 64-year-old Brooks proclaimed from the stage. And across 20 songs and 97 minutes, he did everything he could to live up to his legendary live performer status.
Proudly vowing to play “our old stuff,” Brooks kept his word, following the kicking “Rodeo” at the top of the show with “Two of a Kind, Workin’ on a Full House,” “The Beaches of Cheyenne” and “Two Piña Coladas.” Sprinting around stage and hyping up the crowd and his 12 backing musicians, Brooks brought back all of his irresistible stage tricks – the crazed bulging eyes, the dog getting his belly scratched smile, the pro wrestler-style screams until his face was heirloom tomato red. He was every bit as entertaining, and electrifying, as in his early superstardom prime.
But “Coladas” in concert showed there’s more to Brooks’ stagecraft than unflappable energy. A breezy crowd-pleaser Brooks complemented live with airplane arms and a shameless and effective cheer baiting lyric swap (“Milwaukee sure feels like home”), Brooks could have easily coasted with watered-down vocals and substantial audience inertia. Instead, his rich and satisfying country croon on “Coladas” hit like a bold shot of whiskey.
From there came “The River,” Brooks’ respectable homage to one of his musical idols, James Taylor, sparking a sea of shining smartphone lights, and culminating with a show-stopping, 15-second vocal finish. “That’s it,” Brooks said after that – before clarifying it was the end of the warm-up, tossing his acoustic guitar across the stage so he could give his full focus to the rapid-fire vocal demands of “Ain’t Going Down (‘Til The Sun Comes Up),” flashing his tongue like a dunking Michael Jordan after a series of dizzying tongue-twisters.
Brooks made a quip about being “100 years old,” repeatedly reminded the crowd about his extended absence from the stage, said he thought the band would make “1,000 mistakes,” and a couple of times pleaded for grace in case he fell short.
He never did.
Brooks cautioned that “Shameless” was a hell of a hard song to sing, but his voice didn’t falter at Summerfest, his Sunday preacher spirit – clenched fists, hand-over-heart conviction, sweat-dripping pathos – on hand to compensate for vocal failings that never happened.
More impressive was Brooks’ on-the-spot acoustic performance of “Mom,” a request on a fan’s sign dedicated to her mother. Brooks joked about this being a highly choreographed show with no room for such accommodations, then when he relented alone on acoustic guitar, suggested the performance was going to “suck.” Instead, it was spellbinding, its quiet beauty matched by two setlist powerhouses: all-time tear-jerker “The Dance” for the pre-encore finale, and a solo acoustic “Unanswered Prayers,” with a heavenly crowd singalong that stunned Brooks to silence.
Brooks brought a similar warm reverence to covers of songs he greatly admired – a full-band “Turn The Page” by Bob Seger, plus solo acoustic performances of George Strait’s “Troubadour,” Keith Whitley’s “Don’t Close Your Eyes” and Steve Goodman’s “You Never Even Call Me By My Name.” His country star wife Tricia Yearwood didn’t make an appearance – she was busy cooking and doing laundry, Brooks joked, a rare off-putting comment from such a polished and careful entertainer – but the band was loaded with session players and touring members Brooks fondly praised who have mostly been with him since the ’80s and ’90s. That included Gordon Kennedy on guitar, who was given space to sweetly sing the Eric Clapton classic he co-wrote, “Change The World.”
“I’ve been to more Garth Brooks shows than anybody in this house tonight,” Brooks said late in the set. “Let me just tell you, the band was phenomenal.” He didn’t need to say it – from the fiery fiddle of “Callin’ Baton Rouge,” to the captivating nonchalant swagger of “Friends in Low Places” – the crowd clearly felt it.
And being back on stage at Summerfest, his black shirt doused in sweat, Brooks clearly felt something phenomenal too.
“I’ll tell you this,” Brooks said. “As a crowd, I don’t think I’ve ever played for one better.”
Some 600 artists – including superstars like Post Malone and Ed Sheeran – will follow Brooks at Summerfest 2026.
It’s hard to fathom that any one of them could be better.
Garth Brooks’ Summerfest setlist June 16
Contact Piet Levy at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Garth Brooks gives Summerfest 2026 in Milwaukee a thrilling kickoff
Reporting by Piet Levy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Piet Levy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
