The only North American concerts of the year for one of the biggest touring acts in the world.
A thrilling underplay for a superstar filling football stadiums this summer.
The biggest tour stop of a country pop queen’s summer tour, and the first stop of a major rock band’s first tour after releasing its latest album.
And an unprecedented event for Latin music.
It all happened at Summerfest 2026 in Milwaukee, which boasted one of the best lineups in ages at its largest venue, the American Family Insurance Amphitheater. But the amphitheater was hardly the only place to catch incredible live music at one of oldest, longest-running and most genre-expansive festivals in the country.
The Journal Sentinel Summerfest coverage team reviewed 101 performances this year – and caught dozens more. Here are the 26 concerts we loved the most in 2026 – and the eight shows that were the most disappointing – listed in order of occurrence.
Our 26 favorite Summerfest 2026 performances
Garth Brooks
Some 600 acts played Summerfest 2026, but the most impressive booking was the first. Garth Brooks played his only scheduled North American concerts all year at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater June 16 and 17, bringing the same level of energy and excitement the first night that turned him into one of the biggest touring acts in the world over 30 years ago.
Megan Moroney
A year ago the country star showed she was ready for massive stages performing at the Rave’s Eagles Ballroom. For Summerfest’s official opening night June 18, she played the biggest show of her “Cloud 9” tour for a sold-out crowd of 23,000 at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater, armed with big pop spectacle that enhanced her funny, vulnerable and relatable lyrics.
Passion Pit
Seemingly revitalized after recently releasing Passion Pit’s first album in a decade, musically matured band leader Michael Angelakos offered reworked takes of “The Reeling” and “Sleepyhead” while still hitting all the high notes, Tedd Lookatch wrote of the band’s T-Mobile Stage performance June 18.
Tash Sultana
“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,” Cal Roach wrote in his review. Jumping from guitar to flute to a beats console to a saxophone (and singing too), Roach wrote, “it seemed there was approximately nothing in the realm of music Sultana couldn’t do.”
Panic Shack
Catherine Jozwik didn’t review the women-led Welsh punk band’s June 19 performance at the Miller Lite Oasis, but it ended up being her favorite Summerfest performance of the year. “It must have been exhausting for them, but they really brought the energy … and everyone was hyped,” she said in our Summerfest week one recap video.
Carín León
By default, León’s American Family Insurance Amphitheater show June 20 was going to go down in Summerfest history as the first time an artist who sings primarily in Spanish headlined the festival’s largest stage (finally). But León lived up to this prestigious honor, with his passionate vocals leading a sublime 26-piece backing band not just through his own hits, but also several regional Mexican classics from artists that came before him. One couple even used the occasion to get engaged.
Common
The Roots canceling their BMO Pavilion performance June 25 was one of Summerfest’s biggest lineup letdowns this year, but their replacement Common may have delivered “the best hip hop show I’ve ever seen at Summerfest,” Damon Joy wrote in his review. “Common hit the stage like he was walking into an MMA fight and never let up.”
Ed Sheeran
As if Garth Brooks wasn’t a big enough coup, Summerfest locked in Ed Sheeran for June 25, as part of a tour otherwise routed through football stadiums with at least double the capacity of the amphitheater. Sheeran was elated by the rare underplay, performing 25 minutes longer than planned and closing out with a stunning sparse rendition of Irish ballad “The Parting Glass,” received with striking silence by the sold-out crowd.
Tucker Wetmore
“It’s not hard to see why Wetmore is a fast-rising star,” Lookatch wrote in his review of the country artist’s T-Mobile Stage performance June 25. “The 26-year-old served up pure confidence, infectious band chemistry, and old-fashioned fun. By the time he rolled through hits like ‘Wine Into Whiskey,’ ‘3,2,1,’ and ‘Brunette,’ the adoring crowd was sent into an absolute frenzy.”
Sudan Archives
Joy and Roach both caught Sudan Archives’ Aurora Pavilion performance June 26, and they both felt it was the best of the fest this year. “All alone onstage, she put on one of the most visually and musically captivating shows I’ve ever seen at Summerfest,” Roach wrote via e-mail, while Joy wrote in his review it “felt as much like art as it did a concert.”
The Aces
Former One Direction member Louis Tomlinson was the main event at the BMO Pavilion June 26, but reporter Tamia Fowlkes was more enamored with his opener, all-female Utah pop band The Aces, who brought “energy as radiant as the golden sunset soaking the stage with light,” she wrote in her review.
The Revivalists
Joey Schamber admitted he wasn’t a Revivalists fan before catching the New Orleans band’s Uline Warehouse performance June 26. He definitely was afterward. “The eight-piece band brought heavy drums, harmonic vocals and some of the most impressive instrumentals I’ve ever heard,” he wrote in his review.
Jean Dawson
We praised Dawson’s recent Milwaukee sets opening for Linkin Park and Miguel, and consequently left him off the review list this year. His Generac Power Stage performance June 27 was still one of the best Summerfest sets Lookatch saw, centered around “the harder rock direction of his latest release,” Lookatch wrote via e-mail.
Soulidified
Formed on Netflix’s “Building The Band” just 10 months ago, boy band Soulidified served “sharp choreography, coordinated outfits and a heap of heartthrob charisma that had fans and passersby stopping in their tracks,” Fowlkes wrote of their T-Mobile Stage performance June 27.
PawPaw Rod
Strolling by the Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard June 27, Joy had to stop and take in PawPaw Rod’s “hypnotic blend of funk, soul and southern fried hip hop,” he wrote via e-mail. “The energy, musicality and outfit were a whole vibe.”
Russell Dickerson
Joy admits he doesn’t care for country music, but Dickerson won him over anyway at the BMO Pavilion June 27. “Racing across his high-tech, digitally enhanced stage, he never let the energy dip,” Joy wrote in his review. “The showmanship would’ve meant nothing without the vocals, but Dickerson backed it up. His range is impressive, hitting notes you don’t usually hear from country artists.”
Audrey Nuna
Audrey Nuna had a huge breakthrough last summer as the performing voice of Mira in Netflix’s smash animated film “KPop Demon Hunters.” Her Summerfest performance, where “every hair flip and pop-and-lock felt euphoric and explosive,” Fowlkes wrote, would make HUNTR/X proud.
KennyHoopla
Collaborations with Travis Barker are among the rising rocker’s many accomplishments, but he hasn’t forgotten his Wisconsin roots, proudly speaking of growing up in Oshkosh during his set on the T-Mobile Stage July 2. In return, he “poured commanding energy and heart into his performance” in Wisconsin, Jozwik wrote.
Ella Mai
“Mai exhibited impressive vocal precision,” Fowlkes wrote of the R&B star’s BMO Pavilion performance July 2. But what also made the show special was her crowd engagement, which led to a couple of fans (including Milwaukee R&B singer Troy Tyler) coming onstage to sing.
Muse
Few rock bands sound as epic live as Muse – not that Milwaukee might know, however, considering the band hasn’t been to town in 16 years. That patience was rewarded with the first stop of the British band’s North American tour July 2 at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater, and the. band’s first show following the release of new return-to-form album “The Wow! Signal.” Between some songs’ concert debuts and the long overdue Milwaukee performance of electric epics like “Madness,” Muse was at its bombastic best.
All Time Low
The pop punk band was down lead guitarist Jack Barakat, who’s recovering from double elbow injuries, but All Time Low was still Schamber’s high point at Summerfest, thanks in part to frontman Alex Gaskarth’s “acrobatic vocals,” he wrote.
The Heavy Heavy
When Roach woke up July 3, he knew nothing of the British band, catching its Aurora Pavilion performance on a last-minute recommendation. “They came off almost like a jam-band,” Roach wrote via e-mail, “except their immaculate four-part vocal harmonies were way beyond the capabilities of any jam-band I’ve ever heard.”
Stephen Marley
The son of the late reggae legend Bob Marley honored his father’s legacy at the BMO Pavilion July 3, Fowlkes reported, through covers of Bob Marley classics and originals concerning “social issues, politics and environmental protection,” she wrote.
DJ Jazzy Jeff
A skilled DJ himself, Joy knows a great one when he sees it, and he saw it from DJ Jazzy Jeff at the Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard July 3. “Hearing Dr. Dre and the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the same set shouldn’t have worked, but it absolutely did,” Joy wrote via e-mail.
Gego y Nony
We saw a lot of terrific performances from Milwaukee artists – including Maximiano, Emmitt James and Orquesta Ayala – but the reggaeton duo, July 4 at Aurora Pavilion, especially did their hometown proud, with support from members of the A.I.M. dance crew. “The set was as much a showcase for the dancers as the music; from group numbers to duets and solos including some dynamic child performers, it was impossible to take eyes off the stage,” Roach wrote.
Jelly Roll
“I don’t hear music, I feel music,” Jelly Roll convincingly suggested during the final amphitheater performance of the year July 4. He certainly got the crowd in their feels with empowering speeches informed by his own struggles as a now-pardoned felon and a drug addict in recovery, and powerful songs from the heart about sobriety, generational trauma and the hardships of life. He also turned out to be an incredibly apropos performer for America’s 250th birthday, offering a sampler of songs and styles born in the U.S.A. That included Jelly Roll’s country, hip-hop, rock and Christian music originals, but also an array of covers (TLC’s “No Scrubs,” Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life),” Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way,” Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing In the Name”) well suited for one of the nation’s most musically diverse festivals.
The 8 most disappointing Summerfest 2026 performances
Don Toliver
I’ll start by emphasizing you’re reading a list of most disappointing Summerfest performances, not a list of bad performances (although those happened, too). Don Toliver did not put on a bad performance at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater June 19, emulating the energy of frequent collaborator Travis Scott. But Scott wouldn’t dare let down his fans with a subpar encore performance of a song for his finale like a clearly spent Toliver did.
Big Daddy Kane
Maybe not having a belt threw him off. Early in his set, the hip-hop veteran pleaded to the crowd for one and got it. But the rapper only performed for a total of 31 minutes, “leaving the audience yearning for more,” Fowlkes wrote. Before bolting, he did give the belt back to the fan, who was invited to hang out backstage, Joy reported.
Halestorm
Lookatch gave the band the unflattering name “Stalestorm” after catching the hard rock band’s set at the Uline Warehouse June 25. “It’s difficult to stay fresh when a band refuses to slow down and keeps churning out new music,” he wrote via e-mail. “This set felt like more of the same, with little evidence of growth or evolution.”
Post Malone
Summerfest’s talent team has been trying to book Post Malone – one of the biggest hitmakers of the last decade – for years. They finally got him for the American Family Insurance Amphitheater June 27, and at first, it seemed the festival (and fans) got their money’s worth. But as passionate and likable as he was on stage, Malone only sang 16 songs across 66 minutes – a criminally short set for an artist of his stature with such a deep catalog, who was also charging about $120 to $800 a ticket.
The Movement
Jozwik concedes that fans of the reggae pop band seemed to have a good time at its Miller Lite Oasis set June 27, but she wrote that frontman Joshua Swain ” seemed a bit too stiff and rehearsed.”
Spin Doctors
Seeing Spin Doctors at Summerfest again over three decades after last seeing them at the Big Gig, Roach concluded that the band’s songs “just don’t hold up.” “Unfortunately, a lifeless cover of Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ didn’t sweeten the deal, either,” Roach wrote via e-mail of the band’s July 2 Uline Warehouse set. “Chris Barron has absolutely no business trying to sing that song.”
Gene Simmons Band
KISS is done touring (allegedly). Maybe KISS bassist Gene Simmons needs to be done too, based on his Uline Warehouse performance July 3. A catalog of KISS songs at Summerfest were “played unimpressively to a dwindling crowd, and there were lengthy technical delays,” Roach wrote in his review. “And there was a lot of inane banter, the type of thing you might grit your teeth and put up with from a senile relative, but not something you should pay to witness.”
Rev Run
Simmons wasn’t the only Rock and Roll Hall of Famer at Summerfest July 3 who didn’t live up to their legacy. Rev Run from hip-hop’s seminal Run-DMC at the Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard let a DJ do most of the work while he “dropped call-and-response chants and occasionally lowered the music to rap along with the lyrics,” Joy wrote in his review. He also didn’t perform many Run-DMC songs. “It … wasn’t the legendary performance many fans were expecting,” Joy wrote.
This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy.
Contact Piet Levy at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him at facebook.com/PietLevy
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Our 26 favorite Summerfest 2026 concerts, and 8 biggest letdowns
Reporting by Piet Levy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Piet Levy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
