Festival 411: Milwaukee’s Summerfest Returns With Three Weekends Of Music & COVID Entry Protocols

Nicknamed “the world’s largest music festival,” Summerfest features more than 800 artists on 12 stages. The festival offers multi-day passes starting at $57, single-day tickets, premium reserved seating and viewing deck options for select venues, and separate tickets for headline concerts at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater (which include admission to Summerfest). 

The amphitheater, which is set on the shores of Lake Michigan with views of the city skyline, will host performances from Luke Bryan, Chance The Rapper, Twenty One Pilots, Chris Stapleton, Zac Brown Band, Dave Chappelle, Megan Thee Stallion, Miley Cyrus and Guns N’ Roses. Summerfest also features three kick-off concerts the Wednesdays prior to each weekend: the “Hella Mega Tour” with Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Weezer Sept. 1, the Jonas Brothers Sept. 8, and Dave Matthews Band Sept. 15.   

“A bunch of artists that we had from the very first iteration of Summerfest in the summer of 2020 stayed with us through all four versions of it and are playing this year,” said Bob Babisch, Vice President of Entertainment at Milwaukee World Festival, the Wisconsin nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation that owns and produces Summerfest.     

“When we put the schedule together, we want to make it as eclectic a lineup as possible per day. The charm of Summerfest is that you can see any kind of music every day. You can see hip-hop, hard rock, country, comedy, pop. … There’s something here for everybody. There’s a brand-new children’s play area. We have parades going on the grounds. … We have discount days every year. There are different ways to get in free every single day. There’s always something to do. We want to make it a true festival for the people.”

In addition to debuting its three-weekend format, Summerfest will get the chance to show off renovations to the American Family Insurance Amphitheater.

“It was done in two phases. We raised the roof of the amphitheater so that we could fit stadium shows into the amphitheater and we got that in time for the 2019 season,” Don Smiley, President & CEO of Milwaukee World Festival, said. “And then during the pandemic of 2020, we completed the rest of the renovation of the amphitheater, which included all new seats, new video, new dressing rooms for the artists, new loading docks, a new stage, new restrooms, restaurants, new bars.” 

Following the lead of tours and festivals like Lollapalooza, Summerfest organizers announced Aug. 10 revised entry policies requiring attendees to either show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or negative COVID test obtained within 72 hours of attending the event. 

“We’ve been working with the Milwaukee Health Department, and we came up with protocols that we thought would [prioritize] three things: Health, safety and business. Health and safety first, for sure. And then it came down to business because we really weren’t in a position to lose a headliner if the headliner say, for instance, had strict protocols themselves. … We just wanted to get out ahead of it and make sure that the artists, management, agents, fans, sponsors, employees, vendors all felt safety and health were at the forefront of Summerfest,” Smiley said. 

He added, “While there have been some complaints, there’s been a lot of love pushed our way as well because of the entry protocols and getting on with the business of live music.”

Babisch points to the success of Lollapalooza’s COVID protocols as a positive sign for Summerfest. 

“When you looked at Lollapalooza, they did pretty much the model we’re doing. And yesterday, the health department in Chicago said they were not a super spreader event at all and only 203 COVID [cases were linked] to their event. So that makes us feel good, like we are doing the right thing.”

Summerfest previously hosted a drive-thru COVID vaccination event in one of its parking lots with the Milwaukee Health Department and gave out free festival tickets to encourage people to get vaccinated. The festival also held an event sponsored by Kroger Food Stores, using a conference room on the grounds as a vaccination center. 

More than 1,500 people got vaccinated on site. 

“We really believe that people should get vaccinated and be able to open up this business again to what it was,” Smiley said. “And people have to understand that these precautions are out there to take care of them. I mean, you want to have the person standing next to you and cheering at an event to be healthy or to give it your best shot to be as healthy as you can possibly get it. That’s important for us and it’s important for everybody out there to understand that we got to all do this together.”