By: Cora Linos

It was another banger year at Summerfest. I took four lovely, traffic-infested, Kopp’s-fueled trips to the big MKE and every trip was well worth the time, gas, and loss of sleep. And your girl got her steps in, walking at least a dozen laps of the Summerfest grounds. With one of the stronger lineups, personally, in recent memory, I caught eleven sets by quite a few bands I know and love, and a couple with which I fell in love.

Highlight: Finally seeing a full Candlebox set after seeing them as an opener twice.

Lowlight: The uninformed, likely 20-something (she says as 20-something herself) who scheduled 90s sweethearts Gin Blossoms and Candlebox at the same time, forcing me–and I’m sure quite a few Gen-Xers–to make a difficult decision.

Day 1: June 18 – Echo & the Bunnymen and Modern English

First night was 80s night with a couple of new wave bands. I’ve seen quite a few new wave bands by this point–many of them at Summerfest as well–and I can confidently tell you that these bands have all aged better than any other genre I’ve seen. From Depeche Mode to A Flock of Seagulls, these 80s groups are always just as good as they were back in the day, managing to still sound fresh and youthful some 40-odd years later. Modern English and Echo were no exception.

Modern English started us off, getting the crowd singing along to their timeless song “I Melt With You.” The sun had set by the time Echo took the stage, providing the ideal setting for their slightly haunting, goth-adjacent music. Magical might be overused, but it’s the perfect descriptor for this perfect night. We were treated to beautiful songs between barely intelligible heavily-English accented ramblings from charismatic frontman Ian McCulloch. My personal favorite, “The Killing Moon,” could not have been more gorgeous and hypnotic. I also very much so enjoyed “Bedbugs and Ballyhoo,” an odd and funky tune that got the crowd dancing.

Day 2: June 20 – Styx and Amyl & the Sniffers

Styx were reliably entertaining, with their singer showing off some impressive balancing skills for his age. As always, I had far more fun than I expected, hopping out of my seat to sing such classics as “Come Sail Away,” “Mr. Roboto,” and “Renegade.” The only big negative: ugly AI visuals.

Amyl & the Sniffers are a band I would never listen to, but would always go see. Not typically my thing, as I’m not the biggest fan of punk, but the raw energy–which included the crowd perched on the bleachers–made me want to go see them again. I’d take little convincing to catch another show. Frontman Amy Taylor has unbelievable stage presence, exuding power, energy, talent, and the kind of beauty that is both frightening and intoxicating–the ultimate punk singer. The rest of the band aren’t too bad either.

Day 3: July 2 – Scorched Waves, Living Colour, Buckcherry, and Candlebox

The oppressive heat welcomed Scorched Waves at Summerfest, and they lived up to their name, leaving groovy burn marks on the stage of Generac. Infectiously fun tunes played with joyful energy and an infectious groove.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a group of musicians with more mastery of their instruments than Living Colour. At times, singer Corey Glover seemed to be effortlessly showing off his impressive range and breath support. And if I had that voice, so would I. The singer for later headliner Candlebox could be seen enjoying the show from the back corner of the stage, occasionally singing along. I love how Summerfest leaves very little room to hide. Living Colour ooze pure funk and unbelievable talent and somehow managed to impress me all over again.

I had the great misfortune of being made to witness Buckcherry for a totally unnecessary and superfluous second time. My mother always said, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all… 

Finally, the band I’ve been waiting all day in the deadly heat for: Candlebox. I’ve seen Candlebox twice before: in La Crosse opening for Jerry Cantrell and Bush, and at Boardwalk Rock in Ocean City, MD opening for Shinedown and Nickelback. And now, a full set! Singer, Kevin Martin, mentioned how Living Colour had given them their start when they opened for the band. And he seemed to take Glover’s insane vocals as a challenge to rise to and flexed some of his rather impressive vocals. I’d never heard him sound so good, ripping into his screams and pressing the limits of his range. Kevin paced the stage like a caged tiger, coming out to stand on the speakers lined up in front of the stage, putting him feet from the crowd. The band didn’t allow early, ghost in the machine tech issues to plague the set, with Kevin commenting that it’s rock n’ roll and not AI.  

The set provided us with the perfect mix of old and new songs from smash hit “Far Behind” to new favorite “Breathe Me In.” My two favorite songs opened and closed the set: “Arrow” and “Rain” respectively. The hard-hitting “Arrow” makes it the perfect opener, and the slow build and repetitive finish in bluesy “Rain” makes it the perfect closer. I also developed a new love for “Simple Lessons,” which goes way harder live than on the record. The set was even better than I’d hoped, with the band firing on all cylinders delivering hard-hitting, grungy, bluesy rock n’ roll. 

Day 4: July 4 – Candy Cigarette, Flatwounds, and Soul Asylum x2

I love discovering new bands at Summerfest. I was walking by one of Summerfest’s many stages when I was drawn in by a snippet of a The Band Feel song being played in soundcheck. I was introduced to Rockonsin runners-up Candy Cigarette, a trio of shockingly talented high schoolers. They had a classic rock vibe to them that I really dug. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stick around for long because I wanted to catch some of Flatwounds on another stage. 

I’d been debating all day whether I had time to catch some of Flatwounds’ set before Soul Asylum. They went on at 1:45 and Soul Asylum were at 2. Luckily, both stages were right across from each other. I’d never seen Flatwounds before, but had listened to them a few times. And Summerfest is the perfect opportunity to check out new bands. And I’m glad I did. Flatwounds have insane energy, even playing to about 10 people. Their music is the perfect meld of grunge and nu-metal. The singer joked, “We normally have people stage dive to this song…” something that would be ill-advised in the unfortunately sparse crowd. This is a band I would love to see in a Denny’s (iykyk). I wish I’d caught more of their set, but my friend called me when the line for Soul Asylum’s exclusive acoustic set had started moving and I took off sprinting back to their stage. 

My friend and I had arrived early and claimed wristbands giving us admittance to an intimate acoustic Soul Asylum set on Summerfest’s AmFam House stage. It was the first set I’d caught in the small semi-permanent space. Dave Pierner, Soul Asylum’s singer, quipped that, when he asked whether they’d be able to hear the other stages from inside the tent, “I was told I wouldn’t be able to hear other bands from here…”–meanwhile we could hear music echoing from at least three other stages around us. Dave was, hilariously, wearing the same Aquaman shirt as he is in Soul Asylum’s Spotify profile pic. We love a sustainable king. The set was short and sweet, consisting only of two acoustic guitars, a bass, and a foot powered tambourine. The set was intimate and beautiful inside the cozily packed tent. 

Soul Asylum round two. And, sadly, my final set of Summerfest 2026. The band exhibited their classic, carefree 90s energy in ripped jeans and disintegrating Chucks. My favorite moment was Dave’s irreverent introduction of fan favorite “Black Gold:” “This song never gets old… goddamit.” This song includes my favorite musical moment at every Soul Asylum show I’ve been to, when the band strips the song back at the bridge to a simple acoustic guitar solo, with the band kneeling down in a little circle before jumping (ok, well standing, they’re old and that’s ok) up to launch back into the breakdown for a raucous outro. Another funny introduction came before new-ish track “Sucker Maker” which he told us “This song is about making Dum-Dums” (it’s not). According to the setlist I got after the set, the band cut “String of Pearls” from the encore. Perhaps to spite the drunk that had been yelling it out after every song. Or perhaps simply because they were short on time. But they didn’t cut my personal favorite, “April Fool,” and thank god because what a ripper. The sarcastic critique on following the crowd just to look “cool,” while actually being anything but, was the perfect end to a nearly perfect Summerfest. 

Hear more concert reviews like this on Moving in Stereo, Mondays at midnite CT, only on WSUM 91.7 FM Madison.