While Summerfest does its best to book many of music’s most relevant names and stock its stages with up-and-comers destined for big things in the near future, the festival’s tall task of fielding a wide range of talent to appeal to an even wider range of tastes occasionally—if not often—finds “The World’s Largest Music Festival” looking to the past to fill its sprawling lineup. That’s always been the case, as the winning mix of nostalgia and familiarity offsets the risk of alienating attendees by trying to keep a finger to the pulse of mainstream music. Some people want Don Toliver and Post Malone, as others want just to drink some beers share a Saz’s Sampler Platter with old friends while listening to something they know. Good news! Summerfest has both of these camps covered.
Saturday, elder emo aficionados had their moment in the Summerfest sun during an evening block at the Miller Lite Oasis that consisted of Braid and The Juliana Theory. This one-two punch—both of which were tasked preceding that night’s Oasis headliner, the slightly younger likes of The Academy Is…—each delivered throwback sets that, as Braid singer Bob Nanna put it, brought the modest crowd back to “another time and place” with late ’90s and early-aughts ear worms.
Before Braid (a somewhat frequent visitor to the area of late, including a headlining set at last summer’s WMSE Backyard BBQ) took the stage at 8:30 p.m., the 6:30 p.m. Miller Lite Oasis block belonged to The Juliana Theory. The Pennsylvania outfit and one-time member of both the Tooth & Nail Records and Epic Records rosters is currently on its fourth go-round as a band, with vocalist Brett Detar and guitarist/backing vocalist Joshua Fiedler the only remaining original members.
Though the band looked a bit different than it did when we saw them at The Rave bar in 2004 (don’t we all!), the two mainstays and their later additions did justice to material almost exclusively pulled from 1999’s Understand This Is A Dream and 2000 quasi-breakout Emotion Is Dead. Between true-to-album renditions of standout tracks like “To The Tune Of 5000 Screaming Children” and “We’re At The Top Of The World,” the band was gracious and seemed legitimately happy to be on stage playing to a few faithful in the pit and a continually building batch of people drawn to the bleachers by the siren song of late 20th century emo. Youthful yearning might be rearing its head a little here, but The Juliana Theory’s 11-song trip down memory lane was an unexpected highlight on Saturday’s musical menu.
The second helping of pre-9/11 emo was provided by Braid. Formed in Champaign, Illinois way back in 1993, the band made a lasting mark with Frame & Canvas in 1998—widely regarded as one of the genre’s best albums of the ’90s, if not ever—before calling it quits the following year. Reunions, new primary projects, new side projects, and sporadic releases followed, with members finally reforming for good in 2011 and making a point to make Milwaukee and its surrounding suburbs a regular stop on tours and one-off fests.
Perhaps it was a byproduct of being less than 10 months removed from the band’s last Milwaukee outing or, more likely, the curiosity of seeing David Lee Roth pulling Gen-Xers and Millennials across the grounds to the periphery of the BMO Pavilion, but attendance at the Miller Lite Oasis was noticeably sparse apart from diehards (and punctual The Academy Is… fans) in the pit and first few rows of bleachers, picnic table dwellers near the back, and someone dressed as Spider-Man who was dancing their ass off for much of Braid’s hour-long performance.
Photo: Matt Wild
Undaunted by the turnout (or maybe lifted up by the presence of Spidey?), the emo stalwarts plowed through an hour-long greatest hits set consisting of all your Frame & Canvas favorites, a select few standouts from other releases ranging from eternally awesome 1997 B-side “(Strawberry Ann) Switzerland” and a cut from 2014’s No Coast, and Chris Broach-screaming “YEAH!” dozens of times. Summerfest Spider-Man seemed especially fond of “Killing A Camera” and “First Day Back,” as well as the impassioned late-set rendition of “Dozen Roses” in which Nanna sang the song’s bridge while splayed out on the ground at the edge of the stage. The non-superheroes in attendance seemed to share Spider-Man’s sentiment.
By the time “Milwaukee Sky Rocket” closed out the show and gave way to Saturday’s Oasis stage headliner (who is a bit after our time, having formed fewer than 25 years ago), Braid turned in a well-executed set. Sure, it was familiar, but it’s something the Milwaukee area has been fortunate to be able to see as often as we have in recent years, and something those who skipped the odd spectacle of seeing David Lee Roth probably enjoyed as well.
Will we probably see Braid the next time they’re in town? To quote that one song of theirs, “YEAH!”
[All photos by Danny Marchewka unless otherwise noted]