Cover bands play Summerfest all the time. Wander around the grounds long enough and you’re bound to hear an abundance of musicians performing secondhand renditions of songs written and made famous by someone else. As common as cover artists are at “The World’s Largest Music Festival,” you don’t often encounter a tribute act that’s fronted by a long-tenured character actor who’s best known for voicing dozens of characters on the most influential animated series of all time. Well, that was the case on Saturday when Hank Azaria took the stage at Summerfest’s Uline Warehouse Stage on Saturday evening.
The seasoned actor is the vocalist and namesake of Hank Azaria And The EZ Street Band, a new-ish project that calls itself “a Springsteen celebration.” Between the project’s ultra-specific focus and its famous front man, the 5:30 p.m. set was undoubtedly one fans of “The Boss” and The Simpsons alike had circled when the Summerfest lineup was announced months ago. And that showed when the unconventional cover band took the stage in front of a jam-packed crowd.
Any question about Azaria acknowledging his primary and most notable occupation was instantly answered as the band was introduced by, well, Azaria himself in his distinct “Duffman” voice. With an altogether excellent seven-piece backing band in tow, Azaria and co. kicked off the set with a faithful cover of “Badlands” from 1978’s Darkness On The Edge Of Town.
“This is my actual voice I was born with,” the singer said flatly after the opening song, then applied a gravely affectation to ably mirror Bruce Springsteen’s iconic pipes. Shifting between his Springsteen impersonation and an impression of a young Al Pacino, Azaria said the exact midway point between the two voices was Moe Szyslak, then proceeded to treat the crowd to the voice of Moe.
While Simpsons voices occasionally worked their way into the set (including another Duffman cameo and a Chief Wiggum appearance before show’s end), the primary focus was on Springsteen. As a surprise to probably no one, Azaria does a great Springsteen impersonation, and he hammered the likeness home even more with his wardrobe and mannerisms. Between songs, he reminisced about seeing Bruce live when he was young and offered up historical tidbits about song origins. Both the respect he had for the source material and his reverence for The Boss was evident throughout, and it especially showed in the performance.
Amid covers of crowd-pleasing hits like “Glory Days” and “Dancing In The Dark,” Azaria And The EZ Street Band also touched on comparatively lesser-known portions of Springsteen’s sprawling catalog, such as “Prove It All Night” and “Candy’s Room,” to pay service to diehards and—far more likely—because Azaria loves those songs and wanted to sing them. And between earnest and impassioned performances of material he holds dear, he was able to crack a few jokes, do some Simpsons voices, and talk about Bob Uecker being a loose inspiration for his Jim Brockmire character. It was the best of both worlds. Azaria repeatedly mentioned how much fun it was to be there and most of the audience seemed to share the sentiment.
Before departing the stage and giving way to the likes of Freddy Jones Band and Little Feat, the EZ Street Band finally got the Uline Warehouse crowd—a noticeably older group compared to other stages, generally speaking—to its collective feet with an electric take on “Atlantic City,” followed by “Born To Run” and a surprising finale in “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” to bring it home. Though Hank Azaria And The EZ Street Band is yet another cover band that played on the Summerfest grounds, they also replicated Springsteen at a high level and were fun to watch. And since The Boss himself isn’t likely to drop by Henry Maier Festival Park any time soon, that’s about all you could ask for.
