This past week, we posted our massive and ever-growing list of summer festivals happening in and around Milwaukee this summer. Unfortunately, Milwaukee Psych Fest will not be part of the festival fun this summer, and it might not be returning for quite some time. On Saturday morning, founder and organizer Andrew Shelp announced Milwaukee Psych Fest will be “postponed for the foreseeable future,” citing growing difficulties for independent undertakings like his to “exist in this country.” You can read Shelp’s full statement here:
“My sincere apologies everyone, but MPF is postponed for the foreseeable future. It is getting increasingly harder for small time, grassroots, DIY culture to exist in this country, at a time when we need it the most. MPF will be back in some form or fashion, I’m just not sure when or where. I believe that a ‘rebranding’ is definitely in the future. We will see what ends up happening. I will be doing smaller one off shows up in the rural Plymouth, WI area and I will share those on this page so please keep a heads up for those. In the meantime, thank you all for your continued patience and support. Make sure to get out and support your local community efforts in making cool things happen. Support each other. Love, empathy, kindness and civility WILL prevail. Peace and love to you all.”
Milwaukee Psych Fest started in 2013 and, aside from taking a few years off on account of the pandemic, hosted a total of nine loud, fuzzed-out, and reverb-drenched annual installments that featured dozens of psych rock acts and live visual artists from all over the world. Typically a late spring or early summer happening, Shelp announced in January that he intended to push the 2025 Psych Fest back to August before today’s indefinite postponement news.
Hopefully this isn’t the end of the road for Milwaukee Psych Fest and the event will return in 2026. And if it ultimately is the end, thanks to Shelp and all others involved for allowing such a niche and specific festival to happen in Milwaukee as long as it did.