Anyone else going to Summerfest?

Summerfest (also known as "The Big Gig") is a yearly music festival held at the 75-acre Henry Maier Festival Park along the lakefront in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The festival lasts for 11 days, is made up of 11 stages with performances from over 700 bands, and since the mid-1970s has run from late June through early July, always including the 4th of July holiday.[1] Summerfest attracts between 800,000 and 1,000,000 people each year, promoting itself as "The World's Largest Music Festival," a title certified by the Guinness World Records in 1999.[2][3] Summerfest is run by the non-profit organization Milwaukee World Festival, Inc.

Summerfest features both local and nationally known music talent from a variety of music genres. The event also provides the opportunity to sample a wide variety of food from many Milwaukee-area restaurants. Other Summerfest attractions include comedy acts, shopping vendors, fireworks (including "The Big Bang" on opening night), other special attractions, family activities and more.

Summerfest has been most famous for its music, ever since the first festival in 1968, when acts such as Ronnie Dove, The New Colony Six, and Up With People performed. In 1969, Led Zeppelin performed (see Midwest Rock Festival). Since then, musical acts from Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, and James Taylor to Christina Aguilera, Mary J. Blige, and Nine Inch Nails have graced the Summerfest stages. Acts with Milwaukee and Wisconsin connections have had a prominent history at Summerfest, most notably the BoDeans and Violent Femmes.

The concerts have been mostly civil events, with two notable exceptions. In 1970, a performance by the late-arriving Sly & the Family Stone nearly resulted in a riot, and in 1973 a performance by Humble Pie & the Blackberries did result in a riot, along with a bonfire and about 300 arrests. As a result of the latter concert, organizers shied away from rock bands for several years, and established guidelines for "family-friendly" acts and a ban on alcohol brought in by patrons.

Live comedy acts have also been a part of Summerfest's history, even before a regular "Comedy Showcase" was first established in 1975. Bob Hope was the main headliner at Summerfest 1969, performing two shows at Milwaukee County Stadium. George Carlin (opening for Arlo Guthrie) performed his "Seven Words You Can't Say on Television" routine at the 1972 event (and was subsequently arrested for violating obscenity laws). Since 1975, comedy acts ranging from David Brenner and Henny Youngman to Jay Leno and Jon Stewart have performed at the event. Lewis Black has become a frequent performer at Summerfest, making near-annual performances since his first appearance in 1991.