Summerfest's upstart alternative music festival was finally christened this week following a competition to name the event: It will be called the Verge Music Festival. The festival, which will debut at the Summerfest grounds on June 4 and 5, also announced its preliminary lineup. The performers include:
Weezer
AFI
Three Days Grace
Crash Kings
Eagles of Death Metal
Cold War Kids
The Raveonettes
Rogue Wave
She & Him
Nico Vega
Reni Lane
Geri X
Also announced were a good deal of local acts:
Jaill
The Championship
Figureheads
Pezzettino
1956
Red Knife Lottery
Invade Rome
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Juniper Tar
I'm impressed with the lineup. In the past I've expressed concerns that this festival would skew too much toward the hard-alternative end of the spectrum, scaring away casual festivalgoers, but these performers strike an inclusive balance between heaviness (AFI, Three Days Grace, Crash Kings, Eagles of Death Metal) and and indie appeal (The Raveonettes, Rogue Wave, She & Him). The local bands were thoughtfully selected, too, and Weezer is a particularly inspired headliner—especially since they're for all the complaints about their new material, they're putting on some of the best live shows of their career, as anybody who saw them last December at the Rave can attest.
Tickets for the event are on sale now at YourMusicFest.com. Advanced tickets are $25 a day, or $40 for both days, and each advanced ticket includes a ticket for free weekday Summerfest admission.
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You guys at the Shepherd are the first ones to talk about this festival. I can't wait. Great line up
You guys are on top of this festival and so far the only one's that have anything on line about it on the few sites I check every morning. It looks like fun and there are a few bands I can't wait to see. Looks likes the folks at Summerfest know what they are doing.
This is the worst line-up I ever heard. PitchFork has EL-P and what does milwaukee give us? AFI and Three Days Grace? The two bands that this line up has going for itself is She & Him and Cold War Kids. With all the great bands that never come to Milwaukee, you give us this? These bands are here any given day at The Rave. Where's The XX, Sufjan Stevens, Aesop Rock, Bat for Lashes, Brazilian Girls, CSS, The Gossip, The Presets, Hercules and Love Affair, you know a band that never plays here ... This is why I spend money traveling to Madison or Chicago to see shows .. it's always the same old junk here.
Hey Amanda,
This would be a great opportunity for you to start your own festival if you don't like the bands at the Verge festival. So many people complain about stuff and never do anything about it. So in 2011 let's do Amanda's Festival. Every promoter has to start somewhere and that somewhere is with their 1st show.
This is a HUGE step in the right direction. Instead of bitching about this and that esoteric indie band that most people have never heard of, be happy that this festival is getting off the ground in the first place and hopefully continues with room for expansion and improvement. any original band with a core group of fans is SO much better than the huge amount of bands playing lame ,overplayed cover songs during the afternoon at summerfest.Besides, Milwaukee beats the hell out of Chicago with its facility-and I'm from Illinois