Jessie Murph, REO Speedwagon, and the best and worst of Day 5 at Summerfest 2024

A new TikTok star and an enduringly popular classic rock band were among the musicians who thrilled Summerfest audiences in the rain Friday.

More: Tyler Childers played one of Summerfest 2024's biggest shows. He absolutely deserved it.

More: Here's the Summerfest 2024 lineup by date, time and stage for the Milwaukee music festival

Jessie Murph

TikTok has proven its ability to transform its users into commercial hitmakers. Case in point, Jessie Murph went from uploading covers while a high school cheerleader to recording radio tracks with the likes of Diplo and Jelly Roll. But it is always intriguing to see if that recorded success can translate to the bigger − and less protected − live environment.

Friday night at the UScellular Connection Stage, Murph made the transition feel seamless as her unique, beautiful and impassioned vocals carried her hyper-personal lyrics out across a large crowd of adoring fans, hearty ones who had waited out a torrential downpour minutes before Murph’s set to maintain their spots standing on the bleachers in front of the stage.

“Jessie! Jessie! Jessie!” they chanted as the singer emerged singing the hook to “Wild Ones,” her Jelly Roll collaboration, as the rain began to pour again over the rumbling western dirge that soon became the sensitive piano introduction of “While You’re at It.” Murph grasped her chest in awe at the adoration down below.

“Alright, this next song is unreleased,” Murph said, often a harbinger of disinterest from a crowd eager to hear hits. Instead, the soaked fans screamed their approval for the thumping soul-filled melody and Murph’s grooving vocals, delivered from a platform above her band.

Raindrops were illuminated by the stage lights as Murph delivered the delicate − yet powerful − lyrics of “If I Died Last Night.” It was one of those special Summerfest moments where a crowd, an artist (performing what she said was her first nighttime festival set ever) and the elements came together in a perfect way.

— Erik Ernst, Special to the Journal Sentinel

REO Speedwagon

REO Speedwagon’s sold-out show at the BMO Pavilion was a testament to their longevity and legacy. Every generation was represented, including some kids who may or may not have been fans.

As frontman Kevin Cronin jogged onto the fancy audio-level designed stage the entire audience leapt to their feet. He strummed the first few notes of “Don’t Let Him Go” and fans let out a collective howl. He was soon joined by the rest of the band and settled into the classic rock hits.

The band's chemistry was perhaps the highlight, shredding guitars and bass as close to each other as possible though they had a full-size stage to move around on. Their voices were stronger than ever and they moved with the agility of men half their age. They also dressed the part. Many of the '70s/'80s groups I’ve seen this year are beginning to slow down. Not these guys. Even keyboardist and original member, Neal Doughty, was getting busy on the keys like it was 1984.

The audience sang and danced into the night. “Keep Pushin’” and “Take It On The Run” garnering the most applause. Even those without tickets watching from the gates were grooving until the rain almost ruined their evening.

— Damon Joy, Special to the Journal Sentinel

Charles Wesley Godwin

Weather evidently prompted Charles Wesley Godwin to start his set a bit early at the Briggs & Stratton Big Back Yard; it was pouring on and off throughout, but a faithful crowd stood rapt on the bleachers and people continued to straggle in.

They may have been drawn, for instance, by a modest cover of the Allman Brothers’ “Midnight Rider,” but they undoubtedly stayed as it drifted into Godwin's own “The Flood,” relating a childhood story as a bridge between the songs.

Following a pensive beginning to the song, Godwin and his seven-piece band unleashed a fury on the scale of AC/DC for the breakdown. Americana unafraid to truly rage.

“This one’s for my daughter,” said Godwin, introducing “Dance in Rain.” Not even a grin to acknowledge the meteorological relevance tonight? Well, these are very personal songs; his latest album, last year’s "Family Ties," is essentially a family-oriented concept album, some of the material undeniably heartbreaking.

By the time he pulled out his prog-country centerpiece “Another Leaf,” the crowd had at least doubled, the rain still falling. As he was wrapping up his set with “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” it seemed all of Summerfest had suddenly showed up to sing along.

— Cal Roach, Special to the Journal Sentinel

The All-American Rejects

It’s been more than a decade since All-American Rejects released their most recent album, but you wouldn’t have known that from the large crowd that filled the stands in front of the Uline Warehouse Friday night. The Oklahoma-formed pop punk four-piece band (touring with an added keyboardist) rewarded the throng early with their 2002 debut single, “Swing, Swing” just as a light rain started to fall over Summerfest.

Front man and bassist Tyson Ritter laid a long sustained rumble of a note as the band walked onto the stage and the song's familiar chorus riffed over Ritter’s high-pitched but steady vocals. The crowd danced in the rain and responded to Ritter’s excoriations to “Sing it!” When the drops got bigger and more and more of the crowd donned ponchos, Ritter exclaimed “Let’s get (expletive) busy!” as the band thrashed into a syncopated “Fallin’ Apart.” “Let’s dance in the rain, (expletives)!” Ritter yelled. And the crowd did.

As he declared that he was taking Summerfest on a musical time machine, it was now pouring and he counted back to 2002 for the crunchy “My Paper Heart,” which became the soundtrack to a soaking wet yet joyous 2000s pop punk dance party.

— Erik Ernst

Hippo Campus

Summerfest was bracing for storms once again Friday night as Hippo Campus emerged onto the Generac Power Stage. Frontman Jake Luppen screamed in excitement as the St. Paul quintet launched into “Yippie Ki Yay.” Within seconds, rain began to sprinkle down.

“Everything at Once,” the group’s new single, provided an early mood lift; most in the packed crowd could already sing along. It’s yet another foray into ironic-or-is-it modern pop stylings, of the euphoric Imagine Dragons type in this case. Hippo Campus are a daring adopter of auto-tune as well, arguably still typically a joke in guitar-music circles; whether earnest or not, they’re pioneers in the dissolution of genre barriers.

Then it really started to pour. Nobody left.

“Who gives a (expletive) about rain? This is magic,” said Luppen after “Ride or Die.” Pandering perhaps; regardless, the mostly young, enthusiastic crowd never let up.

Well, except when guitarist Nathan Stocker started teasing fellow headliner REO Speedwagon’s “Take It on the Run,” only to be met with blank stares.

“Here’s one you might know,” said Luppen, and he guessed right; the crowd singing “South” nearly drowned the band out. Drenched and still dancing, some of these kids just had a night they'll never forget.

— Cal Roach

Flipturn

Jacksonville, Florida indie rockers Flipturn attracted a sizable Gen Z crowd to the Generac Power Stage Friday night. The show was a stop on the band's 2024 tour to promote its 2022 album "Shadowglow."

Keeping it casual in jeans and T-shirts, the young band, who opened for 9:30 p.m. headliner Hippo Campus, kept fans bouncing and bobbing to high-energy tunes such as "Chicago," "Vanilla" and "Sad Disco." At one point, something that appeared to be a drone hovered near the stage.

With grunge-rocker good looks, a big smile, just the right touch of angst, and sweet vocals, singer Dillon Basse is an affable frontman. His performance, paired with guitarist Tristan Duncan's searing, tuneful riffs and the entire band's unflagging momentum, were an irresistible combination. The crowd responded in kind, cheering loudly, waving their hands in the air, and holding their cell phones up.

"This is so cool!" Basse announced in a slight southern drawl, to the stage, before complimenting the artists that made up the Generac stage lineup, namely, Hippo Campus, which he acknowledged as a "huge inspiration" to his band.

— Catherine Jozwik

HYO

With her name visually reverberating from the screen above her DJ stand, HYO revealed a wry smile as she counted into her early evening set at Sunmerfest’s Aurora Pavilion Friday.

“1. 2. 3… Everybody jump!” she instructed a small crowd that swelled in both size and energy as the beats of Genesi’s “Push Me” bounded from the venue and out into the festival’s pathways.

The South Korea native and former member of K-Pop group Girls' Generation has transformed herself into a DJ and solo pop star in recent years. The former role brought her to Milwaukee, as she blended tracks from Shane Fontane and Max Styler early in her set, with swirling beats and thumping bass fueling the frenzied graphics on screen and her own energetic fist pumping and bobbing of the bright blonde hair and dark sunglasses on her head.

The music and club-like swirling lights probably would have lent themselves more to a more dramatic after-dark set, but both the crowd and HYO didn’t let daylight slow them down. They bounced and shouted in unison under a circling video-capturing drone as Matroda’s “Mozart” pumped through the speakers and mixed with Tyla & Marshmello’s “Water.”

— Erik Ernst

Milwaukee Remembers — Celebrating Life and Music

Sure the big names are the main draw to Summerfest − but local musicians are the festival’s backbone, constituting the majority of the 600-some acts that play each year.

So Summerfest was a fitting locale for a special local music showcase at Aurora Pavilion Friday afternoon, entitled “Milwaukee Remembers,” that honored musicians who’ve passed in recent years who shared their talent on the Big Gig’s stages.

As names and photos of late local artists graced the screen − including, but certainly not limited to, Mike Hoffmann, Cecilio Negrón Jr., Keith Pulvermacher and Julie Wooldridge − a rotating cast of veteran Milwaukee musicians − including Julie’s husband Brian (the event’s chief organizer), Louie Lucchesi from Louie and the Flashbombs, and Betty Blexrud-Strigens and Damien Strigens from Testa Rosa − sweetly played songs in their honor. It culminated with all the participants sharing the stage at the end to jam through Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane” and, especially appropriate, Talking Heads’ “Heaven,” co-written by Milwaukee native and Heads member Jerry Harrison.

The music was lovely, but scanning the crowd, it was clear the reunions were even more special. “Milwaukee Remembers” was a relatively late addition to the Summerfest lineup this year, but I hope it becomes an annual event.

— Piet Levy, plevy@journalsentinel.com

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Jessie Murph, REO Speedwagon, and the best and worst of Day 5 at Summerfest 2024