The Lumineers at BMO Harris Pavilion, Milwaukee

An evening at Summerfest's newest stage

Summerfest doesn't start for a couple weeks, but already the grounds are getting warmed up for the Big Gig. This past Wednesday, The Lumineers played the BMO Harris Pavilion, and my brother and I took our dad to the show for his birthday present. Ho Hey y'all!

The Lumineers were everything they are on their albums and more. Their sweet, soulful, folky tunes make for a winning concert — spirited and lively with a nice dash of quietness. My favorite thing about The Lumineers, aside from the fact that I love a good mandolin, is that they're story tellers. They sing about flapper girls, boys headed off to war, Cleopatra, and classy girls in bars. But I won't go on and on about The Lumineers themselves — I'll leave that to Piet Levy at Tap Milwaukee, who has great things to say. Instead I'd like to talk about the BMO Harris Pavilion itself, in case any of you Milwaukeeans are headed there this summer.

First, photo cred to the lovely and talented Erin Gosch, who snapped the above pic. And this is sans zoom! Yep, we were super close because the pavilion sat folks on a first-come first-served basis. I'm told that normally you purchase specific seat numbers, but we lucked out; originally The Lumineers were slated to play the Riverside, then the concert was moved. The pavilion seats 5,000 — or, if you aren't great at picturing a number like that in your head (like me), I'd say the place is not too big, not too small.

If you go, it's totally worth it to purchase covered, comfy seats in one of the front sections — or arrive early so you can snag those same spots, depending on if they're pre-assigned or not. Otherwise you're stuck in the bleachers or standing, and there are no huge screens projecting the musicians (did they run out of money?). 

While waiting to get in, don't count on top-notch service at the gates. Some people didn't know how to form a line, and the folks on staff did little to help the issue. Once you're finally inside, watch out runners — almost always teenagers. But here's one happy thing: Ladies, there was zero line for the bathroom. Amazing, right?

As for the logistics of getting there/parking: The stage is located right by the Marcus Amphitheater, so you want to go in on the south entrance of the Summerfest grounds, not the main. There's also a parking lot down that way, but be prepared to wait 15 to 20 minutes to exit. If you can, I'd suggest parking outside of the grounds. I'd much rather walk for 10 minutes than sit in a car for 20.

One final note: I've heard that the speaker system isn't the best if you're seated to the right or left side, so try to get at close to the center as possible. From where we were sitting — Row V in the middle section — we couldn't have asked for a better show!