From Lil Uzi Vert to Maroon 5, the best and worst of Summerfest 2024, Weekend 3

Rain again intruded on the final two days of Summerfest's final weekend. So it was only right that Mother Nature would spare fest-goers on a gorgeous and sunny last day that featured our favorite performances of the weekend, ensuring that the Milwaukee music festival, 56 years after its inception, ended on a high note.

Here's the best, the worst and the wildest things we saw July 4 to 6 at Summerfest.

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Best performances

Hip-hop and regional Mexican music ruled Summerfest's final weekend.

• The Big Gig has had many exciting, fest-exclusive hip-hop packages before in the American Family Insurance Amphitheater, but perhaps none as big as this year's closing night amphitheater show. Certainly none has been as long. Saturday's show ran a whopping five hours, with a maximum 15 minutes between sets, featuring nine rappers, including Lil Yachty, JID, Rico Nasty and LIHTZ, plus four Milwaukee rappers (more on them in a bit) and a show kickoff with Milwaukee spinner Djay Mando.

And everyone was in great form. JID, Nasty and LIHTZ had commanding flows, and the energy from the local acts and Lil Yachty was infectious. But show closer Lil Uzi Vert deserves a special shout-out at just their second festival appearance of the year; they inspired the crowd to tap into some reserved energy and erupt for their ragers, no easy feat at the end of a marathon day. Even the people way in the back were wilding out, and I doubt they could even see Uzi Vert, whose set wasn't filmed for the amp's big screens.

• Damon Joy was greatly impressed by another high-energy rapper who performed on Saturday, Lil Tecca. "He didn’t rap over his own vocals, which was crazy because this kid was jumping all over the stage," Joy wrote in his review. "I was out of breath just watching."

• Jessica Rodriguez felt that fast-rising 20-year-old regional Mexican music phenomenon Ivan Cornejo was breathtaking at his closing-night set at a packed BMO Pavilion, ahead of a highly anticipated arena tour. "Anyone in the crowd could feel the raw emotion through his sentimental lyrics," she wrote. "His music left your heart a bit sore."

• Rodriguez also was impressed with one of Cornejo's openers, Klan 414, which, you can probably guess from the name, hails from Milwaukee. "The regional Mexican band married traditional and urban sounds and brought a dynamic performance to a spirited crowd," she wrote in her review. Their show included original songs for "for the heartbreakers, the heartbroken and the hard workers," Rodriguez wrote, and also creative regional Mexican renditions of hits by Bad Bunny, Peso Pluma and J Balvin.

Most disappointing performances

• Carly Rae Jepsen was in high spirits, aided by some truly superb pop songs — both of which were enough to save her opening set for AJR Thursday. In her case, the disappointment was the hideous, bass-heavy low end across multiple songs, an issue that also plagued Motley Crue's Summerfest set two weekends before. It wasn't the only issue; Jepsen paused her set a couple of times, and apologized, because of technical difficulties.

• It was evident at Brian Kelley's July 4 set that his solo material has yet to catch on in the way his signature songs as part of his disbanded duo Florida Georgia Line have, reviewer Jane Park said. "The UScellular stage seemed too big for Kelley and … no one seemed to know the words to his songs," she said. "Even his strong engagement with fans and charisma seemed to fall short."

• Perhaps Damon Joy shouldn't have expected much energy from a band that calls themselves the Wallflowers, but he was disappointed in Jakob Dylan and company's Saturday night set anyway.

• Reviewer Cal Roach clearly didn't have much fun watching Mt. Joy's Thursday set at the BMO Pavilion. "Between the mild psychedelic visual backdrop and the occasional forays into guitar or piano solos, Mt. Joy could be mistaken for an earnest jam band, if only they had the musical chops to pull it off," he wrote in his review. "It was elementary loud-soft dynamics buffeting a lot of unremarkable indie-rock tunes."

• And Maroon 5 in the amphitheater the next night wasn't that much better for Roach. He dubbed the performance "painfully generic," and suggested that if frontman Adam Levine's bandmates "have their own personalities, they must not be allowed to reveal them onstage."

Best Milwaukee music milestone

With millions of streams, big record label deals and glowing extensive coverage from national media outlets, Milwaukee's rap scene has never been hotter. That has made the comparative lack of bookings at Milwaukee venues frustrating. Venues are finally catching up in a big way this year, with multiple opening slots for local rappers at the Rave, a big show at the Riverside Theater, and more artists from the street rap scene at Summerfest than ever before. It all culminated with four breakout Milwaukee rappers — J.P., 414BigFrank, and surprise guests SteveDaStoner and Mook G — performing in the amphitheater as part of that stacked Lil Uzi Vert-headlining show. Their energy and enthusiasm were equal to the more stage-seasoned stars on the bill. "I was extremely humble, extremely grateful, to get the opportunity to open up in my city at Summerfest," J.P. told the Journal Sentinel's Adrienne Davis.

Cutest fan interaction

AJR had all sorts of nifty tricks up its sleeve for the group's July 4 amphitheater show, including the set design meant to resemble a rocket launch, a free fall from space and more. But the most joyful moment was unplanned, when frontman Jack Met spied a sign in the crowd that read "Staring Contest for Jack's Hat"; that led to an invitation for teen (possibly preteen) brothers Wyatt and Blake, the former kneeling down in front of Met for an intense and hilarious staring contest where he bested the band leader, winning a replica of Met's signature winter-ready cap for himself and his older brother. "I can't see after that," Met quipped.

Wildest fan interaction

"I've been waiting on this moment my whole (expletive) life," Milwaukee-born rapper DC The Don yelled from the UScellular Connection Stage Friday about his first Summerfest (or, as he colorfully put it, "my first (expletive) Summerfest"). He could barely contain his excitement, jumping so much he rarely took the time and caught enough breath to rap, and jumping down into the photo pit in the first 10 seconds. Barely a minute after that, DC was crowd-surfing and raging with fans in the pit, where he hung out for most of the following 20 minutes before security put a stop to it. The rapper and crowd had a blast getting wild together until then; one bro, amid all the excitement, even ripped his tank top in half, Hulk Hogan style.

Best shelter from the rain

I think there are very few acts that knock it out of the park with every song, but Milwaukee’s Reyna is one of them. They make it all seem so effortless, too — although crafting pop songs this good takes a whole lot of work. And thanks in part to rain that rolled over Summerfest Thursday afternoon, the Aurora Pavilion was packed shoulder to shoulder with people, several of whom I’m sure discovered their new favorite band.

Greatest perseverance through an injury

"I broke my hand a (expletive) week ago, I wanna see what you bring to the table," Set It Off frontman Cody Carson yelled during their Thursday night set, a blue cast covering his left arm. His pain didn't gain much attention from more casual listeners, Jane Park wrote, but there were some diehard fans who tried to match Carson's unstoppable energy, the kind of fans who'll likely be at Set It Off's forthcoming Milwaukee show. (The cast should be off by then.)

Best impersonation of a 'White Lotus' star

I have no doubt Mxmtoon has a long and prosperous pop music career ahead of her, but should she need a side hustle, there's got to be someone somewhere who could use a spot-on Jennifer Coolidge voice impersonation, which Mxmtoon demonstrated during her opening set for AJR on July 4.

Best non-Summerfest show made possible by Summerfest

PJ Morton was by far the best thing about the Maroon 5 show, Roach wrote in his review, but the night before his Summerfest set, a few fans were treated to something special — a free pop-up solo concert on piano at Wall Street Stock Bar in Walker's Point. It was reminiscent of what happens in Chicago during Lollapalooza, where several big artists playing the festival do their own intimate shows at venues around town. Music fans and local venue operators have long wanted Summerfest to do something similar, but it's never going to happen. Those music venues though are getting by just fine during the Big Gig: The Rave's Eagles Ballroom had their own big hip-hop show with The Kid Laroi Saturday, the same night as Lil Uzi Vert and friends' show at Summerfest.

Most popular selfie

This will not be news to local foodies, but let me add to the chorus: DanDan rules. No wonder the restaurant's chef and co-owner, Dan Jacobs, was a finalist on the recent Wisconsin-based season of "Top Chef." The day after the finale aired, DanDan debuted as a Summerfest vendor for the first time, and I had my first of five DanDan meals during the fest, with Jacobs taking orders and posing for countless selfies, every time I was there. Each of those meals, by the way, were the best I've ever had at Summerfest — although the Saz's sampler platter will always have a place in my heart (and once a year, my belly).

Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or [email protected]. Follow him on X at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: From Lil Uzi Vert to Maroon 5, the best, worst of Summerfest Weekend 3