ZDO Blog
Brat Days Music
Ah, my favorite time of year…festival season and Brat Days is the largest festival Sheboygan hosts (at least since the demise of LakeFest). Listening to music at an outdoor venue with the smell of good food grilling and a cold beer in hand can't be beat. I'll admit that years back Brat Days had a rather raucous reputation, but recently it has become a very family-friendly event.
Those who know me socially, know that it pretty much takes live entertainment to get me out of the house. This years Brat Days had two bands in their line-up that intrigued me enough to venture into the crowds. For you Slaughter fans, sorry, they weren't on my list, although I heard they did put on a pretty good show. The first band I saw was a U2 tribute band called U2Zoo on Friday night. I must admit that seeing a cover band that only plays songs from one group could get boring, but that was not the case. Yes, they were that good. I suppose if your going to choose to do only one thing, you'd better do it well, and they did. If you were to close your eyes during this show, you would actually think you were at a U2 concert! The fact that they dressed and acted like the real members of U2 was a little much for me, but my son (14) loved it. U2Zoo is a Milwaukee based band (lead singer is from Appleton), so if you get a chance to catch them in the area, you will not be disappointed. They were a refreshing change from the cover bands that rarely do justice to anybody else's music. www.u2zoo.com
The second band I saw is one one of Wisconson's favorites and have achieved much national success…The BoDeans. They hold a special place in my heart because I've been following them since my college days when they were a bar band in Milwaukee with only one album. Picture them playing to a crowd of about 1,500 at Maritime Days on Milwaukee's lakefront at the beginning of college in Fall. While everyones taste in music differs, the BoDeans offer a folk-rock sound that traverses the generations and Saturday's crowd showed it. I don't know how many people attended the show, but it was nice to see the diverse ages within the crowd. Myself (40) and my son (14) equally enjoyed the concert, even though they didn't play my favorite song "Say about Love". The BoDeans do a great job of getting the audience involved in the music, including some audience-created, chorus-accompanying chants that date back to my college days. I was told that the BoDeans try to return to Wisconsin for at least one concert each year (they're residents of the West coast now). I think Sheboygan is pretty lucky to have had this group play here seven or more times over the last decade and a half…all of which I attended by the way. As always the BoDeans put on great show with good sound and a tight performance, and were even kind enough to play a four-song encore at the close of Brat Days 2008.
All-in-all I think the Jaycees and Johnsonville did a nice job with this years event, even though they were charging admission to the mainstage area this year.
Stop back in the near future for more of my blogs on the areas music and art scene.
Lee A. Mauer Creative Director
26.08.2008. 11:43
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