Milwaukee Summerfest

[John_P_WI]

Went down to the lakefront Saturday afternoon to listen to the tunes at Summerfest, the world's largest outdoor music festival. Except for the Marcus amphitheater, the other stages are free and host regional and national acts. One can freely walk from stage to stage (11 stages), grab a brew and listen to tunes all day. I would say that the talent this year was exceptional, mostly older rock and heavy blues influenced jams.

Out of all of the new wiz bang amps, solid state amps, modeling etc most of the tone was mediocre, but the players talents were exceptional and were able to shine through.

One guy, Pat MacDonald stood out. He was on the Harley Davidson stage, and presented a very refreshing look at the music. It was just he (playing a Lowebow slide bass/guitar) and his wife accompanying, they called themselves "Purgatory Hill".

The Lowebow was a twin broom stick neck cigar box guitar, I was unable to identify his amp. He had a great distorted vocal and guitar tone, and was a great to watch. Truly a revival in music, after all of the tired cliche music of these past several decades. Did a great cover of Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus

http://www.purgatoryhill.com/fr_recentarticles.cfm

Music is still alive....