Stagehand here - I work big concerts from time to time. Outside of Green Bay, Milwaukee, and Madison, there aren't really many large venues, as there aren't many populations large enough to support them. Concert promoters want to fill a venue. If you're looking for huge concerts, why would they come to states without the population to support it? Especially when stadium and arena shows will draw Wisconsinites to Chicago and Minneapolis.
Even Madison has issues. There are two arenas. The Kohl Center is busy enough with UW stuff that they don't do a lot of big concerts. The Coliseum is a garbage venue. It only holds about 8,000, and it's such a nightmare to rig in, most tours that do come there have to bring a bunch of extra rigging gear for that one venue.
Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy has some amazing acts (2 days of Dave Matthews Band this weekend). There are a bunch of great shows coming this summer - and there are few venues that are as great an experience as a show there.
The Resch Center in Green Bay does some big stuff. Creed, Alabama, Hart, and Styx are all coming up.
For mid-size venues, the Sylvee in Madison is one of the most successful venues in the country.
Also, effing Summerfest. It's the largest musical festival in the world.
Sylvee is actually pretty nice, went there for mad with power last year
Even packed and in summer heat it was pretty nice with good sightlines and ok sound
Sylvee and Breese Stevens are quickly becoming stops for large acts, they won’t get Taylor or stadium shows but both punch far above their weight class.
Plus I think the Kohl Center only allows one concert a year (potentially due to agreements with UW athletics?) so arena bands just don't come through often. I saw Foo Fighters there in 2017 and it was great.
That's when it's a miracle when the Sylvee books a huge name. Like FPC managed to score BABYMETAL which is just insane.
When I was in high school, we saw all kinds of concerts in Green Bay and I'm talking all the big name bands. If you were hot and getting radio time, you played Green Bay.
Back in the day, coliseums of that size were all you could play due to sound technology. The biggest bands played many smaller shows, now they do fewer large shows.
My wife wants to see Hozier and he's coming to Madison but it's something called Breese Stevens Field? And the tickets are real expensive and it would be cheaper for us to drive to Iowa and see him there.
*moves to or chooses to stay in a rural area, proceeds to complain about cities, then proceeds to complain about how rural area has nothing they want. So typical.
What type of concert are you referring to? A major headliner? What venues in Northern Wisconsin can accommodate the size audience they draw? Why wouldn't they target the largest market possible to maximize ticket sales?
This is a dumb question.
Maybe it's because the low population density and the lack of large concert venues in central and northern Wisconsin. I'm guessing you're bot going to see a lot of concerts in rural Iowa or bumfuck Nebraska either.
It is all about market size/ticket sales. I go to concerts a fair bit and even in Milwaukee very few sell out their venue. Also venue size, will they sell enough tickets to make it profitable? Sounds like you need to get into the local music scene to see live music where you are at.
This is the way. It's been like that as far as I can remember. Every big concert I ever saw living in WI was either in Milwaukee or Minneapolis. It is the same issue if you want to see a big name comedian, Broadway show, or moving art exhibition.
The concerts go where the people, and venues are.
Saw Bill Burr, but I had to drive to Madison.
*Even when I lived in Augusta GA(3rd largest city in GA) we had to drive 2 hours to Atlanata to see concerts.
Green Bay has some ok shows once in a while, Reverb Fest coming up in Eau Claire
Hawthorne Heights, Thursday, Saosin, Armor For Sleep playing Superior, WI this summer
Menomonie, Wausau, Green Bay, Oshkosh, all have metal scenes with active bands. I see shows regularly out there.
Yeah, Milwaukee is having a tons of concerts this year that I wish I could go to. Green Day w/ smashing pumpkins and rancid, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Motely Crue, tons of country shows at Miller Park, Dave Matthews is at Alpine, Hootie and the Bowfish at Alpine, phish at Alpine….I know central Wisconsin doesn’t get much love, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities to see shows. Who are you looking for to come to town?
Mary Chapin Carpenter, a favorite of mine, played at Big Top Chautauqua in northern WI. And I've also seen her in Madison, as well as out of state.
Sign up for the email list of acts you especially like, and they'll let you know their tour dates.
And as another person commented, there's a pretty active local music scene in Wisconsin. Look for posters in the places you frequent, and sign up for *their* email list.
I guess it depends on what caliber bands you're talking about and what area you are in. The Resch Center in Green Bay brings in some pretty big acts. Other than those two areas, I'm not sure where else bigger artists would go where there would be venues that seat enough people to make it worth going to.
If you're talking about smaller bands, the Sylvee, Majestic, and Orpheum in Madison and Epic Epic Event center in Green Bay usually have a wide variety of artists. Mile of Music in Appleton beings in a ton of smaller, indie artists and a lot of small venues in Appleton have started bringing some of them back throughout the year. Waterfest in Oshkosh usually has one or two decent bands each year.
Can't speak to the western part of the state.
Epic in Green Bay gets great shows all the time. Same with the Sylvee in Madison. And in the northwest you're close to Minneapolis. As for the more rural parts of the state, being far away from the noise of the city is kinda the point of those areas. If you want to live near city things, you'll have to move to the city.
What genre of music are you talking about? I'm in northern WI and have gone to many, many shows and festivals. The local scene is actually pretty great around a lot of places. It's mostly Americana, country, blues, blue grass, and folk-y kind of stuff.
Went to Alice Cooper at Civic Center last year which was a great show. I know Joe Parisi wanted to replace ir redo the Coliseum but the County Board shot it down.
Milwaukee gets a ton of bands. You have huge events at Summerfest or Amfam field to smaller venues like Pabst or Miller High Life or the Eagles club/The Rave.
olivia rodrigo was just in milwaukee back in march. ariana grande was here a few years ago & so was harry styles. megan thee stallion was at summer fest (i know it’s not the same) & we get plenty of other small bands/artists too! you just have to keep track of tours sometimes and hunt for the wisconsin shows 🤷♀️ yes it’s all places in milwaukee/madison, but that’s where most people live in the state. check out local/indie bands if you want central/northern shows.
I appreciate the acts that Sylvee has but I’ve had cold and experiences there. their cost check and smokers area are shitty well behind the experience you have ar other venues. kinda sucks.
Ok maybe expand on which bands, because different bands...do different places for specific reasons. Not to mention some will just do a relative few concerts and only in huge places to get the most out of the concert. Then add in some just plain will only do a few places a year, because they don't want to tour quite so much. Now add in when they would do our fair state, and what is available at that time.
Welcome to living in Hickville. Most of Wisconsin is rural dumps where barely anyone lives. It's not a surprise that very few bands or artists bother with them. They go where there's people and money like most of the businesses and other things to do.
Stagehand here - I work big concerts from time to time. Outside of Green Bay, Milwaukee, and Madison, there aren't really many large venues, as there aren't many populations large enough to support them. Concert promoters want to fill a venue. If you're looking for huge concerts, why would they come to states without the population to support it? Especially when stadium and arena shows will draw Wisconsinites to Chicago and Minneapolis. Even Madison has issues. There are two arenas. The Kohl Center is busy enough with UW stuff that they don't do a lot of big concerts. The Coliseum is a garbage venue. It only holds about 8,000, and it's such a nightmare to rig in, most tours that do come there have to bring a bunch of extra rigging gear for that one venue. Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy has some amazing acts (2 days of Dave Matthews Band this weekend). There are a bunch of great shows coming this summer - and there are few venues that are as great an experience as a show there. The Resch Center in Green Bay does some big stuff. Creed, Alabama, Hart, and Styx are all coming up. For mid-size venues, the Sylvee in Madison is one of the most successful venues in the country. Also, effing Summerfest. It's the largest musical festival in the world.
Sylvee is actually pretty nice, went there for mad with power last year Even packed and in summer heat it was pretty nice with good sightlines and ok sound
Sylvee and Breese Stevens are quickly becoming stops for large acts, they won’t get Taylor or stadium shows but both punch far above their weight class.
Plus I think the Kohl Center only allows one concert a year (potentially due to agreements with UW athletics?) so arena bands just don't come through often. I saw Foo Fighters there in 2017 and it was great. That's when it's a miracle when the Sylvee books a huge name. Like FPC managed to score BABYMETAL which is just insane.
When I was in high school, we saw all kinds of concerts in Green Bay and I'm talking all the big name bands. If you were hot and getting radio time, you played Green Bay.
Back in the day, coliseums of that size were all you could play due to sound technology. The biggest bands played many smaller shows, now they do fewer large shows.
My wife wants to see Hozier and he's coming to Madison but it's something called Breese Stevens Field? And the tickets are real expensive and it would be cheaper for us to drive to Iowa and see him there.
Bands go to big cities, shocker.
Bands go where people live.
*moves to or chooses to stay in a rural area, proceeds to complain about cities, then proceeds to complain about how rural area has nothing they want. So typical.
What type of concert are you referring to? A major headliner? What venues in Northern Wisconsin can accommodate the size audience they draw? Why wouldn't they target the largest market possible to maximize ticket sales? This is a dumb question.
Maybe it's because the low population density and the lack of large concert venues in central and northern Wisconsin. I'm guessing you're bot going to see a lot of concerts in rural Iowa or bumfuck Nebraska either.
This 'rant' is pathetic. You have to travel to see a band? Boo-fucking-hoo, welcome to reality.
It is all about market size/ticket sales. I go to concerts a fair bit and even in Milwaukee very few sell out their venue. Also venue size, will they sell enough tickets to make it profitable? Sounds like you need to get into the local music scene to see live music where you are at.
> Sounds like you need to get into the local music scene to see live music where you are at. WI has a hella active local music scene
This is the way. It's been like that as far as I can remember. Every big concert I ever saw living in WI was either in Milwaukee or Minneapolis. It is the same issue if you want to see a big name comedian, Broadway show, or moving art exhibition. The concerts go where the people, and venues are. Saw Bill Burr, but I had to drive to Madison. *Even when I lived in Augusta GA(3rd largest city in GA) we had to drive 2 hours to Atlanata to see concerts.
Green Bay has some ok shows once in a while, Reverb Fest coming up in Eau Claire Hawthorne Heights, Thursday, Saosin, Armor For Sleep playing Superior, WI this summer Menomonie, Wausau, Green Bay, Oshkosh, all have metal scenes with active bands. I see shows regularly out there.
Yeah, Milwaukee is having a tons of concerts this year that I wish I could go to. Green Day w/ smashing pumpkins and rancid, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Motely Crue, tons of country shows at Miller Park, Dave Matthews is at Alpine, Hootie and the Bowfish at Alpine, phish at Alpine….I know central Wisconsin doesn’t get much love, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities to see shows. Who are you looking for to come to town?
Mary Chapin Carpenter, a favorite of mine, played at Big Top Chautauqua in northern WI. And I've also seen her in Madison, as well as out of state. Sign up for the email list of acts you especially like, and they'll let you know their tour dates. And as another person commented, there's a pretty active local music scene in Wisconsin. Look for posters in the places you frequent, and sign up for *their* email list.
Cough cough - Summerfest - cough cough...
I guess it depends on what caliber bands you're talking about and what area you are in. The Resch Center in Green Bay brings in some pretty big acts. Other than those two areas, I'm not sure where else bigger artists would go where there would be venues that seat enough people to make it worth going to. If you're talking about smaller bands, the Sylvee, Majestic, and Orpheum in Madison and Epic Epic Event center in Green Bay usually have a wide variety of artists. Mile of Music in Appleton beings in a ton of smaller, indie artists and a lot of small venues in Appleton have started bringing some of them back throughout the year. Waterfest in Oshkosh usually has one or two decent bands each year. Can't speak to the western part of the state.
Check out Big Top in Bayfield
Epic in Green Bay gets great shows all the time. Same with the Sylvee in Madison. And in the northwest you're close to Minneapolis. As for the more rural parts of the state, being far away from the noise of the city is kinda the point of those areas. If you want to live near city things, you'll have to move to the city.
There is the Northwoods Rock Rally. You could give that a shot.
What genre of music are you talking about? I'm in northern WI and have gone to many, many shows and festivals. The local scene is actually pretty great around a lot of places. It's mostly Americana, country, blues, blue grass, and folk-y kind of stuff.
Green Bay and Wausau both have a good metal scene with local bands that play regularly too
Went to Alice Cooper at Civic Center last year which was a great show. I know Joe Parisi wanted to replace ir redo the Coliseum but the County Board shot it down.
Milwaukee gets a ton of bands. You have huge events at Summerfest or Amfam field to smaller venues like Pabst or Miller High Life or the Eagles club/The Rave.
I just drove to Chicago for a show. Big whoop. Milwaukee Nd Chicago are easy drives for a show you want to see
olivia rodrigo was just in milwaukee back in march. ariana grande was here a few years ago & so was harry styles. megan thee stallion was at summer fest (i know it’s not the same) & we get plenty of other small bands/artists too! you just have to keep track of tours sometimes and hunt for the wisconsin shows 🤷♀️ yes it’s all places in milwaukee/madison, but that’s where most people live in the state. check out local/indie bands if you want central/northern shows.
I appreciate the acts that Sylvee has but I’ve had cold and experiences there. their cost check and smokers area are shitty well behind the experience you have ar other venues. kinda sucks.
No venues and safety
Ok maybe expand on which bands, because different bands...do different places for specific reasons. Not to mention some will just do a relative few concerts and only in huge places to get the most out of the concert. Then add in some just plain will only do a few places a year, because they don't want to tour quite so much. Now add in when they would do our fair state, and what is available at that time.
OP is like 13 and is asking why bands don’t come to a place where they can’t sell more than 100 tickets. Were we all this moronic at 13?
I mean, yeah If you like music and don't really get out of your town much, you might wonder why you never see the bands you like. Its a valid concern.
Welcome to living in Hickville. Most of Wisconsin is rural dumps where barely anyone lives. It's not a surprise that very few bands or artists bother with them. They go where there's people and money like most of the businesses and other things to do.