No Sandals in the Photo Pit: My First Milwaukee Metalfest Experience

Let me start off by saying flatly and plainly: I’ve never really been much a festival guy.  The idea of standing for three days straight watching band after band play truncated sets never really appealed to me.  Festivals are a young man’s game, and I fear that this term doesn’t apply to me like it did back in the day.  Years ago, I would do a few day-long jaunts like the classic Ozzfests, an occasional Dysfunctional Family Picnic (shoutout 9.23 K-ROCK in New York), and one day of Governor’s Ball just to see Tool headline.  More recently, I did partake in the Summer of Loud last year, which was an enjoyable experience about ten minutes from home.  That’s been the extent of my experience to this point.  In all of my time attending shows though, I can’t recall ever attending a festival event over two, let alone three, days.

One such event that always did pique my interest, though, was Milwaukee Metalfest.  The history of the event is entrenched in metal lore, as so many bands, including many that I love, made legendary appearances at the event during its initial run from 1987 to 2004 that proved especially significant for their long term trajectory.  Just off the top of my head, Children of Bodom made their first appearance on U.S. soil at the event in 2000, and Opeth’s first performance across the Atlantic also came at the festival at a time when the band considered disbanding before learning they actually did have fans during their packed set at the festival.    The second iteration, revived by Hatebreed frontman Jamey Jasta in 2023, has featured increasingly impressive and exciting lineups, drawing fans from all over the world to The Rave/Eagles Ballroom, an institution of the Milwaukee music scene that eerily overlooks the infamous Ambassador Hotel.  

Though I’d toyed with the idea of attending in years past, knowing the area fairly well as I try to visit once a year, this year’s lineup had one band that stood out to me as a must-see, as they rarely play more than a handful of shows per year.  Agalloch were confirmed to perform not one, but two distinct setlists for the weekend, a rarity since they began playing together again in 2023.  Having never seen them live and practically worshipping their first few albums, especially The Mantle, I knew that this would be the year I killed two birds with one stone and make the pilgrimage to Milwaukee to attend this legendary festival and see one of my favorite groups play live for the first time.  Plus, you know, sixty other bands… 

Aided by a photo pass and a review ticket (thank you, Suspiria PR!), I headed out to the Good Land for a three-day extravaganza to enjoy many bands I was already familiar with and to explore new groups that I was less intimately informed about in hopes of learning more about them.  Due to my travel plans, I unfortunately missed the pre-party on Thursday night, which was free to all fans who bought a three-day pass for the weekend.  Upon getting to Milwaukee, as I gathered my things that I thought would be necessary to cover the event properly.  My camera’s battery – dead upon arrival and rendered useless for the entire weekend – check.  My portable microphones that I would use to interview exactly zero musicians all weekend – check.  Portable charger for my cell phone, which was now the only tool I had left to use, that runs out of battery life within 15 minutes – check. 

I got to the venue on Friday around 3:30pm, just in time to get the lay of the land before getting into the photo pit for an up-close view of all the action.  The festival utilized three stages: the traditional Rave stage on the first floor, a bar stage adjacent to The Rave, and the Eagles Ballroom up on the third floor.  So, on top of getting to see all of these top notch acts, I was in for a workout trying to navigate the venue up and down flights of stairs in order to capture as much of these performances as I could. 

One thing that might seem elementary to a veteran festival attender would be to map out a loose plan of how to see as many bands as possible given the time constraints between sets.  If I had a dollar for every time I had to stand outside the stages staring at the Metalfest time schematic, I would’ve had enough money to pay my bar tab for the whole weekend.  Add to the equation that I would only have the first three songs from each group to capture anything worthwhile with my cell phone, which can be anywhere from five minutes to a half hour depending on whether its Napalm Death or Agalloch playing, and it certainly seemed like I had my work cut out for me.  

What followed over the next three days was one of the most well-run events I’ve ever had the pleasure of attending.  From the first moments for me watching an insanely energetic performance from Hirax on Friday afternoon to the last notes of John Bush belting out classic Anthrax anthems on Sunday night, Milwaukee Metalfest lived up to the hype in every sense.  Though it was nearly impossible to see every single act play, I’m going to grade my own performance as a festival goer through some personal highlights, faux paus, and otherwise based on my experience throughout the weekend.

Good Decisions

• Perhaps the most entertaining moment of the weekend was an early Saturday set from Belushi Speed Ball.  I’d known of them from press releases and knew they had a sense of humor with song titles like “Ripping Off Municipal Waste,” but their performance was downright hilarious.  Beginning with the band in Christmas sweaters, and an unknown Santa figure throwing gifts into the audience, the group continuously threw pool noodles, clothing, Santa hats, and other items into the crowd throughout their performance.  I picked up a few of these presents that didn’t make it out of photo pit and tossed them out, too, for good measure.  They also played a song laying down on stage, a move I’ve never seen before, while making all attendees crawl around on the floor on their backs while referencing Night Crawlers from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia - all while their lead singer wore a Danhausen t-shirt.  An epic and eye-opening set.

• It’s hard to believe that Armored Saint has never played Milwaukee Metalfest, considering their rise to fame in the early 1980s, but this year marked their first ever show at the event, though they did play the venue prior with WASP and Metallica in 1985 – a decent lineup.  Doubling up with an Anthrax set on Sunday in a throwback Oscar Robertson Bucks jersey, John Bush’s voice continues to age like fine wine.  Seeing him perform “Reign of Fire” by the Saint, especially the line “Find what sex is” which lives rent free in my head, was one of my favorite moments of the whole weekend.

• Maybe the best thing I learned all weekend was that there is a band named Frog Mallet that writes deathcore songs only about frogs.  Forgive me, as I don’t profess to know every single thing about metal, but this fact, combined with their tremendous logo made them one of my favorite discoveries of the weekend.  I only caught one of their two performances that weekend, aided by a cancellation from another band, but definitely a group to follow up on.

• Seeing the reunited Acid Bath headline the Eagles Ballroom on Friday night, while frontman Dax Riggs dedicated “Venus Blue” to departed bandmate Audie Pitre, to an audience with more than a few people dressed in clown costumes as an homage to the When the Kite String Pops album cover, was another surreal moment as the group’s resurgence after a 28-year absence continues to thrill fans of their unique brand of sludge.

• Florida death metal legends Obituary not just slaying their set on Friday night, but covering Celtic Frost’s “Circle of the Tyrants” for an added bonus. 

• The always energetic Killswitch Engage turning the Eagles Ballroom into a full blown party with a 16-song set, punctuated by their legendary cover of “Holy Diver.”  Frontman Jesse Leach continues to prove to be one of the best redemption stories in all of metal since rejoining the band, and his contagious stage presence was a pleasure to be literally inches away from for the first three songs of the set.

• Crossover thrash supergroup Iron Reagan, currently tourmates with Killswitch and playing their first string of dates since 2019, putting on a frenetic setlist early on Saturday afternoon.  Frontman Tony Foresta’s flowing mane was everywhere during their spirited Saturday slot, especially on this shot below which he asked me to send him. Appreciate the love, @tbuzz.

• For a bit of hometown pride, getting to see Prong rip through “Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck” with the band’s flag flying over the NYC skyline, even digitally, was a nice touch being away from home. 

• Catching Sacred Reich’s tour-de-force set on The Rave stage on early Saturday evening, proving again after all these years why they might be the most underrated of the second wave thrash bands. 

• The ultimate highlight for me has to be Agalloch’s two performances, specifically their retrospective set on Friday night, which included a performance of one of my favorite songs of all-time: “Odal,” the sprawling, dynamic instrumental from The Mantle.  Though both this set and their full performance of Ashes Against the Grain were incredible, I’d give the slight edge to the retrospective set on the basis of “Odal” and a couple of Pale Folklore songs, but that’s my early Agalloch bias showing.  I was interested to see how folk-inspired atmospheric black metal would play alongside the diverse array of bands present, and I think a large amount of fans who say weren’t aware of Agalloch prior were impressed by their acumen, as they should have been, speaking as an unabashed fan boy.

• One of, if not the most interesting name to appear on this bill, announced pretty late in the game, was the addition of two sets from Nachtmystium, the American black metal band led by Blake Judd, who has been reviled in the media due to some alleged poor business practices.  Judd, a former heroin addict, had been accused of not delivering merchandise and vinyl through mail order campaigns, with many speculating that he used fans’ money in order to support his drug habit.  In weeks leading up to the festival, Blake had posted photos of the band rehearsing, noting that two members of the band, himself included, should be dead but are now set to perform on stage again.  Nachtmystium had not performed live since 2020, and Blake’s return to the stage and sobriety make for one of the best stories about the entire weekend.  While searching for an event specific Agalloch shirt at the merch stand, which I never found, I happened to see Blake at one of the booths downstairs and got to share this sentiment with him.  We also spoke about our shared appreciation for ISIS’ Oceanic and his collaboration in Twilight with Aaron Turner.  I gave him a business card for a potential interview but haven’t heard back yet – send me an email, Blake!

• Another one of my better decisions was to spend time outdoors in the courtyard full of food trucks during rare down time in between sets.  Aside from having a number of options for nourishment, one of the better features of the setup out there are photographs of musicians that have performed at the festival who are no longer with us.  Alexi Laiho, Ross the Boss, Brent Hinds, Reed Mullin, Chuck Schuldiner, and many others have their pictures adorning the fences of the area, a sobering reminder of the massive amount of talent hosted at this sacred ground that are sadly no longer with us.

Poor Judgment 

• Despite what may seem like a fair amount of good decisions, that wasn’t the case for the entire weekend.  The biggest oversight I made was missing Machine Head for Suicidal Tendencies because I thought they’d play “Institutionalized.”  All I wanted was to see them play “Institutionalized,” and they wouldn’t give it to me!  Their set overall, and Mike Muir’s stage presence is really something to behold.  They also had about fifty fans on stage with them by the end of the set, so really, I didn’t regret staying, but I probably should’ve covered Machine Head’s set.  Whoops.

• The only real technical difficulties I saw the entire weekend was a 20-minute delay in Havok’s set.  Unfortunately for the group, their set was cut short due to time constraints and that Rave stage did not run behind longer than five minutes after that.  During this time, however, I stayed the entire time watching the technicians problem solve on the fly rather than use this time more productively to see another band.  Rookie mistake.
• Speaking of missing sets, I sure did miss a lot of them!  I neglected the entire bar stage for the majority of the weekend, besides taking a peek at Jasta’s Slayer set.  The reasons? I am old, it was hot, and it was crowded.  That being said, I do regret missing Napalm Death and Nachtmystium’s first set in such an intimate setting, but you have to understand I was busy not going to Machine Head at that time. 

• With the amount of professional photographers in the photo pit, I felt a fair bit of shame walking into the photo pit with just my phone.  As mentioned, my camera battery did die, reducing it to an elaborate prop for most of the weekend.  It does make you feel a bit like a poser photog walking in with just a phone.  The only other person to do that was Wyatt from Wyatt’s Metal on YouTube, and we spoke about the shame that comes from it.  The only difference is he has 111,000 followers on YouTube, and I don’t.  I also got chirped a little bit for wearing sandals in the photo pit – I did defend myself by saying I wore Docs the first day for show, but sandals is more my speed.  If they’re good enough for a Metallica mosh pit, I can handle a dozen photographers jockeying for position for the good light.  Still, this made for a few imposter syndrome moments for someone who doesn’t even really consider themselves a photographer first and foremost. 

• I also made an executive decision to wrap up my coverage before Ministry, having to fly out early the next morning.  I’m sorry, Uncle Al.
• I do regret not seeing more bands on the bills, largely due to my decision to not tackle the bar stage and some poor time management decisions.  Sometimes, it was a matter of deciding to see one band over another, a tale as old as time for festival veterans.  Other times, it was because I was old and my phone was draining battery at an alarming rate.  And, a few times, it was to enjoy a libation at the rooftop penthouse overlooking Milwaukee.  One guy I talked to was friends with Armored Saint and Mikkey Dee, to the point the King Diamond/Motorhead/Scorpions drummer had sent him demos of the new Lex Legion album.  Overall, though, my time management left a lot to be desired.  

Unsung Heroes

I’d like to shoutout a few people who deserve endless amount of credit for creating the best possible experience the entire weekend:

• Jamey Jasta, for once again putting together a sick lineup for each day of the festival and working tirelessly to promote metal bands from all genres and being an ambassador for the genre in general, even if the caterers did prepare too much fish at the venue.
• Katy Irizarry of Suspiria Productions, for allowing me this incredible opportunity.
• The bar staff at The Rave, especially Perfect Pat, for helping to keep me hydrated all weekend. 
• Mike and Jackie, for letting me crash in your guest room on an air bed again in Bay View.
• The sound guys at each stage, for keeping the festival on time and running an extremely tight ship that barely deviated from the original schedule.
• The bouncers in the entire venue, for dealing with an endless sea of crowd surfers, handing out free waters throughout the day to fans and photographers alike, and pushing me out of the way when I was in danger of having a sweaty metalhead land directly on top of me in the pit. 

Overall, I’d rate my own performance at Milwaukee Metalfest as a solid B -.  Despite obstacles that I largely created myself, I was fortunate enough to capture enough material that was eventually shared by a number of the musicians who performed over the weekend.  Due to some inexperience with covering festivals, as this was my first one, and some obstinance regarding crowded bar stages, my time management could have been a bit better in order to spread the coverage around a little more and see more of the bands on the bill.  I also failed in finding the Agalloch “Ashes Over Milwaukee” shirt, so on the merch front I’m giving myself a fat F.

The festival as a whole, however, deserves the highest marks for delivering an incredible set of bands, running the whole thing as efficiently as possible, providing opportunities for outside vendors, and delivering a first rate concert experience for the totality of the weekend.  For an event so steeped in metal lore, Jasta and all involved in making this festival happen each year are carrying that legacy to a new generation and new patrons, myself included, with great care. 

So, like I was saying, I'm not a festival guy - but I’ll be back next year.