Summerfest 2021 Festival Stage Headliners for Week Two:
Joan Jett and the Black Hearts - September 9
George Thorogood and the Destroyers - September 9
Goo Goo Dolls - September 10
ZZ Top - September 11
GA Tickets available here for the weekend, individual days, or the whole festival.
Joan Jett and the Black Hearts
Joan Jett is an originator, an innovator, and a visionary. As the leader of the hard- rocking Blackhearts, with whom she has become a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, she's had eight platinum and gold albums and nine Top 40 singles, including the classics "Bad Reputation," "I Love Rock 'N' Roll," "I Hate Myself For Loving You," and "Crimson and Clover." Her independent record label, Blackheart Records, was founded in 1980 after she was rejected by no less than 23 labels. Blackheart is one of the longest running indie labels and continues to give voice to new bands. Jett has acted in movies and television, including 1987's Light Of Day, and in a Tony-nominated Broadway musical, The Rocky Horror Show. She has appeared on such acclaimed television shows as Oprah (the last season) and Law and Order.
As a producer, she has overseen albums by Bikini Kill, Circus Lupus, as well as the Germs' LA punk masterpiece, GI.
Her music has become a permanent force in mainstream culture. A version of "I Hate Myself for Loving You” was reworked for NBC's Sunday Night Football theme song, “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night”, and was performed for 9 seasons by the likes of Pink, Faith Hill and Carrie Underwood. Her music is heard in countless films and TV shows including Easy - A, Kick Ass, The Runaways, Shrek, Baby Mama, and many more.
Since co-founding the Runaways, the pioneering all-girl punk quintet, at age 15, Jett's determination and drive have kept her in the public eye. Jett was able to see her story told in The Runaways, the film based on (lead singer of The Runaways) Cherie Currie's book Neon Angel starring Kristen Stewart as Jett, and her fellow A-lister Dakota Fanning as Currie. Jett was close to the project: She served as an executive producer. Jett and the Blackhearts released their latest record, 'Unvarnished,' in 2013 and continue touring the globe to throngs of adoring fans.
Joan Jett has spent her lifetime breaking barriers and challenging expectations - this is, after all, a woman who is both a spokesperson for PETA and a devoted supporter of the US Military. She's fought hard for all of her historic accomplishments, yet she remains humble and appreciative.
"I've had a blessed career," she says. "I consider myself so lucky to have been able to do things my own way."
George Thorogood and the Destroyers
Since 1976, they’ve sold over 15 million albums, built a classic catalog of hits, and played more than 8,000 ferocious live shows. They broke records with their 50 Dates/50 States Tour, delivered landmark performances at Live Aid and on SNL, and became mainstays of radio, MTV and stages worldwide for more than two generations. Through it all, they’ve remained one of the most consistent – and consistently passionate – progenitors of blues-based rock in pop culture history.
For the past 45 years, it’s been very good to be George Thorogood & The Destroyers. And in 2021, their Good To Be Bad Tour: 45 Years Of Rock will prove why like never before.
“If you’re content, you may as well be dead.” George laughs with his familiar rasp. “I think everyone has thoughts about retiring, but the phone keeps ringing. You want me and The Destroyers to come to your town, set up our gear, wear some cool threads and play ‘Who Do You Love?’ End of conversation. Let’s rock!”
For Thorogood and his longtime band – Jeff Simon (drums, percussion), Bill Blough (bass guitar), Jim Suhler (rhythm guitar) and Buddy Leach (saxophone) – the power to rock audiences has been both battle cry and creed since the beginning. “It wasn’t about the amount of people we drew, but rather the impression we made,” George remembers. “I asked myself, ‘Are we reaching them? Do they want more?’ And we knew from the very first set that we had something special.”
It’s on stage that George & The Destroyers flip the switch nightly, delivering what The Toledo Blade calls “a gut-bustin’, guitar-wailin’, face-meltin’, fiery-tempoed, take-no-prisoners, good old-fashioned lunch-bucket rock & roll show” that includes their signature hits “Get A Haircut”, “I Drink Alone”, “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer”, “Move It On Over”, “Who Do You Love” and the definitive badass anthem “Bad To The Bone”, along with several surprises. “It’s been a constant evolution to make the show all killer, no filler,” explains 43-year Destroyer bassist Bill Blough. “Something still inherently clicks the second we step on stage. We feel the audience’s energy and the show just explodes.”
But after 45 years of rock – and no signs of stopping – can Thorogood point to what continues to make it all matter? “My highlight is every night when I walk on that stage and play our hits for those happy people,” he says. “At the end of the show, the audience is smiling, I don’t see any police and everyone got their money’s worth.”
More importantly, is it still good to be bad? George Thorogood instantly flashes that huge grin. “You bet it is,” he says. ”We’ll always be the baddest band in the land. Expect our best on this tour, because that’s what you’re gonna get.”
Goo Goo Dolls
If you live every day to the fullest, you will never run out of scars to show off, stories to share, and things to say.
As life goes on for Goo Goo Dolls, the ensuing music connects even more closely, embracing experimentation, exhibiting assurance, and exuding experience. Drawing on over three decades together, the four-time GRAMMY® Award-nominated record-breaking multiplatinum rock band—John Rzeznik and Robby Takac—supply a real sense of hope and a whole lot of heart on their twelfth full-length album, Miracle Pill[Warner Records].
“There is always hope,” affirms John. “Things may look dark or dire, but there’s a chance to make a connection, nevertheless. I’m writing from as honest of a place as I can at this time in my life. That’s something I want everyone to understand about the album. A lot of our fans have grown up with us. I think they’ll be able to relate to where we’re at in our lives, because they tend to be at the same place. We’ve still got a lot to say.”
As such, everyone also continues to grow. Following a sold-out 20thanniversary tour in support of the 1998 quadruple-platinum classic Dizzy Up The Girl and the recent live releases The Audience is This Way and The Audiences Is That Way(Rest of the Show)[Vol. 2], the duo immediately hit the studio in late 2018. Rather than“have a long break, ”John and Robby feverishly wrote upon returning from the road.
As they worked with everyone from Sam Hollander [Train, Weezer] to Derek Fuhrmann [A Great Big World, Kygo], the musicians retreated to familiar territory in order to record: the world-renowned Capitol Studios in Hollywood.
“We’ve made records through so many different phases of the band and the industry,” says Robby. “Even so, we were actually in the same room where we recorded a lot of older music this time. It felt like some of the vibe made it into our current process. We always try to keep it fresh, find new avenues, and keep moving forward.”
ZZ Top
ZZ TOP a/k/a “That Little Ol’ Band From Texas,” lay undisputed claim to being the longest running major rock band with original personnel intact and, in 2004, the Texas trio was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Of course, there are only three of them – Billy F Gibbons, Dusty Hill, Frank Beard -- but it’s still a remarkable achievement that they’re still very much together after almost 50 years of rock, blues, and boogie on the road and in the studio. “Yeah,” says Billy, guitarist extraordinaire, “we’re the same three guys, bashing out the same three chords.” With the release of each of their albums the band has explored new ground in terms of both their sonic approach and the material they’ve recorded. ZZ TOP is the same but always changing.
ZZ TOP’s music is always instantly recognizable, eminently powerful, profoundly soulful and 100% Texas American in derivation. The band’s support for the blues is unwavering both as interpreters of the music and preservers of its legacy. It was ZZ TOP that celebrated “founding father” Muddy Waters by turning a piece of scrap timber than had fallen from his sharecropper’s shack into a beautiful guitar, dubbed the “Muddywood.” This totem was sent on tour as a fundraising focus for The Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi, site of Robert Johnson’s famed “Crossroads” encounter with the devil. ZZ TOP’s support and link to the blues remains as rock solid as the music they continue to play. They have sold millions of records over the course of their career, have been officially designated as Heroes of The State of Texas, have been referenced in countless cartoons and sitcoms and are true rock icons but, against all odds, they’re really just doing what they’ve always done. They’re real and they’re surreal and they’re ZZ TOP.