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Yesterday may have marked a national holiday, but AJR wasn’t in the mood to relax or take any time off Thursday night, instead working overtime to entertain the mostly full Fourth of July crowd gathered at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater. Yes, the July 3rd fireworks may have been a no-show this year, but the trio of hit-making brothers and their brassy band kindly brought their own kind of grandiose and colorful display to the lakefront in its place – fittingly complete with plenty of oohs and ahhs as well as maybe a few fizzles and misfires too.
After an extended intro video asking the crowd where they’d want to go if they could travel anywhere in time – from the bottom of the ocean to a college party complete with digital puke – the brothers Met took the Amp stage: Adam, Ryan and Jack … and Jack. And another Jack. And a few other Jacks. Indeed, a whole baseball team of Jack Met doppelgängers – back turned to the crowd, gesticulating in his signature flannel and trapper hat – helped dramatically perform AJR’s opener “Maybe Man,” an early sign that the band would not be content to just play the hits without throwing in some theatrical panache to accompany the jaunty power pop proceedings.
The Jack clones would eventually meander off stage, but the brothers’ sound and stage presence would stay big as they bounded through a nearly two-hour set of unapologetically open, confessional pop-rock bops – from the color-splashed “Sober” to the western-inspired “Yes I’m A Mess” and a jazzy blend of “I Won’t” and “Birthday Party” that they borrowed from a YouTuber. (Hopefully without legal repercussions, Ryan joked.)
The trio’s earned a growing following over the past several years – certainly since their modest Rave debut with what Jack recalled as approximately 100 people in attendance – with their unique brand of anxiety attack rock all too relatable to the millennial/zoomer crowd, singing intimate therapy sessions set to earwormy beats and anthemic sing-alongs.
The sound and essence translated spectacularly to the live stage, immense yet still intimate whether in a zippy song like “The DJ Is Crying For Help” or in a quieter tune – such as the night’s most startlingly moving number, “God Is Really Real,” a heartbreakingly open ode to their late father who passed last year before their originally scheduled Big Gig show. Save for drunken meltdowns late into the night, Summerfest isn’t typically home to many teary-eyed moments – but AJR delivered a rare sober, genuine one on Thursday night.
That open sincerity came through in the trio’s on-stage performance as well, putting on an eclectic show that felt emphatically earnest, personable and energetic. In between punching, flailing and ragdolling across the stage during their songs, fueled by ecstatic joy, Jack Met made for a charismatic host for the night, whether delivering brotherly banter with keyboardist Ryan – who had his own charming bits throughout the show – shouting out some Spider-Men in the crowd regretting their choices or taking on a pair of young boys in a staring contest to win the honor of his hat. (The adorably enthusiastic boys won.)
Like the band, the production itself never stopped searching out ways to entertain the crowd. At least twice during the show, Ryan noted the Broadway influence in AJR’s music – but the live show is where those theatrically-minded impulses seem to really pop, constantly delivering something new to look at or engage the audience. “Yes I’m a Mess” utilized a treadmill and the curved screen at the back of the stage to make it look like Jack was roaming around with his many clones again and carrying a gigantic rock. Later, in case “Bang!” wasn’t big or quirky enough of a song on its own, Jack was joined by shadow puppets dancing on the back wall and eventually dueling him in a drum solo.
Even the stage itself couldn’t rein them in, as midway through the set, Jack and the band ventured deep into the audience to perform a batch of plucky songs (“World’s Smallest Violin” and “Steve’s Going to London”) in the seats amongst the fans. Like their Broadway inspirations, AJR was unrelentingly eager to put on a show, a musical storytelling spectacle.
Maybe a bit too eager, in a few instances.
While most of AJR’s stage show was charming – the gently poking banter, the whimsical stage wizardry both old-school and new – a few of their big theatrical swings were misses. “Karma,” for instance, featured Jack seemingly “falling” in a harness above the stage amidst a screen-rendered sky for the entire song – a fairly nifty effect that also completely distracted from the song itself. Later, to intro “Way Less Sad,” Ryan explained how the hit came together – interesting and insightful at first, but after several minutes of wind-up including not one but two mini-sets, my intrigue turned into impatience.
The most notable bust of a bit, though, came near the very end. As “100 Bad Days” came to a close, the stage suddenly cleared, lights came up and a frazzled Ryan came out to tell the audience that, no, this wasn’t part of the show: A light fell onto the stage with a bunch of glass scattered everywhere, and they’d return once it was cleaned up. It seemed pretty serious … until the world’s oldest, slowest janitor ambled onto the stage in a facemask, swept a little and meandered center stage while dancing a little. Lo and behold, it was Jack in disguise, and the whole ordeal WAS a part of the show, ending with one final burst of “100 Bad Days.”
Fair enough, AJR: You got me. (Between this and Keith Urban’s band of “Milwaukee natives,” my BS detector is malfunctioning worse than the Chicago Cubs bullpen these days.) To what end, though? The prank was a whole lot of effort, all just to bring the show’s momentum and energy to a violent, screeching, baffling halt – one I’m not sure the concert figured out how to recover from for its final numbers.
I’d call it the biggest disappointment of the night – but that would have to literally be the encore finale for “2085,” teasing a giant Jack puppet behind a white curtain that ended up just being two fairly big, barely visible hands with his face flatly on screen. Past recent AJR shows featured an actual huge Jack head, so I’m not sure if the tour had to pivot away from the puppet altogether, the Amp stage couldn’t handle it or there was a technical problem (a real one this time).
All that being said, though, I have a hard time getting too up-in-arms about a concert working too hard and maybe being too ambitious in pursuit of putting on a big unique memorable show – especially in this current age of bloated ticket prices. (And as overly theatrical and enthusiastic as some bits could be, it never reached that most dreaded and dangerous level of effort: theater kid energy.)
Otherwise, with a lineup of outrageously catchy and thoughtful hits (“The Good Part," "Burn the House Down,” “Weak”) performed with charming live gusto and passion, AJR was a four-star way to celebrate the Fourth, a thoroughly enjoyable bang without a single firework necessary.
As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.
When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.
