{image1}Mississippi-born Garrison Starr is spunky, cute and girly in a weirdly non-girly way. She played a local house show on Wednesday night and took the stage on opening night just before the darkness came over the Fest.

Starr opened her 8:30 p.m. set on the U.S. Cellular/Leinie's Lodge Stage with "Gasoline," the first track from her latest disc, last year's "Airstreams and Satellites." Telling many mini-stories about her relationship-oriented tunes, Starr and her three-member band cranked out several more numbers from the album including "Sing," "Superhero," the title track and the touching ode to her "Grandmom" -- "Hey, Girl."

Several tunes from her "Songs From Takeoff to Landing" disc -- released by Milwaukee's Back Porch label a few years back -- rounded out the set.

Starr heads back to the studio soon to record a new disc and she previewed a new tune from it before launching into a beautiful cover of the classic Cyndi Lauper song "Time after Time."

You can't help but love any performer who uses the term "y'all" after nearly tune, points out the drunk dancer in the second row, calls her Grandma, "grandmom" and comes out after the show to sign her "merch" and personally thank the fans that showed up to support her.

With a nearly perfect Milwaukee night as her backdrop, it was a shame more locals didn't show up to see and hear her. Although many were in attendance Thursday night at Summerfest -- a large percentage jockeying for a prime "Big Bang" fireworks spot -- too many missed out on a chance to see Starr up-close and personal.

-Jeff Sherman

John Mellencamp and John Fogerty

It was gushing Americana as John Mellencamp and special guest John Fogerty kicked off Summerfest 2005 at the Marcus Amphitheater Thursday night. From the little girl dressed in an American flag dress to the fan with the stars and stripes bandana, the concert bled red, white and blue.

Fogerty opened with one of the best opening acts to date, pumping life back into many of Credence Clearwater Revival's greatest hits.

Opening with "Travelin' Band," Fogerty drew the crowd into an instant frenzy and unleashed an energy he displayed throughout. There was no looking back after that.

"Born on the Bayou" kept the classic rock feeling alive. And Fogerty re-posed a couple pointed questions with the tunes, "Who'll Stop the Rain?" and "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" He also played "Lookin' Out My Back Door," "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," "Fortunate Son" and in the encore, "Bad Moon Rising" and "Proud Mary."

The real crowd pleaser for the mainly 40-and-up crowd was "Down on the Corner," which had everyone on their feet, clapping along. Even people walking in the aisles paused to do a little dance.

Fogerty's voice was excellent and he worked the stage and crowd extremely well, making him a tough act to follow.

After some weird technical difficulties that left the crowd wondering just what was going on, John Mellencamp and his seven-piece band got the show started with "Small Town."

Problem was that the technical difficulties proved to be the assassin of the crowd's excitement.

Mellencamp followed with two new songs, which didn't help excite the crowd. Only the first five or so rows were bouncing around.

The fourth song, "Lonely Old Night," finally provided a little relief as Mellencamp whipped off his jacket and strutted his stuff. Then he invited Fogerty back on stage for a duet on a version of "Green River" that was easily one of the show's highlights.

After another tune with Fogerty, Mellencamp returned to his hits list and attempted a version of a recent single, "Walk Tall," which suffered when he slowed the tempo down.

"Paper in Fire" brought back a little life in the crowd but Mellencamp clearly would need a stellar second half to bring it home.

A pause after "Paper in Fire," for a video retrospective of Mellencamp's career was somewhat interesting, but seemed an excuse for the aging Mellencamp to take five.

Mellencamp looked to dominate in the second half as he started with one of his first hits "I Need a Lover" and followed with "Authority Song," shaking his butt in his tight pants and strutting around on stage like he owned the place.

The crowd was so insistent on singing along, Mellencamp barely sang a verse in the next few songs, instead aiming the microphone at the crowd, letting it or one of his back-up singers take charge. He appeared to spend more time pacing around the stage and throwing his fists than singing.

He wrapped up the 16-song set with "Hurt So Good," "Pink Houses" and "Ain't Even Done With the Night." And, no encore.

-Josh Hertzog