Presented with the opportunity to talk with a pair of Summerfest’s unsung heroes, Dori Zori shared a familiar sentiment about the festival’s annual lineup announcement: “It’s like Christmas for music lovers.”
It’s possible that Milwaukee World Festival’s Jerrod Woods (senior director of marketing) and Scott Ziel (VP of entertainment) might have a slightly different view of things. After all, they’re the ones helping sift through the wish lists of all the good boys and girls, shop for the presents and arrange them carefully under the tree.
In spite of — or possibly because of — all the work they put in, along with the rest of the behind-the-scenes crew, their enthusiasm was no less evident when they joined Dori to talk about the big lineup drop that happened Wednesday morning.
They kicked off the conversation with news that The Lumineers and Hippo Campus grabbed one of the final opening dates at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater and will take that stage July 5. They also name-dropped The Head & The Heart, MJ Lenderman, Devo, Psychedelic Furs and Fountains of Wayne — all names you can find in this year’s lineup.
While it’s very cool to hear them chat about the artists they snagged for the festival, what really makes this conversation shine are the moments when they open that curtain just a little bit and share what goes on backstage leading up to the lineup announcement — things like Billy Corgan reaching out just last week to see if Summerfest would be down to welcome his new project.
You can listen to the interview using the player at the top of the page and get more information about this year’s festival, including the ticket options on sale right now, on the Summerfest website.
