A moment that took almost a decade to arrive lived up to the hype last night when The Lonely Island finally reached Milwaukee for their first stage performance as a group in the area. The sketch team/ridiculous comedy hitmakers headlined the Miller Lite Oasis stage at Summerfest in Milwaukee to one of the biggest crowds I’ve seen in the years I’ve been attending.
The Santana champagne was flowing and the flippy floppies were flying as they jumped around through their famous Saturday Night Live skits and and post-SNL bangers like “Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song)” and “I’m The Humblest” from POPSTAR: Never Stop Never Stopping. The trio went through more costume changes than a Beyonce show and brought out puppets in place of their famous collaborators Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga.
I felt a little bad that before they came out people were chanting “Andy! Andy!” because I think all three are super-talented. I understand that Samberg is on tv all the time, but Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone certainly shouldn’t be left out. Once the concert got going it became apparent that the audience loves each member, which was nice.
While they didn’t bring out Timberlake or Gaga, we weren’t without special guests. During the Bash Bros part of the show, actual bash brother Jose Canseco came out on stage to let the boys know they’re not quite doing it right. I found that a little shocking since the whole Bash album is based on how juiced up Canseco and Mark McGwire were while they played professional baseball. He did write a memoir about it, and he’ been able to make a career out of appearances like this, so I guess he doesn’t mind that people are having fun as long as he’s in on it.
Favorite segments were turning “Lazy Sunday” into a Hamilton tribute, hearing a few thousand people scream out “Terrorize that pussy!” during “Finest Girl,” watching the three men on stage just kneel before the video screen while it showed the Kendrick Lamar verse on “YOLO,” and Michael Bolton “live via satellite” holding up an Asian newspaper to prove that he was broadcasting live.
The biggest shock of the night was definitely the outpouring of love for T-Pain. The rapper headlined his own set on another stage at the festival that started a half hour before The Lonely Island’s, so he was able to make it over for “On A Boat” to end the night. People were going absolutely crazy for him. Glad he showed up because if he hadn’t there would be some very upset fans.
