(via Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Comedian Dave Chappelle will be the first comedian to headline Summerfest’s biggest stage in its history.
The Milwaukee festival announced Monday morning that Chappelle will headline the American Family Insurance Amphitheater on Sept. 11. Tickets go on sale at noon June 11 at the Summerfest ticket office, 200 N. Harbor Drive, and ticketmaster.com. Ticket-price information wasn’t immediately available, but tickets will include Summerfest general admission on Sept. 11.
The American Family Insurance Amphitheater, which underwent a $51.3 million renovation last year, opened as the Marcus Amphitheater in 1987. There has never been a standup-comedy headlining show at the venue in the amphitheater’s 34-year history.
But comedy was long a part of Summerfest’s identity, even though it’s been a rarity at the festival in recent years.Bob Hope was one of the festival’s first big headliners, performing two nights at County Stadium in 1969, before the festival relocated to what is now Maier Festival Park the following year. And of course George Carlin’s arrest in 1972 for performing his “Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television” bit is one of the festival’s most famous moments.
Jay Leno, Billy Crystal, Jon Stewart and Tracy Morgan are among the comedians who played the festival in subsequent decades. And while Summerfest officials billed Chappelle’s show Sept. 11 as his festival debut, he actually played the festival in 1999.
In 2006, comedian Lewis Black said at his Summerfest show that he would headline the Marcus Amphitheater the following year, but that never happened. There was no standup comedy at the festival at all from 2008 to 2012. Black headlined the BMO Harris Pavilion in 2013, but there has not been a standup show at Summerfest since.
