Except for when the Vikings play at Lambeau or New Glarus introduces a beer, there might never be a bigger exodus of Minnesotans wanting to get into Wisconsin than there will be next weekend.
Somehow, western Wisconsin farmland has become home to two of the Upper Midwest's biggest and most innovative rock fests, Summer Set and Eaux Claires. Just as surprising, both events happen to fall on the same weekend this summer, a result of Eaux Claires' team moving its dates from late July for its second year. Summer Set, meanwhile, is tooling along into its fifth outing.
The two festivals have a lot more in common. Both take their names from their respective host towns. Both are about 90 minutes or less from the Twin Cities. Both are staged near rivers in green fields that would otherwise play host to cows and corn instead of hipsters and ravers. Both offer four music stages, ample room for camping and arty side attractions with a psychedelic bend.
Best of all, both blend music genres in unique, eclectic ways. They both have strong lineups this year, too, each with one cultishly adored headliner (Skrillex for Summer Set, Bon Iver for Eaux Claires), and one hot newcomer who put on impressive sets in June at Rock the Garden (Chance the Rapper and Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, respectively).
Here's a rundown highlighting their differences.
Summer Set Music & Camping Festival
When: All day Fri.-next Sun.
Where: Somerset Amphitheater in Somerset, Wis., about 40 miles northeast of Minneapolis.
Who puts it on: Summer Set debuted in 2012 as a collaboration between longtime Twin Cities dance music promoter SIM Shows, the amphitheater's owner, Madison's Majestic Theatre and Chicago's React Presents, which also puts on the similarly flavored North Coast Music Festival in its hometown.
