While it may not have been the warmest night along Milwaukee’s lakefront on Wednesday, there was plenty of heat emanating from the BMO Pavilion. That’s because the combination of emerging band Peach Pit and indie singer/songwriter Briston Maroney rolled through town on the “Long Hair, Long Life” tour, and they had thousands of Milwaukeeans to help them open the 2025 summer concert season at the Pavilion. 

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In the case of Maroney, it was no surprise that the burgeoning act had attracted a sizeable crowd; he had previously drawn well at last year’s Summerfest, making the absolute most of an afternoon slot at the Generac Power Stage. He’s only building on that momentum, with Wednesday night’s tour stop coming in support of “Jimmy,” his newest album that came out at the beginning of the month. Not surprisingly, much of the album found its way into the set, with Maroney exuding confidence as he showed off his latest and greatest to Milwaukee.

“It’s a beautiful summer day out here. The sun is shining, and there’s beach balls flying all around” he joked, while that was very much not the case with temperatures in the mid-50s and rain sprinkling outside the Pavilion. The gloomy weather didn’t deter him from bringing plenty of energy to the stage, though, rifling through songs like “Tomatoes” and “Better Than You” from the new album as smoke billowed from a pair of fog machines behind the stage. Much of what Maroney delivered on Wednesday had the appeal of a witty folk singer, infused with an alt-rock energy that translated well to the live setting. He would carry that through the first half of his hour-long set.

There was no shortage on-stage novelties, either. While bringing things down a notch, lanterns were placed onstage for a mid-set campfire setting during “Land of Light,” where he was joined by Dougal McLean from Peach Pit on violin. That would slide into 2019 cut “Caroline” before a brief meditation guided by a recorded voice, complete with Maroney hitting small gongs. Then we were collectively ready to bring the energy back up.

During rocker “The View,” Maroney would frantically run about, before calling for his guitar. Ultimately, that became a bit where the guitar tech refused to give it up, only to shred the final part of the song with the rest of the band himself. While clearly it wasn’t a roadie actually going rogue, it played well to the crowd, who roared after he proved that he too could light up the Pavilion. Maroney’s half of the night would come to a close with “Be Yourself” before singalong hit “Freakin’ Out On The Interstate” which understandably had the biggest reaction of the night so far.

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For Peach Pit, Wednesday marked their second show in Milwaukee in nearly a decade as a band. While they haven’t been up our way much, the band has all the tightness of a seasoned live act, and they moved like a well-oiled machine from one song to the next. Walking out to a set of risers that put the band in line with one another, they wasted no time getting into a riff on “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath, before eventually flipping that into “Magpie,” the title track from their 2024 breakout record.

Frontman Neil Smith would lead the charge for some of the night, though it definitely was a team effort from the band to keep the crowd bopping along. Smith would bobble from side to side, shaking his hair as much as possible during “Drop The Guillotine” and guitarist Christopher Vanderkooy would often head to an additional pair of risers at the front of the stage, testing the limits of his guitar cable. While material from “Magpie” was certainly a point of emphasis, especially since the album has just been re-released with a deluxe addition, the band would jump from one project to the next pretty seamlessly early on, weaving together their releases under the hues of a wall of lights behind them.

Between songs, Smith was personable with the BMO Pavilion crowd, appearing very comfortable detailing anecdotes about the band’s time on tour up to this point. He mentioned their lone other Milwaukee show, which was a poorly attended opening slot for Blitzen Trapper in 2017. “Maybe like, two of you were there,” he joked. He also would play with the crowd before “Give Up Baby Go,” explaining that he had to go sober, after years of peeing his bed whilst drunk. That was interrupted, though, by a fan that needed to be taken out of the pit. Smith, then looking for a way to keep things going, playfully mocked the fan for also having too many beers at the show, and dedicated the song to “Passy-out McGee over there” which got a good laugh. 

The back half of the set didn’t feel rushed, with “Being So Normal” and “Almighty Aphrodite” keeping things as chilled out as the wind that blew in off of the lake. That being said, their main set clocked in at exactly an hour, which feels like the mark of a veteran band that knows how to make that hour feel like it breezed by. The set closed with “Private Presley,” which also didn’t feel like the band needed to ramp things up on their way out. They’d walk offstage to pulsating lights from the set, only to return for two more songs.

Smith trotted out solo for the encore, telling the story of how Peach Pit was formed thanks to an MDMA-fueled confession from him to Vanderkooy while at a music festival. That set up an acoustic version of “Peach Pit,” the first song that Smith wrote for the band, complete with a full-Pavilion singalong to send the song off. The rest of the band would then rejoin him onstage for “Tommy’s Party,” which was a mellow send-off to the night. While they didn’t go out with a bang, one of their biggest hits played like a fitting end to a dreary Wednesday night with just a little bit of rain. The song is normally their closer, but it played to the atmosphere of it all especially well.

Both Peach Pit and Briston Maroney, as well as openers Bnny, feel like bright spots for the future of indie pop overall. Wednesday night showcased acts that feel like they’ll be festival-level staples for years to come, and deservingly so.