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Mike Posner’s biggest hit, “I Took A Pill In Ibiza,” is a song about trying to look cool and staying relevant. On Friday night, he came to the U.S. Cellular Connections stage, and doing both of those things were the intent behind every move from the pop/EDM hybrid act.
To start, Posner was assisted behind the turntables by none other than Brody Jenner, the reality star, Kardashian relative, who would hold down the beats for him throughout the night (maybe the Kardashians just really like Milwaukee?) Immediate cool points were scored with the sizeable crowd that surrounded the stage, from the moment he walked out to get set up. Posner then ran on stage in a full sprint, nearly slipping into the monitors on his way through. He would keep up that energy and the same string of near-catastrophic luck throughout the night.
Opener “Please Don’t Go” brought the energy up, and over the course of an hour, Posner wouldn’t slow down. That amount of time, though, did require him to not only reach into his catalog of solo songs, but also renditions of songs that he’s credited on, and covers that would get flipped into EDM remixes. He went to that well early, with a cover of Maroon 5’s “Sugar,” which he co-wrote.
“A lot of people know this song, but a lot of people don’t know I wrote it” he quipped, before breaking out what became a mass singalong, falsettos and all. Again, cool points were scored with the crowd.
“Sugar” was far from the only cover of the night, though. Posner would also flip his own versions of The Killers’ “When You Were Young” and Eagle-Eye Cherry’s “Save Tonight” into dubstep remixes, playing them straight until the chorus was finished, then letting the bass vibrate the whole stage. There really didn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason behind the cover selections, but when they kicked in, they were certainly effective with the crowd.
On the surface, the set played fine to the Milwaukee crowd, but there were definitely signs of tech issues getting in the way of the show. Early on, Jenner’s mix sounded a little light, which would result in changing out a cable from his turntables mid-show, and mid-song. A stagehand pulled one cord a bit too early during “Move On,” dropping the beat out for a split-second while Posner slickly said “don’t do that” and slid into the chorus. For a cover of Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me,” he had planned to break out an acoustic guitar, but when it wasn’t working, he ditched it for an acapella version of the song, with thousands of hands clapping along with him for the beat.
“This definitely wasn’t planned. We’re calling some audibles up here because you guys are going so crazy” Posner quipped before hitting the Eagle-Eye Cherry cover. He briefly consulted with Jenner, and after some slight turbulence, the rest of the night went smoothly.
When he addressed the crowd, he was nothing but positive, trying to be uplifting for anyone who needed to hear it. Several times throughout the night, he would repeat “I am free. I never give up. It’s a beautiful day to be alive.” The first instance of that mantra would segue into “Beautiful Day,” where Posner brought out “healing house” producer Lincoln Jesser. With no microphone and Jenner behind the turntables, though, there was nothing really for Jesser to do but hype up the crowd. In a sense, he was just there for vibes, which sounds like a pretty good job if you can get it.
Towards the back half of the set, Posner would bring things down for just a second, to pay tribute to Avicii, before Jenner would drop “Levels” to turn the crowd into a dance party.
“I don’t think we ever really die, we just change forms” said Posner, before commanding the crowd to make enough noise that Avicii could hear them in heaven. While the intention was there, it was the sort of line that makes pop music feel like a parody of itself sometimes. That being said, it also worked with the crowd, who reacted accordingly.
The main portion of the night concluded with breakout hit “Cooler Than Me,” which saw Posner run into the crowd and high five fans from the middle divider of the Connections Stage area, before sprinting back onto the stage. He would retreat backstage after, but everyone knew that “Ibiza” was coming up.
For his return and the aforementioned hit, Posner brought out another cameo. First, he played the song straight, before saying “we’re not done” and inviting producer Prosecute on stage for the remix. Again, no mic, just vibes, and again, it worked with the crowd, as the track brought the heavy bass one more time. For one final track, though, Posner would go back to his covers, this time dropping a dubstep version of Bill Withers’ “Lean On Me,” and encouraging fans to embrace one another for a final singalong of the night.
Mike Posner does not hide that he achieved fame, lost it, and has worked to regain it once again. In fact, it feels like the driving force of his live show. With a squeaky-clean charm about his presence on stage and a boatload of covers to keep fans engaged, Posner is deadset on not losing your attention. While he may not have a full night of his own material to do so, he’s going to make sure that he stays relevant and pleases the crowd, and that’s exactly what he did on Friday night at Summerfest.
