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The Big Gig felt especially big this year, and for good reason. On Tuesday morning, Summerfest shared their numbers for 2025, with a notable 8% increase in attendance from 2024. The official attendance was listed as 602,231 fans that made their way through the entrances this year.
This year’s festival featured three sell-out shows at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater with The Killers, Hozier, and Benson Boone, as well as big crowds for Cake, Riley Green, and Chicago at the BMO Pavilion. Elsewhere on the grounds, DEVO, Natasha Bedingfield, and Tee Grizzley were all amongst the acts that brought large crowds to the festival’s ground stages.
In addition to the attendance numbers, Summerfest shared that they donated nearly 24,000 meals through Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin as well as Northcott Neighborhood House, the latter of which coming from their inaugural Juneteenth celebration on the festival’s opening night. The release also included more than 60 community organizations were integrated into this year’s festival, and 101 marketplace vendors, many being small businesses.
“As an independent music festival, Summerfest delivers a one-of-a-kind experience, bringing fans together to enjoy incredible performances and Milwaukee’s vibrant energy,” said Sarah Pancheri, president and CEO, Milwaukee World Festival, Inc. via statement. “We want to thank the artists, sponsors, vendors and fans that supported us this year."
One of the factors to the 2025 attendance being up, surely, was that the festival was also fortunate enough to have three weekends of (mostly) good weather this year, which has been a rarity in recent past. With rain only significantly affecting the tail end of the final night of the festival, which was already busy, mother nature was certainly on Summerfest’s side this time around.
Summerfest also shared their 2026 dates, returning for three weekends next June and July. The 2026 festival will take place on June 18-20, June 25-27, and July 2-4 next year. If you’re ready to start speculating over the lineup already, the 2025 ground stage headliner lineup was unveiled in February, with a second wave of acts announced in May.
As always, stay tuned to OnMilwaukee for more festival announcements, and if you’re already craving more live music, be sure to check out both our monthly live music listings as well as our free outdoor music guide. See you in 2026!
