By Matt Mueller Culture Editor Published Jun 27, 2023 at 3:56 PM

Summerfest may already be in the full swing of things, but the Big Gig's still making moves as the festival announced today that the Jimmy Buffett Amp headliner show set for Thursday, July 6 has been canceled, now replaced with a bonus night from alt-rockers AJR. 

The Buffett Amp show has been a question mark dangling over Summerfest for the past several months. The festival never even officially announced the booking as the "Margaritaville"-crooning icon was hospitalized in May, putting the potential Big Gig concert in flux. The famed singer was released from the hospital and is currently recovering reportedly at home, though not fast enough to hit several now-canceled tour dates – including Summerfest. 

The Amp will be far from quiet that Thursday night, though. To replace the Buffett concert, Summerfest has booked "Way Less Sad," "Burn the House Down" and "Bang!" alt-rock hitmakers AJR to fill in as Amp headliners on July 6. The band previously played the Amp last summer – and will still play the same venue two days later on Saturday, July 8, opening for Imagine Dragons in the final Amp headlining gig of this year's Summerfest. 

Tickets for the newly announced AJR show on Thursday, July 6, will go on sale on Thursday, June 29 at 10 a.m. at Ticketmaster as well as in person at the Summerfest box office. Tickets will start at $26.

For the rest of the Summerfest lineup, click here. And here's to seeing you all at the second Big Gig weekend starting back up on Thursday!

Matt Mueller Culture Editor

As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.

When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.