Coi Leray, Cypress Hill and the best and worst of Day 4 of Summerfest 2023 in Milwaukee

Rain, lightning and Canadian wildfire haze tried to put a damper on the proceedings at Summerfest Thursday, forcing some cancellations and delays early in the day. Here's how the rest of the day went.

Coi Leray

A lot of DJs use the sound of air horns at hip-hop shows. But Coi Leray’s DJ? He used a deafening foghorn.

It proved to be a suitable metaphor for the rising rapper’s headlining set at the UScellular Connection Stage. It was loud, blunt, short … but ultimately effective.

Following the DJ's foghorn-loaded 20-minute warmup set, there was a hyperbolic intro video (over the melodramatic sound of a heartbeat), followed by six dancers who stormed the stage with superhuman flips.

The hype machine was out of control, making it seemingly impossible for Leray to live up to heightened expectations. And while Leray was only on stage for about a half hour Thursday, it was stuffed with a whole lot of show. She matched the frenetic choreography of her relentless dance team while still managing to deliver her rhymes with a limber flow without leaning on prerecorded vocals.

And she made it all seem so effortless, taking only one extended breather for the angsty Metro Boomin collaboration “Self Love” from the “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” soundtrack, prefaced by some sweetly encouraging words for the large, predominantly young and female crowd.

She didn’t need to take so much time shouting out her Billboard chart accomplishments, and a "who wants a T-shirt?" moment was unnecessary. Nor does Leray need to lean on such unimaginative, blatant samples to hook listeners, as she does repeatedly on her new album “Coi.”

At least live Thursday, her biggest hit “Players” — whose power comes from its sampling of the Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five classic “The Message” — was creatively presented, with Leray and the dancers getting down to a sped-up version.

And if you look past the gimmicks, Leray’s Summerfest show made it clear that, as a rapper and a performer, the hype is real.

— Piet Levy, plevy@journalsentinel.com

Cypress Hill

After a “Marvelous” performance by local legend Twan Mack, Cypress Hill tore down a jam-packed BMO Pavilion Thursday night.

DJ Lord drove the fans wild with a short set ranging from Ozzy Osbourne to the "Star Wars" theme. He could’ve put on Taylor Swift and been just as hype.

Original members Sen Dog and B-Real came out shortly after to begin their ballads to herbal remedies. B-Real’s distinctive nasally voice echoed through the pavilion as he smoked a joint through the entire show. Some remember Sen Dog as a hype man while the Day 1 fans were eager to hear his gravely voice spit his classic verses from the group's self-titled debut album.

Their rendition of “Pigs” mixed with KRS-One’s “Sound of da Police” was one of the best moments of the show. But the true highlight had to be B-Real's afro. It was an entity in itself.

By the end, everyone was elated having heard “Insane in the Brain” and floated away on a cloud of smoke. Seriously, there was so much smoke.

— Damon Joy, Special to the Journal Sentinel

Lord Huron

Air-quality warnings because of the lingering smoke from the Canadian wildfires couldn't keep fans away from the Lord Huron show at the Generac Power Stage Thursday night.

The Los Angeles-based indie folk-rock band kept the overflowing crowd fixated on the stage with its nostalgic, melancholy tunes, which wouldn't have seemed out of place in a '60s Western film or a deserted saloon.

Guitarist Tom Renaud's tremelo-tinged guitar hooks were gorgeously evocative. Guitarist and frontman Ben Schneider, clad in a black suit, white shirt and black bolo tie, assumed an understated command of the stage, like a weary traveler relaying tales to friends around a campfire. His lonesome harmonica on the heartbreaking "In The Wind" added a mournful touch.

Initially, the sound levels were a bit uneven, with the bass drowning out Schneider's pure and earnest vocals. Luckily, the problem was quickly corrected, and, after congratulating a couple who got engaged at the show, Schneider mentioned to the audience that the smoke in the air was like "smoking a pack of cigarettes, like a show in Milwaukee in 1996."

— Catherine Jozwik, Special to the Journal Sentinel

Vance Joy

Before releasing his 2014 debut album "Dream Your Life Away," Vance Joy was an aspiring Australian rules football player.

It appears switching to a musical career was a smart career choice, judging by the gigantic crowd at Joy's concert at the Miller Lite Oasis Thursday night.

The curly-haired Aussie, now 35 and with three albums to his credit, performed a set of coffeehouse-friendly, folksy pop tunes, opening with the upbeat "Missing Piece" and "Mess Is Mine," followed by relationship homage "Like Gold," and the pretty "Don't Fade."

At times, strains of music from the Lord Huron show at the Generac Power Stage drifted over, but Joy didn't seem fazed by it. With clear, confident vocals, he gave his fans an enjoyable, easygoing concert experience — although maybe too easygoing, judging from the listeners looking at their phones and talking loudly with their friends.

— Catherine Jozwik

Debbie Gibson

It was eerily quiet on the Summerfest grounds around 4:20 p.m. Thursday; the afternoon rain shut down and delayed multiple sets, including Debbie Gibson's. But when the pop singer finally stepped onto the Miller Lite Oasis stage, it was like a figurative burst of sunshine for the surprisingly robust crowd, showers (and air quality warnings) be damned.

Despite approaching the 40th anniversary of being in the music industry, this was Gibson’s first Big Gig, and she was down for trying new things. Her band seemed confused when she tried to do a stripped-back “Shake Your Love,” but they quickly adjusted and created a nice vibe. A choreography-heavy rendition of “Electric Youth” blended into a cover Portugal. The Man’s groovy pop hit “Feel It Still,” and the crowd was attentive for a newer song, “Strings,” despite its unfamiliarity (and, to be blunt, its sappiness).

Naturally, nostalgia still ruled, including a passionate performance of “Foolish Beat,” which celebrated its 35th anniversary of hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 a few days back. Gibson prefaced the ballad by paying tribute to her late mother and manager Diane, who went toe to toe with record label execs in the ‘80s who didn’t want the teenage Gibson writing and producing her own songs. Gibson, with mom’s support, persisted, and with “Foolish Beat,” Gibson, just 17 at the time, became the youngest female artist to write, produce and perform a Hot 100 chart-topper.

Thirty-five later, her first Summerfest crowd happily cheered that groundbreaking accomplishment.

— Piet Levy

Night Ranger

Night Ranger has reason to celebrate; the band marked its 40th anniversary last year. But the band had a frightening setback in March when singer and bassist Jack Blades was hospitalized for heart irregularities and had to undergo a procedure, forcing the band to postpone some shows.

But standing on the Uline Warehouse stage Thursday, for the first show of a six-week tour, Blades played like he was in the prime of his life: dancing, mugging with his bandmates, wrestling with his mic stand and unleashing the occasional piercing metal yell. Fellow Night Ranger co-founder Kelly Keagy’s powerhouse drumming, and unapologetically gratuitous guitar shredding from co-founder Brad Gillis and Keri Kelli, matched the swagger.

“Thank you good night!” the woman in front of me shouted, beer held up to the heavens, once a ridiculously over-the-top “(You Can Still) Rock in America” reached its conclusion. It was the kind of jaw-dropper you’d see at the end of a rock show, except it was at the very beginning. And for the three songs that followed — including “Coming of Age,” from Blades-featuring supergroup Damn Yankees — that level of intensity on stage never let up.

— Piet Levy

Digable Planets

I saw Digable Planets for the first time in 1993 after the release the Grammy-winning "Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space)." Thursday, I got to see them again on the BMO Pavilion stage, 30 years later.

With live band in tow, Digable Planets appeared before a nearly full pavilion at a sunny 5:30 p.m. — well, more like 5:45 due to some sound issues.

After 30 years, Craig "Doodlebug" Irving, Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler and Mariana "Ladybug Mecca" Vieira are a little grayer but musically indistinguishable from their past selves. They flowed calmly through hits and classic deep cuts from "Reachin'" and their 1994 follow-up album, “Blowout Comb.” We all knew what everyone wanted to hear, but we had to wait. We needed to hear joints like “Jettin'” and “Nickel Bags” to get is to that point first.

After a colossal band solo set, they gave us what we wanted: “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like That).” Ladybug Mecca's verse drew a ferocious cheer from the crowd that, by the end of their show, had grown almost twofold. Had this been my first time seeing them, I’d have had no idea this was a 30-year-old set.

— Damon Joy

Kari Faux

Arkansas-born rapper Kari Faux landed on an apt description for herself when she titled her 2019 album “Lowkey Superstar.” She developed a reputation as a smart, conversational rapper with plenty of acclaim (Donald Glover was one of her best-known champions) who was never interested in showboating or chasing trends.

But her set at the UScellular Connection Stage Thursday night, her first Milwaukee performance, was more “lowkey” than “superstar.”

She showed up onstage 20 minutes late — the afternoon rain did mess with some fest scheduling Thursday — and rapping over her prerecorded vocals for the title track of her new album “Real B*tches Don’t Die” wasn’t the most inspired first impression. And a dance to the DJ break implied deflating momentum just 12 minutes after she took the stage.

But Faux’s no-fuss demeanor matched the laidback vibe of a sparse, content crowd conserving energy ahead of the night’s high-energy headliners. And while, performing live on Thursday, Faux wouldn’t be mistaken for a superstar, her skilled delivery (thankfully, minus prerecorded vocals) for songs like “Mo’ Liquor,” and quietly empowering songs like “Me First,” did border on super.

— Piet Levy

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Coi Leray, Lord Huron and best, worst of Milwaukee's Summerfest Day 4