Dec. 7, 2025, 10:55 a.m. CT
It was indisputably cool for the few hundred MGK followers who obtained to see the artist also referred to as Machine Gun Kelly play a free Shank Corridor present in August.
However there are some belongings you simply can’t do in a membership – like make your entrance by ascending via the gaping, smoking mouth of the Statue of Liberty.
It was one in every of a number of elaborate set items MGK provided at Fiserv Discussion board on Dec. 6, one of many first stops of an expansive tour stretching deep into subsequent 12 months behind his newest album, “Misplaced Americana.”
MGK really ended up enjoying each track from his hottest album to this point, “Tickets to My Downfall,” whose fifth anniversary he’s additionally celebrating at his 2025 reveals.
If asserting upfront that he was enjoying the album in its entirety to promote extra tickets for tour dates in December, it labored. Fiserv Discussion board was full, with MGK proclaiming 11,000 have been in attendance. And he finally provided a greater main scale present then at Summerfest in 2022, the place his bitter commentary about his critics stifled the enjoyable. This trip, MGK was clearly having a blast – and he additionally delivered a present that was even higher than that free membership gig.
It was longer for one – two hours and 4 minutes versus 65 minutes at Shank Corridor. But additionally, MGK, even when he is underrated as a guitarist and particularly as a rapper, is an artist that thrives on showmanship and theatrics, and there was a complete lot of that at Fiserv.
Along with that memorable entrance (the Statue of Liberty additionally had glowing eyes and nostril rings, a nationwide landmark recast in an MGK-style punk rock vibe), MGK carried out “I Assume I am Okay” excessive above the bottom from behind an outstretched hand of the statue, which was clutching a cigarette, whereas a suspended huge Zippo lighter solid a large flame that “lit” up the cig. For “Papercuts,” he shredded on electrical guitar because it fired off sparks from its head. There have been slick handheld mic flips, flames and fireworks and lasers aplenty, and for the ultimate two songs from “Americana,” “Cliché” and “Vampire Diaries,” he did some clean synchronized dance strikes, heavy on the pop and lock, alongside his two backing dancers.
He additionally managed to recreate one of the best facet of that Shank Corridor present within the enviornment: electrical shut encounters along with his followers. His performances of “Bloody Valentine” and “Overlook Me Too” in the course of the “Downfall” portion of the set have been one of the best of the night time, largely due to the company that joined him on stage. For the previous, eight cheering, singing, dancing followers joined MGK, the dancers and his six backing musicians, with one fan having the privilege of ripping off a chunk of duct tape from his mouth. “Overlook Me Too” was even higher – not simply because it is one in every of MGK’s higher songs. He known as out to a younger woman he mentioned he met at Harley-Davidson (the museum, a dealership or headquarters, he did not specify), and mentioned he was going to meet his promise to carry her on stage. She made her means as much as sing alongside to the Halsey components, relentlessly bouncing via the efficiency, the overwhelming pleasure of the second registering on her face.
Followers of their seats additionally did their half to boost one of the shifting components of the present, a efficiency of “Lonely,” a uncooked and unflinching track about MGK’s father, and the sophisticated relationship that they had, after he handed. Followers placed on the lights of their smartphones, however put filters over them to solid smooth pink glows – with MGK taking discover, and thanking them for enriching a second he thought he squandered given his emotional wrestle to sing his track.
For probably the most half, this was a celebration, however MGK acknowledged the ache that may gas his music, and convey his followers collectively. It got here via in a properly rendered snippet of Zach Bryan’s “Solar to Me” that he devoted to his mom, and in a tribute to his late buddy Luke “Dingo” Trembeth in his track “Your Identify Ceaselessly,” which additionally illustrated how commanding and fluid MGK will be when he raps. And it was particularly touching in a tribute to his daughter Casie, complemented by house movies from her early childhood via her present teen years, for “Play This After I’m Gone.”
MGK and his Milwaukee followers might have been inside an enviornment, not a membership, this trip – however moments like that one managed to make this present rather more intimate.
Three takeaways from MGK’s live performance, together with opener Julia Wolf
- There have been a number of Wisconsin nods in MGK’s Fiserv Discussion board set. Early on he unbuttoned his “Misplaced Americana” jacket to disclose a sequin-encrusted Harley-Davidson shirt, and later within the set, wore a unique Harley-Davidson vest. His drummer and one in every of his guitarists had Harley shirts too. MGK additionally briefly sported a Milwaukee Bucks-branded WWE-style championship belt he proudly confirmed off, and as he did at Shank Corridor, he referred to his Milwaukee followers as “my cheese curds.”
- On the Shank Corridor present, MGK revealed his plans for an enviornment tour, and he provided one other inside scoop this trip: In 2026, he’ll be releasing a rap album.
- Opener Julia Wolf set the temper with emo and Evanescence-flavored originals like “Loser,” however her most profitable second was when she joined MGK suspended on platforms within the air for a canopy of the Goo Goo Dolls’ traditional, “Iris.”
Contact Piet Levy at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Comply with him at fb.com/PietLevyMJS.
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