A La Carte at the Milwaukee County Zoo celebrates 40 years

MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee County Zoo announced on Tuesday, June 23, the full musical slate of headliners and local acts lined up for the 40th year of A La Carte at the Zoo. It takes place August 20-23.

Dates, times

What we know:

The Zoo will be open from 9:30 a.m. – 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 9:30 a.m. – 8 p.m. on Sunday. All musical entertainment is included with Zoo admission and Zoo Pass membership is valid for A La Carte. Tickets are on sale now at https://mkezoo.com/alacarteTIX. Parking, food, attractions, and rides are available for an additional fee.  Discounted tickets are available to purchase at Tri City National Bank branches.

The Zoo will be offering daily promotions and giveaways, photo opportunities and animal enrichment all weekend long.

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In addition, for the first time, Thursday is kid’s day at A La Carte! The Miller Lite Caribou Stage will feature family and youth hip-hop group, Kid Boogie Down, while the Zoo will offer half-priced admission for kids ages 3-12 from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the admissions booth (children under two are always free). Guests must purchase this rate in person.

Musical acts

Dig deeper:

Each evening the national acts will feature on the Miller Lite Caribou Stage, located across from the caribou habitat at the Zoo’s west end.

Thursday, Aug. 20 – 7 p.m.
lovelytheband

lovelytheband is a Los Angeles alt-pop/indie-pop act with a strong national profile, known for big hooks, emotional honesty, and festival-friendly energy. The band broke through with "broken," a major crossover hit that reached No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100, spent nine weeks at No. 1 on Alternative Airplay, and remained on the chart for 76 weeks. With a 2024 full-length album, recent 2026 releases, roughly 1.8 million monthly Spotify listeners, and recent touring support dates with The Kooks, they offer a recognizable name that still feels current.

Headliner Chris Lane highlights Friday’s Miller Lite Caribou Stage lineup, plus a special performance by jackrabbit., featuring Dermot Mulroney.

Friday, Aug. 21 – 7:30 p.m.
Chris Lane

Chris Lane steps into a more grounded and personal era with his new album Shade Tree (Red Street Records/VoyagerRecords), which debuted with an impressive 1.65 million streams in its first week. Inspired by his North Carolina upbringing, the album reflects on the people and places that shaped him—capturing the heart of small-town life, family, and the values he was raised on. The project features his current chart-climbing single "If I Die Before You" and marks a return to Lane’s country roots, both lyrically and sonically. Lane’s catalog includes hits like "Dancin’ In The Moonlight" with Lauren Alaina, "Howdy," "Stop Coming Over," "Summer Job Money," "Fill Them Boots," "Ain’t Even Met You Yet," and the HIXTAPE: Vol. 2 standout "Small Town On It" with Scotty McCreery, as well as the Dustin Lynch collaboration "Tequila On A Boat." These tracks helped propel him past 2.2 billion total career streams, with three #1s—2X PLATINUM "Big, Big Plans," 3X PLATINUM "I Don’t Know About You," PLATINUM "Fix"—and five certified singles, including 2X PLATINUM "Take Back Home Girl" with Tori Kelly.

Friday, Aug. 21 – 6 p.m.
jackrabbit. featuring Dermot Mulroney

jackrabbit is the Americana-tinged country band co-led by actor-musicians Dermot Mulroney and his brother Kieran Mulroney. Cowriting and performing together, the brothers blend twangy guitars, layered harmonies, and emotion-rich lyrical storytelling to create what they term a "Cali-Country" vibe—drawing inspiration from the Bakersfield sound, the Eagles, and the soft-rock tradition of California’s Sunset Strip. An interview in Atwood Magazine underscores that jackrabbit. is more than a side project—it’s "where all the pieces finally come together," shaped over decades by shared history and deep creative instincts. Their lineup includes the Mulroney brothers along with Sebastian Sheehan, Matt McFadden, and Henry Quirion, rounding out a five‑piece band delivering an authentic, emotional musical experience.

Saturday, Aug. 22 – 7 p.m.
Tank and the Bangas

For Tank and the Bangas, music is a vessel for unbridled joy and transcendent connection—forces as integral to their essence as their wildly original sound. On their new album The Last Balloon, the New Orleans-bred outfit channel those impulses into something celebratory yet profoundly human, exploring themes of frustration, resilience, and self-realization with equal parts raw emotionality and playful exuberance. A shapeshifting collective helmed by lead singer Tarriona "Tank" Ball and multi-instrumentalist Norman Spence II, the globally beloved group completed the LP after winning a GRAMMY for 2024’s spoken-word powerhouse The Heart, The Mind, The Soul, moving from incendiary poetry to a euphoric collision of soul and hip-hop and forward-thinking R&B. As the final installment in a trilogy of albums that began with 2019’s Green Balloon (a critical triumph that earned them a GRAMMY nomination for Best New Artist), The Last Balloon ultimately solidifies Tank and the Bangas’ legacy as one of modern music’s most steadfast voices of sublime exhilaration.

A La Carte at the Zoo wraps on Sunday with Milwaukee-favorite Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz sensation, De La Buena on the Miller Lite Caribou Stage at 6 p.m.

Restaurants taking part 

What we know:

Here is a list of the local restaurants taking part in A La Carte at the Zoo:

• A la Crepes       
• BBQ Belle
• BelAir Cantina
• Brew City Snowballs
• Bubble Waffle Shoppes
• Catalano Corn
• Chillwaukee Coffee- NEW
• Chillwaukee Pops
• Crust & Copper- NEW
• C-Viche
• Flip’s Mini Donuts-NEW
• Fresh & Safe- NEW
• Kings Catering- NEW
• Lumpia City
• Milwaukee Pretzel Company
• MIL-WOK-EE (40th year)
• Po’ Manz Food
• Saz’s (40th year)
• Scrima’s Woodfired Pizza
• Shawarma House
• The Watering Hole- NEW
• Thunder Bay Grille
• Tiki Bubble
• Tots on the Street
• Ultimate Confections Desserts feat. Suzy’s Cream Cheesecakes
• Wok in the Zoo

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Food and beverage vendors will accept credit or debit cards only — no cash. If needed, cash can be converted to a pre-paid card in the Zoo Administration office. Cash, credit, and debit cards are all accepted for admission, parking, merchandise, and attractions.

For more information and a complete list of the entertainment lineup visit the Zoo’s website.

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