Summerfest says "more surprises" coming for 2014 festival



MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Summerfest has already announced some big acts for Summerfest 2014 -- and officials say more are to come. So far, Summerfest has announced Lady GaGa, Dave Matthew Band and Bruno Mars as Summerfest 2014 headliners -- giving many of us something to look forward to during this long, cold winter!

"I'm not built for this long of a winter," Hannah Tiedt said.

"It's actually pretty depressing!" Karl Held said.

Even with a few more months of winter, summer feels like it's almost here as things are heating up in the Summerfest offices adjacent to the festival grounds.

"It`s been a great week. Every now and then you get lucky," Bob Babisch, Summerfest's VP of Entertainment said.

On Tuesday, January 13th it was announced the Dave Matthews Band would be making a stop at this year's event on July 2nd.

"He may not be here next year, but for this year it`s an enjoyable evening for everybody, all the fans," Babisch said.

Hours later, Babisch announced they had another big act lined up in Bruno Mars.

"We started working on that date with the agent in October," Babisch said.

Mars will play the Super Bowl's halftime show on FOX6, and tickets for his Summerfest show go on sale the next day.

"How 'bout it, huh? Timing is everything," Babisch said.

While Summerfest has always drawn big acts, Babisch says things are a little bit different this year, as more festivals are popping up around the country.

"The more business that`s out there around the country that means more people are touring during the summer here," Babisch said.

Also, the announcements are coming earlier than they have in the past.

"I think that`s because there`s a lot of acts working this summer. I think that when that happens, people want to get out there in front of it, in front of all the traffic that`s going to be out -- for all the venues that are going to be open," Babisch said.

Babisch says more surprises are in the works.

"We have a few more surprises out there. There's more big names out there. We're going to get through the next few weeks and months to get them out to the public," Babisch said.

Babisch says they've already lined up a few more headliners, and they're just trying to figure out when they'll announce them.