Photojournalist: Carrie Bergan
The Wisconsin State Fair’s last day was Sunday, but for the main stage shows, this was the final one for the 2026 season. The headliner was AJR (Adam, Jack, and Ryan Met). I first found AJR through one of their lesser-known tracks titled “It’s On Us,” which led me to finding one of their biggest hits (still to date), “Weak.” After that, I was invited by a group of friends to travel to Columbus (I was in Ohio for school at the time) to see them on The Click Tour. I said yes, and still to date, it is one of the best shows I’ve ever seen in my life. The entire stage production they put together that pairs with the music is incredibly well thought out, almost as if I were watching a movie.
AJR has been around for over a decade and has been known for their stylistic, unique choices, from the sound to the overall production of their music. I remember standing in that lawn at the venue, just completely blown away by it all. The way the animations on screen interacted with the music immersed us entirely into the show, as if we were also on stage with them. I was fortunate enough to see them in 2022 with my husband and once again just overwhelmed by the creativity used in the show. Since then, while I have been listening to their newer tracks since I missed out on catching them in 2024 for The Maybe Man Tour, I discovered that night in the photo pit that Adam no longer performs at every show with Jack and Ryan. He still works with them and makes special appearances, but he is focusing on his climate advocacy work and nonprofit group, Planet Reimagined. A very worthy reason. In fact, a portion of the ticket sales was donated to them. I was thrown off at first and wondered how the dynamics would change with this big missing spot. This was their first time playing the State Fair and fourth time in Milwaukee.
Before I dive in more on that and their performance, I need to start off at the very beginning. Their only opener that night goes by the name Em Beihold (Em Bye-Hold). Her quirky personality and fun song titles like “Hot Goblin” and “Soup!” instantly won me over. She had such an ethereal personality and a soft, powerful voice that rang throughout the arena. She kept the entire room upbeat and even did some warmups with the room to make sure that we would be ready for the next part of the show. Beihold had everyone yell out their favorite AJR song at the same time. My favorite, unfortunately, was not on the setlist, as I had searched it prior, and someone in the crowd yelled it out. Maybe several people, because it was the only song title I could hear. Spoiler alert, fans, “Don’t Throw Out My Legos” did not get played at this show. Beihold closed out her set with “Numb Little Bug,” which was released in 2022 and is apparently her most well-known hit because a handful of fans stood up and screamed along. The energy shifted quickly for those last few minutes as others joined in with clapping along.
Now back to AJR and the missing Adam. Before they entered the stage, “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen played over the speakers, which led to a very big sing-along. My guess is it was to help warm up everyone’s vocal cords because after that, the lights all cut and then the show started. I was caught off guard entirely when only Jack and Ryan took the stage, but the two made sure to take up all the space as Jack danced on both sides of the stage and the two shared the back area with their backing bandmates. To be completely honest, I still missed Adam’s presence, and the show structure felt different than what I remembered from past tours, as there was a lot of actual interaction with the audience that night.
There was a moment when they took some time to chat with fans, particularly those with fun signs. There was a group of three friends whose signs were all fart-related, with no deep thought other than that they thought it would be funny to do earlier that week. Then Jack went on to explain that sometimes people have challenged them to a game in hopes of winning a special souvenir. Cece was the lucky winner and competed against Ryan for a pair of signed drumsticks. To her success, and probably with Jack’s assistance in making it more difficult for him, she won! There was also a dad in the front row who got a shout-out. I might be mixing up the order, but they also took a moment to talk about the history of the band, when they first started playing on the streets of New York. In honor of that and how far they’ve gotten, they played a cover of “Stacy’s Mom” by Fountains of Wayne because it was one of the first songs they learned to play. They kept playing even more music after that.
The next really exciting moment was Ryan’s solo of “Inertia,” and it was because Jack and the band snuck out into the crowd. Ryan then joined them, and two songs were played from this new area. Through some more sneaky moves, Ryan and the band then returned to the stage, leaving Jack alone out there. Ryan took the time to introduce us to their bandmates on drums and trumpet while Jack made his way back, which led to the final songs for the night. By then, I was getting a little worried that my favorite part of their shows had been cut. Thankfully, it was not. They pick a song and take the time to walk us through how it came to be, and the song this time was “100 Bad Days.” From a series of noises, tweaking, and putting things backwards, they launched into the song fully.
We had one last song, and despite the title being “Weak,” it was anything but that. It was indeed a grand finale of lights, dancing, and two giant stuffed animals thrown out to the crowd. AJR was the final band of the State Fair to play the main stage, and they certainly brought out the big finish that was called for.
It’s been three years since their last album, The Maybe Man, and as of last fall, we had the EP release of What No One’s Thinking. Hopefully, that means a full album is on its way. Until then, their summer run at state fair stops has a few more dates that you can check out, but make sure to follow their social media pages to stay up to date for future shows and music.
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AJR
photos by Carrie Bergan
EM BEIHOLD
photos by Carrie Bergan
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