Student from Burlington sings with Rolling Stones at Summerfest

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Editor

There was a certain level of secrecy – necessitated by a contract – Eli King had to maintain regarding Summerfest’s blockbuster kickoff show this year.

King, of Burlington, and members of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Concert Chorale can’t talk about how they were selected to provide backup vocals for The Rolling Stones, and they can’t even mention the song they did.

But it’s fair to say that you can’t always get what you want, just like that classic Rolling Stones song – even though the UW-Milwaukee choir did.

The group backed up the Stones on their hit from the 1960s, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” at the SummerFest concert June 23, and gained a great deal of publicity in the process.

The song was the first of two encore pieces, according to the set list printed in a review of the concert on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel website.

“It was totally surreal,” explained King, who will be a junior in the fall at UW-Milwaukee, where he is studying choral education. “None of us could believe we’d been asked to do this.”

The Rolling Stones also worked hard at keeping the performance and the choice of song under wraps. Choir members were told to keep everything quiet – under a signed contract, no less – but the name of the song got out in reviews following the concert.

The choir members don’t even know how the choir was selected to perform – and the university isn’t telling either. But the Concert Choral, directed by Zachary Durlam, is the flagship choir at the university.

“It was certainly unusual, and surprising,” Durlam said. “When you head up a college choir, you don’t expect to be in contact with The Rolling Stones.

“We don’t sing a lot – or any – Rolling Stones music as our regular repertoire,” Durlam added, with a laugh.

The choir rehearsed for two months in advance of the Stones concert, and worked with the Stones once before being on stage with them.

Choir members weren’t allowed to even discuss the performance, though, until the formal press release went out, and King said the experience felt “unreal” until the choir got to the festival grounds on the 23rd.

“We were given a view of the concert from the very back corner,” King said, adding that the audience was “absolutely massive.”

“But when we got on the stage … it seemed a lot smaller,” he said. When the lights came up, he added, “There was just this sea of people. It was just overwhelming performing for all of those people.”

The sound level was also incredible, King said. At times, the choir members couldn’t even hear themselves to make sure they were in tune.

“You kind of just got to have faith that you’re sitting on the right notes,” he said.

For King, being up on the Marcus Amphitheater stage at Summerfest was his first time at the summer music festival in Milwaukee.

“That was my first time ever, and it was on stage with The Rolling Stones,” King said. “I don’t think I’m ever going to have a Summerfest experience that ever compares to that.”

He then added, “Just the feeling of performing with them, the sensation of being in front of so many people, that itself is pretty incomparable.”

The performance of the song can be found on YouTube by searching “UWM Concert Chorale with The Rolling Stones.”