Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jelly Roll, Hardy headlining Harley-Davidson festival in Milwaukee

The Harley-Davidson Homecoming Festival is roaring back in Milwaukee for a second straight year — and in terms of headliners, it'll be even bigger.

Superstar rockers the Red Hot Chili Peppers, rapper-turned-country phenomenon Jelly Roll, and country rocker Hardy will headline a two-day music festival, once again at Veterans Park, during the Harley homecoming festivities.

The citywide festival will take place July 25 to 28. Hardy and Jelly Roll will co-headline the Veterans Park music festival July 26. Red Hot Chili Peppers will headline July 27.

Tickets will be available at hdhomecoming.com/tickets, with a presale beginning at 10 a.m. Jan. 18. Prices have yet to be announced, but VIP options and single-day and two-day general-admission passes will be available.

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The Chili Peppers last played Milwaukee in 2017 to kick off Summerfest's 50th bash at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater in 2017. Since that time, the band has gone on stadium tours and released two albums — "Unlimited Love" and "Return of the Dream Canteen," both in 2022 — and reunited with original guitarist John Frusciante in 2019, who rejoined Anthony Kiedis, Flea and Chad Smith after leaving the band 10 years before.

Joining the Peppers July 27 are punk veterans the Offspring — who headlined their own American Family Insurance Amphitheater show last summer — plus hip-hop veterans Cypress Hill and rock bands Destroy Boys, Otoboke Beaver and Irontom.

Jason DeFord, who performs as Jelly Roll, overcame a difficult and troubled life — including drug addiction, a felony aggravated robbery conviction and going to jail around 40 times — to become an unlikely country superstar last year following success as a rapper, including a Grammy nomination for best new artist, and powerful testimony this month before Congress supporting a bill to crack down on fentanyl. He played an emotional sold-out show at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater last summer — where he cried on stage, and fans cried listening to his self-proclaimed "real music for real people with real (expletive) problems" — a show that ended up on the Journal Sentinel's list of top concerts of 2023.

Hardy - who delivered an electric hard-rock-infused country set opening for Morgan Wallen's stadium tour kickoff at American Family Field last April - gets co-headlining duties with Jelly Roll on July 26. Also on the bill that day are country up-and-comers Warren Zeiders, Priscilla Block, Hueston and Shaylen.

Harley-Davidson customarily held a big bash in its hometown every five years, booking major music acts like Bruce Springsteen, Elton John and Aerosmith. Music was put on the backburner with no A-list talent in 2018, before the Harley bash, renamed the Harley-Davidson Homecoming Festival, returned to celebrate the company's 120th anniversary last year, which included their first Veterans Park music festival in 15 years. Foo Fighters and Green Day headlined the two-day music festival centerpiece in 2023, drawing about 80,000 people to the park by Milwaukee's lakefront.

Last year, Harley CEO Jochen Zeitz announced that the Harley festival would become an annual event.

Details on additional events around Milwaukee will be announced at hdhomecoming.com, but the 2024 edition already has been touted as a celebration of Willie G. Davidson, the son of former Harley-Davidson president William H. Davidson and grandson of company co-founder William A. Davidson, who retired from the company in 2012 as chief stylist officer after working for Harley for 49 years.

Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on X at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.