Starship Docks at the Leach: One More Thursday on the Fox
There is a specific magic to a Waterfest Thursday. The gates crack at 5:45 p.m., the Fox River goes gold behind the stage, and for a few hours the Leach Amphitheater becomes the most reliable good time in Oshkosh. This week — Thursday, August 13 — it hands the riverfront over to Starship featuring Mickey Thomas, with the Alex McMurray Band featuring Paul Sanchez opening the night.
If you grew up with an FM dial, you already know the reflex. Thomas's voice is the one that launched a thousand roller rinks and at least one generation's worth of slow dances, and a Starship set is essentially a greatest-hits parade delivered to a crowd that knows every word and isn't shy about it. The McMurray-Sanchez pairing up front brings a looser, New Orleans-tinted swing to warm the place up — a smart bit of contrast before the big choruses land.
Zoom out and this is the back stretch of a lean, well-built Waterfest season. The 2026 run was a six-Thursday affair leaning hard into classic rock and oldies, and looking back at the schedule it delivered: Vertical Horizon on July 16, Al Jardine of the Beach Boys and the Pet Sounds Band on July 30 (with Fox Valley's own Copper Box opening), and now Starship. There's still one more after this — Little River Band closes things out August 20 — so Thursday is not your last chance, but it's the marquee before the finale.
Credit where it's due: the Leach is arguably the best-sited music room in the region. The Fox River does half the atmospheric work, the sightlines are honest, and the whole thing sits a short walk from downtown Oshkosh, so you can make a night of it without ever touching a parking ramp you resent. Gates at 5:45; get there early enough to claim your patch and grab a beer before the opener.
A word for our Green Bay readers, because this is also a moment of transition up north. Levitt AMP's free Sunday series at Leicht Memorial Park just wrapped its 2026 run — blues powerhouse Joanna Connor, with Arilya, closed the season on August 9. So as of this week, the torch of the region's free-and-outdoor summer passes squarely to Oshkosh and the Leach. If you've been coasting on the Broadway District's Sunday-afternoon habit, consider a Thursday road trip your natural next move.
Why does a legacy act on a Thursday in August rate a preview at all? Because this is what the Fox Valley's summer runs on — not arena spectacle but accessible, riverside, community-scale live music, the kind of show where three generations of the same family end up singing the same chorus. Waterfest has spent years proving that a mid-size city can sustain a real concert series on the strength of its geography and its crowd. The August 13 bill is that thesis in miniature: a name you know, a river you love, and a Thursday you'll be glad you didn't spend at home.
Bring the lawn chair. Bring your voice — you'll need it around the second chorus of "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now." And bring a little gratitude that a town this size still throws a party this good on a weeknight.
Sources: Waterfest 2026 Lineup — Visit Oshkosh; Waterfest Returns Downtown Oshkosh Summer 2026 — WBAY; Levitt AMP Green Bay 2026 Lineup — WBAY