Festival Fever
BY JENN PLUM AUVIL
FESTIVAL fever
Woodstock was just one page in the long and diverse history of American music festivals, which still thrive with dozens of bands and thousands of fans convening for each multiday jam session. Whether you want to relive your first Lollapalooza experience or discover the next great band, here’s the lowdown on this summer’s best music fests.
ALL THAT JAZZ
Bobby Hutcherson at
the Atlanta Jazz Festival
The Atlanta Jazz Festival kicks off its season on May 1 with 31 days of jazz. At the end of the month, enthusiasts will convene at Robert W. Woodruff Park to celebrate Memorial Day weekend with three days of music, food and family activities.
It’s the 25th anniversary of the Chicago Blues Festival at Grant Park, with headliners like Buckwheat Zydeco, Chicago hometown girl and “Queen of the Blues” Koko Taylor, and the legendary B.B. King. This will be 82-year-old King’s first appearance at the festival since 1988. Arrive early to save a spot; this affair is one of the world’s largest free blues festivals, with crowds topping 750,000.
Celebrate Father’s Day at the Kroger Indy Jazz Fest in downtown Indianapolis’ Military Park. Musical dads will dig options that vary from jazz to gospel to funk, while frugal fathers will go for the bargain three-day pass for $65 and free admission for kids younger than 14 (when accompanied by an adult). And everyone in the family will appreciate this year’s headliner: R&B singer and pianist John Legend.
PICKING FAVORITES
RockyGrassPerformers and attendees alike can be found strumming on the banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar or just about any other stringed instrument at the season’s bluegrass, country and jam-band festivals.
Bluegrass legend Del McCoury and High Sierra Music have put together the first annual DelFest at the Allegany County Fairgrounds in Cumberland, MD, where McCoury will perform with his band. Country greats Vince Gill and Dierks Bentley and the unconventional acoustic/electronic looping master Keller Williams with his band The Keels will also headline DelFest.
Williams makes another area appearance seven weeks later at the All Good Festival in Masontown, West Virginia, 91 miles from Pittsburgh. There’s camping, jamming and a great lineup including Phil Lesh and Friends (led by former Grateful Dead bass player Lesh), Widespread Panic and Gov’t Mule. The crowd is a fun combination of former Deadheads and younger music fans looking to recreate the laidback fun of the 1960s festival scene.
This year’s RockyGrass, which takes place about an hour from Denver, reflects the growing diversity of the genre, with traditional bluegrass as well as “newgrass,” characterized by electric instruments, funky chords and meandering improvisations inspired by the likes of the Grateful Dead and Phish. “King of Newgrass” Sam Bush will be there, as well as Celtic-influenced fiddler Natalie MacMaster, Béla Fleck and many more. When the stage lights go out, the performers and amateur musicians continue with small jam sessions and riffs in the campgrounds along the cliffs at Meadow Park.
Rounding out this eclectic group is Kansas’ Wakarusa Music & Camping Festival, with a genre-defying lineup. The quirky Flaming Lips are joined by a legion of bands including the always-surprising CAKE, and Dweezil Zappa playing his father Frank’s tunes. Hip-hop group Arrested Development, country-pop-alternative favorite Emmylou Harris and many more lend their starpower to this event.
WE LOVE ROCK ‘N’ ROLL
Lollapalooza in
ChicagoLollapalooza revived the music festival scene for a younger generation—and the comparisons to Woodstock couldn’t be avoided—but this new generation celebrated a different kind of music than its predecessors, including rap, industrial, grunge and alternative rock, with plenty of mosh pits and crowd surfing. Lollapalooza was taken on the road, but as interest waned, the festival shut down for a few years before planting roots in Chicago’s Grant Park in 2005. Today’s Lollapalooza may not be as groundbreaking, but the music is just as exciting, with acts ranging from Wilco to Mark Ronson to Rage Against the Machine—and everything in between.
Milwaukee’s Summerfest is billed as the biggest music festival in the world. The party carries on for 11 days with food, drinks, family events and plenty of music all day, every day, spread out over a dozen stages. This year’s headliners include Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, coming off of their performance in the Super Bowl halftime show, RUSH, Tim McGraw and Rascal Flatts.
If you missed California’s Coachella Festival in April, the same promoters are throwing another party at New Jersey’s Liberty State Park. The All Points West Festival promises a similar vibe along with something that Coachella couldn’t offer: stellar views of Manhattan, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.
Headliners include Jack Johnson, Radiohead and at least 35 other acts.
Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course may be home to the annual Preakness horse race, and the infamous “infield” is known for nonstop partying on race day. But in recent years, it has also become home to the Virgin Mobile Festival.
Last year, the festival reunited The Police; this year’s lineup promises to be equally exciting, with headliners including the Foo Fighters, Nine Inch Nails, Kanye West, Jack Johnson and Stone Temple Pilots.
GET A CLASSICAL EDUCATION
Classical music festivals may be more subdued—and the performers not as widely recognized as say, Tom Petty—but the level of musical proficiency on display brings out droves of devotees every year.
Charleston’s annual Spoleto Festival runs for 17 days with more than 120 theater, dance opera and musical performances that include chamber, choral, symphony and jazz shows. Not to be missed is Monkey: Journey to the West, an unusual blend of ancient Chinese and Western pop cultures that incorporates martial arts and the musical composition of Damon Albarn, the former front man of Blur and co-creator of virtual band Gorillaz.
When the last ski run is over, Vail gets ready for summer with mountain biking, rafting and a little culture. The Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival celebrates all that is good about summer in the Rocky Mountains. This year’s festival features the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. Chamber music, jazz and solo performances make up the rest of the lineup. Bring the little ones for a walk through the Instrument Petting Zoo, where kids can get up close and personal with musical instruments like the pros use.
A WORLD OF CHOICES
Niche music festivals—showcasing genres ranging from Celtic to Caribbean—appeal to very specific and often devoted fan bases.
Everyone can be Irish for the weekend at the Hunter Mountain International Celtic Festival in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Shows range from modern Irish to traditional Celtic, including Irish rock group Hothouse Flowers and Irish-American Andy Cooney singing pub favorites like “Galway Bay” and “Danny Boy.” And, of course, there’s professional Irish step-dancing, lots of bagpipes and plenty of beer to go around.
Get together with fans of Caribbean music at the summer’s hottest reggae festivals. On the West Coast, check out the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival in Boonville, CA, about two hours from San Francisco. Or fly into one of AirTran Airways’ newest destinations, Burlington, VT, and take a short drive to Montreal for the fifth annual Montreal Reggae Festival Celebration. Both festivals celebrate peace, love and conscious music with funky reggae rhythms.
THE SHOW MUST GO ON
The summer music must come to an end, but some of the bands will play on through the fall. Northern California’s Monterey Jazz Festival, the world’s longest running jazz festival, still plays at the Monterey Fairgrounds—where greats like Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong played the first fest in 1958.
Then mark your calendars for Austin City Limits, when 130 bands rock out on eight stages in this musical capital.
As the season changes, these events become fewer and far between, so catch festival fever while you can.
SAVE THE DATES
Here’s where and when to see your favorite acts.
