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| Great South Bay Music Festival 2012. Photo by Elise Yablon |
Festival season is upon us! With both weekends of Coachella
out of the way and Austin City Limits having just announced its line-up for the
fall, those days of great music and memories under the sun are no longer a
distant thought.
Living in New York, you don’t have to go far to find some of
the summer’s hottest festivals. Between the world-renown Governor’s Ball and
Electric Zoo festivals, the summer-long city-sponsored Summerstage and
Celebrate Brooklyn shows and the localized and smaller festivals, New York will
be bursting with live music this summer.
Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s music outlet, is gearing up for
festival season by bringing you a list of the New York music festivals to keep
on your radar. Check out these 10 for the ultimate summer of music!
1.
Red
Bull Music Festival: Red Bull’s annual festival showcasing one-of-a-kind
performances from an eclectic array of new and established artists started this
week with two performances from Latina singer Rosalia on Tuesday and there’s
still a lot to look forward to. The multi-venue, nearly month-long showcase
boasts performances from JPEGMAFIA, Tierra Whack, FKA Twigs, Teyana Taylor and
more, including a special premiere of Holly Herndon’s upcoming concept album ‘Proto.’
(Now-5/18)
2.
Governors Ball: With
Panorama skipping
the 2019 festival season, Governors Ball is once again the biggest
three-day event in the city. New York’s indie answer to Coachella, the festival
draws in people from all across the country and globe for a line-up that
features the biggest names in music today. This year boasts headlining
performances from Tyler,
The Creator, Lil
Wayne, Florence
+ The Machine, The
1975, Major Lazer, Nas
and The
Strokes with more than 70+ artists playing in total. That’s not to mention
the “After Dark” pre and post festival shows scattered around the city. (5/31-6/2)
3.
Summerstage: Once again
expanding beyond its original home in Central Park, City Parks Summerstage
provides an entire summers-worth of eclectic live music and dance choices
ranging from rock, pop and hip-hop to jazz and classical at parks throughout
the five boroughs, many of which are free to attend. Some of this year’s
highlights include free sets from Big Freedia, the Aussie BBQ festival,
Japanese Breakfast, Alvvays, Lisa
Lisa, Jody
Watley, EPMD,
Corinne Bailey Rae, The Mountain Goats, Talib
Kweli and The
Wailers, as well as benefit shows with George
Clinton & Parliament
Funkadelic, Kurt Vile, Guster,
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Bloc Party and The
B-52s. More shows are still being added, taking the festivities into the
fall. (6/1-10/1)
4.
BRIC
Celebrate Brooklyn!: In addition to Summerstage, Brooklyn’s Prospect Park
has its own summer-long mostly free festival. Celebrate Brooklyn takes place at
the park’s historic bandshell, this year’s eclectic performers include free
sets from Patti
LaBelle, Calexico
with Iron & Wine, Liz Phair and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists and Bomba
Estereo, and benefit shows from The
National and Courtney Barnett, Father John Misty and Jason
Isbell and Mac Demarco. (6/4-8/10)
5.
Make Music
New York: Not your typical music festival, Make Music New York is a musical
celebration that takes place during the summer solstice every year. Modeled
after France’s Fête de la Musique, musicians of all levels are encouraged to “take
center stage and share their skills and passions through live performances in
public plazas and parks, on sidewalks and in front of shops, and in partnership
with cultural institutions and businesses across all five boroughs.” Some of
the special events you can witness/participate in include folk hootenanny Porch
Stomp, underground punk happening Punk Island and Mass Appeal sets with many
musicians playing one kind of instrument. (6/21)
6.
Warped Tour: Warped
Tour may officially be over as a touring festival, but that doesn’t mean it’s
over. Like many expected, Kevin Lyman brought the name back to celebrate what
would have been its 25th season. Instead of a summer of touring, the
new incarnation includes three large-scale festivals, including one right on
the beach in Atlantic City. Many of the festival’s most influential alumni will
be playing, including 311,
Andrew
W.K., Bad Religion, Bowling For Soup, Blink-182,
Glassjaw, Good
Charlotte, Less
Than Jake, The Offspring, Reel Big Fish, Shiragirl, Taking
Back Sunday, Thrice, The Starting Line, We The Kings and more. (6/29-6/30)
7.
Great South Bay Music
Festival: Long Island’s biggest bay side festival is back for another year.
The Great South Bay Music Festival boast four unique days of music paying
homage to the island’s musical heritage. Thursday features the return of LI
pop-punk darlings Taking Back Sunday to the fest, along with Glassjaw, The
Menzingers, Frank Iero and more. Friday gets a more ska-tinged vibe with
headlining sets from Sublime
with Rome, Slightly
Stoopid, Soja and local favorites Oogie Wawa. Saturday features Lotus, Dweezil
Zappa, Assembly Of Dust and more, as well as a tribute to Woodstock.
Finally, on Sunday War
will be celebrating their 50th anniversary with America
and the Edgar
Winter Band. This has always been a great festival with good music and a
killer vibe. (7/18-7/21)
8.
Woodstock
50 (If It Happens): This year marks the 50th anniversary of the
Woodstock Festival, an event that captured the love & peace movement of the
late 1960s. For this special occasion, original co-organizer Michael Lang has
put together a festival blending original Woodstock artists and values with
today’s biggest artists and initiatives. Some of the artists headlining the
bill include The
Killers, Miley
Cyrus, Santana,
Robert
Plant, Dead
& Company, Chance The Rapper, Greta Van Fleet, Portugal. The Man, Jay-Z,
Imagine Dragons, Cage
The Elephant, Canned Heat,
Hot
Tuna and The
Zombies. There has been some controversy over the last week as to whether or
not this event will actually take place or be completely cancelled. If it doesn’t
happen, the Bethel
Woods Performing Arts Center, where Woodstock originally took place, will
be holding a series of events celebrating the anniversary, including
performances from Ringo
Starr, Edgar Winter Band, Blood
Sweat & Tears, Santana, the Doobie
Brothers and John
Fogerty. (8/16-8/18)
9.
Afropunk:
Since 2005, the Afropunk Festival has been showcasing the alternative side of
black culture and music. The New York edition boasts an array of established
and up-and-coming artists at the intersection of punk, rock, hip-hop, R&B,
blues and jazz. Some of this year’s notable names include Jill Scott, FKA
Twigs, Leon Bridges, Kamasi Washington, Gary Clark Jr., Santigold, Toro Y Moi,
Nao, Death Grips, Danny Brown and The Suffers. (8/24-8/25)
10.
Electric Zoo:
Evolved: One of the biggest electronic music festivals in the world,
Electric Zoo returns to Randall’s Island in 2019 with a stellar line-up of
today’s hottest DJs. Artists include Armin Van Buuren, Benny Benassi,
Skrillex/Boys Noize collaboration Dog Blood, Afrojack, Alison Wonderland, Cash
Cash, Kaskade, Zedd, R3hab and more.(8/30-9/1)
Festival season is here and New York is the perfect place to
experience it all. From general popular music festivals and summer-long events
to those that cater to a specific fandom or throw genre out the window
altogether, New York will be showcasing some of the best in music and culture
that the world has to offer. Consider some of the festivals above when planning
your summer activities and let us know what festivals you’re excited for in the
comments below.
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Before heading out to see your favorite bands this festival
season, drop by Vinyl Bay 777 to find music from many of your favorite acts and
more. As Long Island’s top new independent record shop, we have thousands of
titles to choose from in a variety of genres to suit most music fans. Browse
our wide selection of new and used vinyl records, CD, cassettes, music DVDs,
memorabilia and more in store at our Plainview location or online at
vinylbay777.com. With more titles being added to our selection all the time, you
never know what you might find at Vinyl Bay 777.
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