Hosted by Dan and Jess Hassett of Levitate Surf and Skate Shop, the festival is three days of peace, love and ‘local Stoke’ taking place at Marshfield Fairgrounds from July 5-7 held.
If you’ve been, you know this: It’s a complete vibe: an intoxicating blend of surf and skate culture, jam band chill, and classic festival fun. This year, you can watch muralists perform, browse art vendors, and even camp. According to Instagram, about 30 food trucks will serve everything from barbecue to smoothies, lobster rolls, ice cream and more, as well as drinks.
Three stages of music will last three days. Here are my picks of five must-see shows.
Daniel Donato
It is Cosmic Kingdom Time. The guitar prodigy combines the best of tie-dye and cowboy boots in his music. Some of the tracks have an Allman Brothers vibe to them, sometimes a Nashville jukebox vibe, sometimes a Grateful Dead vibe. Many nerds were big fans of Daniel’s – and so was Bob Weir. The guitar prodigy is starting to find success in mainstream media: A few months ago, he made his national television debut on “CBS This Morning.” Those of us who have been fans of his since his early YouTube videos, well, we’ve been waiting in line at Marshfield to have our faces melted. July 7, 2:15 pm
Orepolo
Gu Gu Gu Gu! (We’re not booing, we’re like Springsteen fans yelling “Bruuuuuuuce.”) Goose fans should flock to Marshfield to see Goose’s side project—the New England band is now taking over the jam session. For the uninitiated, Goose is Connecticut’s answer to Vermont’s trolling: homegrown cow funk. Orebolo is an acoustic trio consisting of three members of Goose: Rick Mitarotonda (vocals, guitar), Peter Anspach (vocals, guitar), and Jeff Arevalo (upright bass). On “Goose,” Mitarotonda is a beast on electric guitar, while Anspach is usually on keyboards. Here, the trio tends to relax into relaxing rhythms or foot-tapping tunes. July 5, 6:30 pm
Tash Sultana
Monster talent from underground. The Australian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer is essentially a one-man band. From guitar to trumpet to live loops and beatboxing, they’ll blow your mind. July 6, 7 pm
Lake Street Diving
Founded in Boston 20 years ago, Lake Street Dive accurately positions itself as “a cross-pollination of soul, folk, jazz, classic pop and more” and has a legion of adoring local fans. Like the festival itself, the band has grown into something big. The five-piece band’s eighth full-length album, “Good Together,” was released about two weeks ago and the band launched it on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” They also talked to us about it. July 6, 8:15 pm
sublimation
There has to be an elephant in the room added. This year’s headliner: Sublime. Every ’90s cover band in the greater Boston area has heard “What I Got” since the 1990s. It’s time for the real deal, baby. The band has also partnered with Levitate Brand to develop some official merchandise… right now “Santeria” comes to mind. July 7, 8pm
I told you I would pick five and I will keep my promise. But what if you asked me to pick two more?
G. Love & Special Sauce plays July 6 at 1:30 p.m.
Neal Francis—who Rolling Stone called “making piano rock cool again”—will play July 5 at 3:50 p.m.
For more information and FAQs, please visit https://www.levitatemusicfestival.com/
Lauren Daley can be contacted at: ldaley33@gmail.com. she tweeted @LaurenDaly1.
Lauren Daley can be contacted at ldaley33@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @laurendaly1.
