NYS Music 20​18

Category: Long Island

  • Still Rock and Roll To Me: The Long Island Music Hall of Fame Celebrates its Seventh Annual Induction Ceremony

    The Long Island Music Hall of Fame, a non-profit organization, honors, in its own words, “a diverse array of performers, groups, and music industry leaders that have made significant contributions to Long Island’s rich music history,” and earlier this month the Hall witnessed its seventh annual induction ceremony, on Thursday, November 7 at popular music venue The Space at Westbury.

    The LIMHOF Awards Ceremony inducted eleven new members and groups this year, and they included the likes of more recently important artists, like sensational pop-punk group Taking Back Sunday and formative hip hop artists E.P.M.D, as well as more early icons of the music business, like Woodstock Music Festival promoters Michael Lang and Artie Kornfield (inducted separately), and music composer Jimmy Webb (who wrote “Wichita Lineman” for country music superstar Glen Campbell).

    Long Island Music Hall of Fame

    The first segment of the night allowed patrons and press alike to get up close and personal with the award winners as they walked the red carpet into the lobby of The Space at Westbury and posed for both photo ops and field questions. Surely, the highlight of this portion of the evening for most present was the unexpected arrival upon the scene of the one and only Billy Joel. No doubt most thought the presenter at the entrance to the red carpet was kidding when he announced the name of the 69-year-old musical icon, but in the man strutted only moments later.  

    For its ceremony portion, held in the gracious and acoustically impressive performance area of The Space, The LIMHOF Ceremony saw speeches from both award winners and their close acquaintances—Joel, it turned out, had come to speak and not just surprise the venue with his presence—as well as gave the stage to some of the inductees for special and touching performances. Videos of award winners, showing their heydays that had helped earn them the night’s recognition, played behind them as they addressed the crowd. A particularly poignant example include singer-songwriter inductee Melanie, whom performed her seminal hit “Candles in the Rain” with a large choir group while an old video showed her doing the same all the way back in the early 1970s. The recreation of that musically historic moment that had touched lives back then was certainly a treat for both her longtime fan base and the rest of the attendees.

    The press room at the Long Island Music Hall of Fame induction allowed award winners retreated after their showing on stage was a unique experience all in its own. To an intimate greeting of only a dozen or so reporters, these prolific artists and entrepreneurs of the music business answered questions up close and personal, while also delving into welcomed anecdotes of their life. Cousin Brucie, for example, shared stories of his storied career as a radio personality, such as the time that he introduced The Beatles at their legendary performance at Shea Stadium in 1966. What the award winners offered with these stories were bits of insight and truth into their musical worlds. Brucie, for example, said to reporters of The Fab Four: “At the time, none of us believed that The Beatles would be as big as they were.”

  • Dino Skatepark unveil “Boogeyman” video

    This past Halloween, Long Island based prog rockers Dino Skatepark has released the music video for “Boogeyman.” The punk band gets heavy in “Boogeyman,” with eleven different time changes, and style changes from punk to jazz and metal. The video was filmed by local videographer Sean Johnson with direction inspired by Dino Skatepark vocalist Dylan Belpanno and drummer Joe Quinn.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqWA_XdgIWg

    Dino Skatepark has released four singles, including “East Quogue” released in June 2018 and are in the process of releasing four new songs throughout the course of the next few months accompanied by music and lyric videos. Stay tuned to Dino Skatepark on Facebook for updates and upcoming shows.

  • Some CREAM with your Rock ‘N Roll?

    In the late 60’s, the band Cream had the music scene abuzz with it’s melding of jazz, blues & improvisation. After 3 years, 4 albums, and being crowned the first “super group,” the band called it a day in November of 1968. Flash-forward 50 years to today, when Malcolm Bruce (son of Jack Bruce), Kofi Baker (son of Ginger Baker), and Will Johns (nephew of Eric Clapton) pick up where the patriarchs of the power trio left off with a 50th anniversary world tour celebrating the music of Cream.

    NYS Music spoke with the band backstage at the Ridgefield Playhouse, in Ridgefield, CT. The tour has just started. As we sat down for our interview, the band and crew discussed gravity, the speed of light, black holes, mass and Star Trek. The stage was set for our conversation.

    cream

    Mickey Deneher: The tour has started and you’ve done a few dates already. How is it feeling on stage?

    Malcolm Bruce: It’s feeling good, we’re still finding it. We are still finding the magic, but there are magic moments.

    Kofi Baker: We’re still looking for the one.

    MB: There are magic moments (they) appear on stage and yeah it’s exciting. I think we are all kind of quite excited to see where this goes, you know. Especially when you’ve got such an intense run of almost 40 shows. You know there’s going to be a trajectory, there’s going to be a progression.

    MD: Absolutely. As it progresses, it’s going to change a little.

    MB: That’s true.

    MD: It’s going to evolve.

    MB: And with this kind of music, as anyone that knows about Cream’s music, it’s always changing. Every night.

    Will Johns: You know that is one thing is constant though is change.

    MB: CHANGE. Change is the constant.

    MD: As compared to the mass?

    MB: Yeah, what

    ever (laughs).

    cream

    MD: Talk about the Genesis of the tour. Where did it come from and where are we going?

    MB: This current project started last year in Australia and New Zealand. So we did seven shows there and the promoter at the time felt we needed, what they call “ringers.” “Ringers.”

    KB: Ringers, like the phone.

    MB: Because they didn’t quite know what the entity was in terms of us three. So they brought in a couple of “names”.

    KB: They brought in.

    MB: So Glen Hughes (bass player) and Robin Ford the guitarist came over and they sort of guested and came on and did a few songs. We sort of shaped the set around them doing it. They’re both amazing at what they do, you know. But, at the end of that we all, the three of us, realized this isn’t going to work. We, its number one, it’s trio music. Cream has to be the trio. You can’t have a tambourine guy.

    KB: You can have a triangle.

    MB: Or a Bolivian nose flute guy.

    KB: A Bolivian nose flute. Wow.

    MB: Or four base players, or sixty-four snare drums.cream

    MD: You are representing a Super Group.

    MB: “The” Super Group.

    MD: Agreed.

    KB: I don’t think we are representing a super group, what we are doing is we are having the essence of that super group and keeping it alive.

    MB: We are taking it forward in a way, in our own way.

    KB: It’s our thing that we have to do. Like a glass blower, a professional glass blower. He hands that on to his son and his son takes that to the next level and takes that thing. We are doing the same thing. We are taking our father’s stuff and just bringing it into the new generation.

    MD: I think of the responsibility, I think of what people are expecting when they come to the show.

    MB: But you know, especially when Cream started coming to the states. Something changed with the band didn’t it. It was when people were starting, I don’t know whether that happened initially on the west coast, when the audiences were kind of shouting out “just play man.” So rather than kind of keeping to the song format they just opened out. I think that’s what we’re interested in. We’re playing a lot of songs in a 2 ½ hour set, but we are interested in where these jams, where this improvisation will take us and I think that’s where it’s born anew. For us I think that’s the kind of most exciting thing.

    cream

    MD: Talking about jamming, you’re able to take it out every night? Go find something?

    MB: We are the kids of those people. But despite all that, I think all three of us have just spent, you know, many many years playing music and our interests in all different kinds of music. But when we play Cream, we can really assert that aspect of it. I think that’s a really powerful message for now because everything is so radio format. Corporations telling bands; you can’t, this is how you have to be in order to be successful and actually just playing.

    KB: If you noticed the dance thing, the visual thing has gotten bigger and bigger. It’s all about the dance, it’s all about the show, it’s all about the visual rather than the sound. Cream was all about the sound. So I want to bring that sound back thing in. That’s the whole reason I started doing the Cream thing. Then with Malcolm, he’s basically Jack Bruce; that’s why I’m Ginger Baker (band laughs).

    cream

    MD: You have two jazz cats and this blues dude (referring to Will Johns).

    KB: Which is exactly what Cream was.

    MB: Very similar.

    KB: Same age group, age difference is going to be the same as well.

    MD: Do you ever try to mess Will up a little?

    WJ: Do they ever (laughs).

    KB: We don’t have to try (laughs).

    MD: Talking about the essence of Cream, did you do anything special like amps or guitars to this to insure the sound?

    WJ: I was really, really lucky to have a friend of mine make some calls and Gibson Custom Shop were really happy to give me a Gibson ES335 to use on the tour. To basically celebrate the anniversary and of course, that was the guitar that Eric used at the farewell concert almost 50 years ago next month.

    MD: How did you put the setlist together? What was the thought process?

    MB: Well one of the things is you’ve got Kofi’s big drum solo in Toad, which is a big feature. You kind of look at where that’s going to come in the set and how you build to a first half and a second half.

    KB: Everything’s built around me.

    MB: It’s all about Kofi (laughs).

    WJ: Well that’s because he’s sitting down.

    MB: We were trying to pack in all the what’s expected of Cream’s repertoire. All the well know songs like: “Sunshine of Your Love,” “White Room,” “Cross Roads.”

    WJ: And there certain songs that really, really work, and a couple of songs that we tried and we worked on and stuff and perhaps were not lending themselves to a live performance. They were more studio songs.

    MB: These guys seemed to have ruled them out. But I haven’t complete ruled them out, yet.

    WJ: So Malcolm will be doing an a cappella, opening up the set (band laughs).

    MD: ’66 – ’68 were radical times in the states. 2018 is getting pretty radical out there.

    KB: Pots going to be legalized pretty soon everywhere.

    MD: That’s the least of the radical nature. If you look at what’s going on here. Are you guys feeling some relationship to that?

    MB: I don’t think it’s just the US.

    WJ: It’s all over the world.

    MB: When you get outside of the US you realize there’s a global aspect to everything that’s going on.

    KB: It’s like things come round, full circle.

    MB: There’s positive & negatives.

    WJ: I think we’ve all got a huge responsibility now to start cleaning up the planet, especially with these plastics. It’s gone completely out of control. We are harming ourselves; we’re harming the plant, animals, fish, especially our oceans.

    MB: Change has to happen in consciousness. Once people take responsibility, take responsibility for their own lives. There’s so much social conditioning in the world, so people just switch off. People have to be responsible for what they put out into the world.

    As our conversation goes deeper, Simon the tour manger signals that the band has a show to do and our time is up. Throughout the evening’s performance, I listened and watched as the band explored the music of Cream with the audience and themselves. Not an unsatisfied customer in the house.

    The “Music of Cream” world tour rolls into: The Paramount Huntington, Huntington, NY, Oct. 17th; The Vine at Del Lago Resort and Casino, Waterloo, NY, Oct, 19th ; The Egg, Albany NY, Oct. 21st. For more tour dates go to www.musicofcream.com.

  • Documentary Being Produced About Legendary Long Island Nightclub My Father’s Place

    It was Memorial Day weekend in 1971 when Michael “Eppy” Epstein opened a nightclub in the sleepy town of Rosalyn. “My Father’s Place” hosted some of the hottest up-and-coming acts of the era, including The Ramones, The Police, Blondie, and Talking Heads.

    The legendary hot spot closed in 1987, but is now re-opening. To honor the legacy of the club, a documentary entitled “Names are Bullsh*t” is being produced using vintage footage and archival documents. The Kickstarter campaign which runs through today offers Migliori Crypto Metaverso investors the opportunity to get exclusive perks such as t-shirts and their names in the credits of the film. Follow the film on Facebook for updates.

    https://youtu.be/f7XQpFcdE_Q

  • Celebrate National Gumbo Day with Baked Shrimp at Parish Public House

    Long Island’s Baked Shrimp will be in Albany on Friday, October 12 to celebrate National Gumbo Day at the Parish Public House. Joining them are local Albany bands Hasty Page and Hilltop.

    Baked Shrimp has been tearing up Long Island and NYC spots on their Summer Tour and embark on a Fall Tour with their first ever show in Albany. Check out our review of their album Feast of Delight. Tickets are $10 and more info can be found here.

    Pete Mason: Fans in Upstate are getting their first taste of Baked Shrimp – what can they expect to get down to?

    Baked Shrimp: We’re so excited to finally make it to Albany! The band has played in Upstate before, multiple times in New Paltz, and now we’re heading back to Oneonta, but getting to play New York’s capital will be a real treat. Expect the unexpected! We’re going into Fall with over 40 songs that can come out at anytime, and with Albany being the first show of the tour everything is on the table. Over the Summer, on top of teaching Jager all of the already written Baked Shrimp songs, we were also all learning together new originals, Beatles tunes, meme songs, and other cool covers for our Five Night Special that took place in Woodmere. Check out the recap from that and the rest of the Summer to see what’s on the table!

    PM: Was playing on National Gumbo Day at a New Orleans themed venue/restaurant planned or just a delicious coincidence?

    BS: Both! We knew Albany was planned for mid-October, and Dan from Parish Public House mentioned that it would be National Gumbo Day on the 12th. So we had to do it!

    PM: What’s the best part of the Long Island scene?

    BS: The best part is how close the folks in the jam/funk scene community on Long Island are to one another. Everyone knows each other, and the shows become a big gathering for everyone to meet in one spot to support the bands and the scene around them. It’s a goal of ours in the next couple of summers to do an outdoor camping festival on the island that we would host. It’s still a ways away since we’re still trying to find a proper location where we can do such an event, especially on Long Island, but we’ll make it happen! 2020!

  • Mark Anthony Manning: The story of a rising 20-year-old Albany singer

    The 20-year-old man’s voice soared as he played the piano in a minuscule practice room, eyes shut as he swayed to the music and several veins appeared across his face and neck. The dim lighting and tight space made the experience feel more intimate and hearing his voice echo sonically through the surrounding walls projected the impression of a cathartic release of pent-up energy and passion.

    Mark Anthony Manning had invited me to meet him there at the Massry Center for the Arts in the College of Saint Rose in Albany. He is currently a junior student there and studying towards a bachelor’s degree in Music Industry. Performing a few original songs on the black Steinway & Sons piano which he’d penned, he said that he mainly plays pop and R&B music, is a songwriter, and he has two music-related jobs.

    First, he has been working as a wedding singer for Silver Arrow Band, a company which performs at festivals, corporate events, private functions, and weddings, since early summer. In Manning’s case specifically, he travels with them across the state to perform a collection of requested songs for people’s weddings. Silver Arrow Band has won numerous accolades, including WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards every year since 2016.

    “It’s by far the best job I’ve ever had. There’s just so many musicians and you just get offered gigs. I’ve never been to a wedding with like the same exact band, it always like switches out because it’s a company,” Manning said.

    According to him, he usually gets paid at least $500 or $600 per wedding, although it depends on what musical instruments and how many fellow Silver Arrow Band members are brought for the wedding performance. “It helps me pay the bills and I like getting to travel with them,” he said.

    His second stint is being the frontman and lead singer of his own live student band, called Mark Manning and the Sexy Bitches.

    His fellow bandmates are Joseph Taurone on the drums; Gabriel Klinger-Horn playing the guitar; Sam Walczyk on the bass; Dan Carr who is in charge of synth, auxiliary percussion, and can substitute for drums guitar and bass; and finally, Kyle Robinson and Amy Branham who both serve vocals and play the piano too. All are St. Rose students, whom Manning met when he was still a sophomore, and they collectively rehearse together every Monday night.

    Manning first met Klinger-Horn during a college party early last fall where after some small talk, Manning expressed his desire to start a band. He was surprised when Klinger-Horn revealed he plays the guitar and knows of two peers, Taurone and Walczyk, who play the drums and bass. Over time, the remaining members joined but ironically, the band did not have an official name yet.

    It was not until the day of their very first performance together, which occurred at the Rice House — a venue that showcases local collegiate and young adult music talents — in Albany back in October 2017. He noted that that was the night the band made a name for itself in the Saint Rose community and the overall local music scene.

    “That day, I was like, ‘I don’t even know what to call us, guys.’ But there was this other band called Hasty Page and one of its members, Josh Morris [who serves vocals and plays the drums] said ‘Mark Manning and the Sexy Bitches’ as a joke,” he admitted. “I then slipped and said it accidentally onstage. But the performance was so much fun and looking back now, we weren’t really friends back then and we’ve since improved so much. It was the first night we really clicked and bonded. The name just stuck since then.”

    In fact, he recalled that eventually, people from Silver Arrow Band once saw him perform with his own band, and they asked him if he was interested in working for them too as a wedding singer.

    Having started to write songs upon entering college, Manning said “right now, all our songs are about relationships, unreciprocated love and how they don’t work out.”

    “I have not one happy song,” he joked.

    Regarding his songwriting process, it “usually starts with me getting my feelings hurt in some shape or form, and I’ll come to practice and I tend to have the chords first, before getting the melody and tempo. I mean, every song is different though. Some songs, the melody will come to me first in my head before I work on it with the piano.”

    Originally from Long Island, he identifies himself as “maybe a baritone but I’m definitely not a tenor. But I wouldn’t just say I’m a bass either.” Among his sources of inspiration are Beyonce, John Legend, Daniel Caesar and Kirk Franklin. He personally enjoys gospel, jazz and soul music.

    “My three siblings, cousins and I were all like a gospel and sang a lot of gospel, and it was cute that we were all family and being in church,” he recalled his childhood days. “We were called like The Manning 6, but eventually, they all grew out of music and I just didn’t.”

    After Manning began trying to take piano lessons in second grade, then fourth grade, and again in tenth grade, it was not until attending St. Rose where he had to take four semesters of piano to genuinely improve his piano proficiency.

    He was also highly active in musical theater growing up, particularly when he attended Patchogue-Medford High School in Suffolk County, Long Island.

    In terms of high school musicals, he played Gary Coleman in “Avenue Q,” Mr. Black in “Wild Party,” The Wiz in “The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical” and Donkey in “Shrek the Musical.” In college, his credits include playing Seaweed J. Stubbs in “Hairspray” and Mitch Mahoney in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”

    “It just feels like this was something I was born to do, I don’t want to do anything else,” he concluded. He hopes to eventually move to California sometime after graduation to grow as an artist. He even wants to become head of A&R — standing for artists and repertoire, they choose certain artists to get signed and develop their brand — of a music label someday.

    “In California, there’s so many record labels and young people out there chasing their dreams,” he said. “I just feel like the resources are more open there. If you want to be noticed by someone important, that’s the place to go. But I really believe in myself and have so much faith. You have to, no one else is going to if you don’t.”

    For now, Manning maintains a website at iammarkmanning.weebly.com and has an upcoming extended play coming out in either October or November.

    This article was originally published by The Spot 518. is property of Spotlight Newspapers in Albany, N.Y., and appears as a special to NYS Music. TheSpot518 and NYS Music work in partnership to provide readers with in-depth coverage on the local music scene in the Capital District and New York state, respectively. For more, visit TheSpot518.com.

  • Photo Recap: The Magpie Salute at The Space in Westbury

    The Magpie Salute treated their fans to an intimate night of music at The Space in Westbury on September 9. The show was separated into 3 parts: full band, acoustic set with Marc Ford, Rich Robinson and John Hang, and then back to the full band. The full band consisted of Rich Robinson and Marc Ford on guitar, Sven Pipien on bass, Joe Magistro on drums, vocals by John Hagg, and Matt Slocum on keys.

    The Magpie Salute

    Before kicking off their Europe tour, The Magpie Salute will be on the east coast during the month of September. Check out their upcoming tour dates here – http://themagpiesalute.com/events

    The Magpie Salute – The Space at Westbury – Westbury, NY

    Full Band: High Water, Mary the Gypsy, Take it All, For the Win, The Killing Moon*, Everything’s Alright#, All We Need to Do Is Love$

    Acoustic: You Don’t Miss Your Water%, Sister Moon

    Full Band: Lay It All On Me&, Open Up, Walk On Water, What Is Home&, What Is and What Should Never Be^, Can You See, A Conspiracy&, (Only) Halfway to Everywhere&, Send Me an Omen

    * Echo and the Bunnymen cover

    # Rich Robinson song

    $ Marc Ford and the Neptune Blues Club cover

    % William Bell cover

    & The Black Crowes cover

    ^ Led Zeppelin cover

    The Magpie Salute The Magpie Salute  

  • The Magpie Salute occupies The Space in Westbury Sunday

    The Magpie Salute is riding a wave of popularity following a busy spring and summer touring with Gov’t Mule and the Avett Brothers along with several well-received headlining and festival gigs. Sunday night the band rolls into The Space in Westbury in support of their debut release, High Water I.

    magpie salute westbury

    The band brings together three core members of the Black Crowes – guitarists Rich Robinson and Marc Ford and bassist Sven Pipien, along with drummer Joe Magistro, keyboardist Matt Slocum, and singer John Hogg. They first began collaborating in late 2016 and spent most of 2017 on the road perfecting their sound.

    The band has a catalog of over 200 songs in its repertoire, a mix of covers, Black Crowes songs and original Magpie Salute material and has quickly gained a reputation as an explosive live act. Robinson describes the renewed relationship with his former bandmates:

    It’s the recontextualization of playing with one another. When I was putting this thing together, I was thinking about how even though we may not have played for almost a decade, it just comes back immediately. The chemistry is unexplainable. Of course, I’m the same guy who played with the Black Crowes and wrote all of those songs, but this is a different context for myself, Marc, and Sven. It’s the convergence of three different worlds and eras for me. We’re all here together in this one place. Simultaneously, it’s amazing for Marc and Sven to play with Joe and Matt and John to be in the middle of it all. For me, that was really cool to witness. This is what I wanted to do.

    Tickets are still available for the Sunday show at The Space at Westbury. General admission tickets are $25 and reserved seating is $35. Following Sunday’s show, the band heads to the Canadian Maritimes to perform at the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival in Fredericton, NB. For ticketing information and tour dates, visit the Magpie Salute website here.

    Listen to “For the Wind” from High Water I below:

  • Great South Bay Music Festival Brings Musical Diversity to Long Island

    The Long Island music scene is incredibly fertile and diverse. It is rare to have an event that brings everyone together in one place, from the hardcore kids out east to the classic rock loving dads from Glen Cove, to celebrate music, art, and unity. Great South Bay Music Festival achieved this in strides with their incredibly colorful lineup of popular acts ranging from Sublime with Rome to Electric Hot Tuna. Located directly on the water of the south shore of the island at Shorefront Park in Patchogue, NY from July 12-15, the festival grounds is the optimal place to see live music on a hot Long Island summer day.

    Great South Bay Music Festival
    Festival Guide

    Unlike other festivals around the nation which focus in on one single genre of music, Great South Bay is a family-oriented festival that mixes up the genre of music played each day to give everyone a chance to enjoy themselves. Music lovers who attended each day went through a journey of seeing hardcore/punk bands on Thursday night to ska/reggae groups on Friday night to jam bands on Saturday night with blues/classic rock acts capping off the weekend on Sunday night.

    The overall vibe of the festival was incredibly relaxed, despite how many people attended, and festival goers had the option to sit back on the grass in their lawn chairs and blankets or head up front to stand in the pit if they wanted to get closer to the music. Because of how drastically the music changed from night to night, the crowd tended to change with it, creating a different feel for each day of the festival.

    Jim Faith, the man responsible for putting the event together, started Great South Bay Music Festival to create a Long Island music festival which would keep the spirit of music alive, positively change people’s lives, and create a space safe for people of all races and ethnicities to come together and celebrate different kinds of music. His goal is to inspire people to listen to new music as well turn younger folks onto legendary artists they might not have heard. The festival is not designed to be an over the top production, but rather a place to bring people together and get to the heart and soul of the community- which it certainly achieved.

    Great South Bay Music Festival
    Happy Festival Goers

    Thursday, July 12:

    The first night of music kicked off with a bang with an assortment of punk and hardcore groups who played to an energetic crowd of generally younger fans. When Get Up Kids took the main stage at 6:10 pm, the crowd was antsy and ready to go. The 90’s rock/emo band got the crowd going with an injection of high energy punk-esque songs which kept up the entire set and established the first big mosh pit in front of the stage of the night, but certainly not the last.

    Great South Bay Music Festival
    Eddie Breckenridge of Thrice

    Thrice followed at 7:30 to the excitement of many attendants, and picked up exactly where Get Up Kids left off.  The veteran alternative rock band’s heavy riffs incited headbanging, fist pumps and mosh pits in the crowd close to the stage, while those who were hanging back danced to themselves. Thrice was a treat to many festival goers as they had recently released new music and came back from a three-year hiatus, so it was many fans first time seeing them since they returned. An incredibly polished, hard rocking band, their set was played with such precision it sounded as though it was recorded in a studio.

    A half hour after Thrice finished their set, the headliners of the night, The Front Bottoms, took the stage and treated the crowd to an energetic hour and ten minute set of twists and turns. Playing with the “Legendary Uptown Horns,” the set featured an animated setlist of melodic arrangements. The band sounded like a mix of Mumford and Sons and Streetlight Manifesto, and produced incredibly positive and vibrant music. By the end of the set there were people jumping, crowd surfers bouncing, and heads banging: a magnificent end to the first night of the festival, which would set the stage for the next three nights.

    Great South Bay Music Festival
    Front Bottoms

    Friday, July 13:

    Friday night was all about the ska and reggae scenes, and featured an impressive assortment of some of the nation’s top touring acts for the genre. The crowd began to fill up after 6 pm as they made their way over to the festival grounds after work, and included a very diverse crowd of fans old and young.

    Great South Bay Music Festival
    Less Than Jake

    Less Than Jake started their set right on time at 6:30 and jumped right into a fast-paced, rocking ska song to the crowd’s delight. The band seemed to be in a great mood as they played a set of many of their hits from their most recent albums to older crowd favorites, and played around heavily with crowd participation. In between songs they made jokes, brought people up on stage to dance, and even had a beer chug off with people from the crowd who they brought on stage. They had the crowd in the palm of their hands as they encouraged sing-a-longs, jumping in unison, and moshing. While they were very playful they were also an incredibly tight band who clearly had been playing together for a long time.

    Great South Bay Music Festival
    Dirty Heads

    The Dirty Heads followed at 8 pm as the smell of marijuana filled the air in anticipation. The Dirty Heads are a great, chill summer band, and the beach is the ideal place to catch one of their sets. The band played a very diverse setlist from hip-hop beats and rapping to slow, bouncing reggae tunes which saw the massive crowd swaying in harmony like the waves of the sea behind them. Everyone sang along when they played their hits, and Rome even came out to perform a song he’d recorded with them for one of their earlier albums, to the crowd’s delight.

    The appearance by Rome in the Dirty Heads’ set was only a taste of what was to come, as Sublime with Rome followed in the headlining spot. The band got the crowd going right away with a few classic Sublime songs, each featuring an echo of the crowd singing along. The band was able to emulate the sound of the original Sublime lineup with ease, while at the same time staying fresh with many of their new songs. Some of their new songs sounded like something from a vintage Sublime album, while others strayed genres a bit and became much heavier. Overall the night was exactly what the crowd came for as they left smiling and hazy.

    Sublime With Rome

    Saturday, July 14:

    Saturday’s show featured an array of artists from the jam scene, ranging from cover bands to some of the top touring acts of the scene. JGB Featuring Melvin Seals brought heat with a set of Jerry Garcia music that would make Jerry proud. Seals still has the chops he had while playing with Jerry, and put together a band of world class musicians to keep the spirit alive. The set mirrored that of a ‘90s JGB show with original Garcia tracks and some of his favorite covers played with emotion and soul. Each member of the band came to play, and every note played was treated with dignity and respect, whether it was a fast-paced rocker or classic ballad.

    Photo of The Great South Bay Music Festival courtesy of their website.

    Papadosio followed and began their set with a jam on middle-eastern chord progressions, which piqued the interest of the crowd. Their hour long set featured mild twisting space-funk, dangerous peaks, and breezy, floating jams which exploded like the waves on the nearby jetty. Although the band normally plays indoor shows or late night time slots, having them play in the afternoon was a treat because despite the lack of light show, the crowd was able to see that the band was dancing on stage and as into the set as the audience, which only pushed the music further.

    Pigeons Playing Ping Pong

    With the crowd loose and ready to jam, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong took the stage at 7:30 and impressed the crowd with a show that they played like it was their last. The upbeat funk-rockers explored different areas of jam music from ‘70’s disco-esque grooves to dark, gritty jams. The entire crowd grooved along as the non-stop set kept everyone dancing and on their toes for what they would play next. At the end of their set the crowd didn’t seem to want them to leave, as they didn’t want to either, and gave the band an ovation which was heard a town over.

    The half hour time slot in between bands gave festival goers a chance to sit down and collect themselves before they were thrown back into the madness with a dynamic set by jam band giants Umphreys McGee. Umphreys McGee quickly dove into a high-energy rocker, each note played with sharp precision. For the first time that evening, it was dark enough for a band to incorporate a light show, and it did not disappoint as the lights added another layer to the improvisational machine on stage. The band shined effortlessly through difficult progressions and raging peaks with an incredibly fun set of music. The band left the stage before their time slot ended only to come back and deliver a rendition of Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” that sounded like a crisp studio recording of the song until they put their own spin on the jam which amused and exhilarated the attentive audience.

    Umphrey’s Mcgee

    Sunday, July 15:

    The final day of the festival seemed to attract the largest crowd, as well as the oldest crowd. From Thursday to Sunday the average age of the crowd seemed to jump nearly a decade, with the old boys coming in and finishing things off right. The Devon Allman Project featured impressive guitar work and blues jamming by sons of the original Allman Brothers Band, Devon Allman (Greg Allman’s son) and Duane Betts (Dickey Bett’s son). Looking the carry on the family musical tradition, the band did not disappoint and put a fresh spin on bluesy, rocking tunes. Some might have thought that the band was only there because of the last names of the performers, but had their names been John Doe the band would have been incredibly impressive with their set of high quality musicianship.

    Festival Goers, Old and Young

    Little Feat came next to the crowd’s excitement, and the classic rock legends played a set full of fun and hits. The large band of musicians played with incredible gusto, and communicated with each other musically on stage as if they were speaking a language the crowd instinctively knew. Their soulful singing and silky jams showed that they are a band worth continuing to see as they segued from song to song with their eyes closed.

    After a short break, Electric Hot Tuna took the stage to an ovation unmatched by any other of the weekend. Practically ignoring the applause, they dove into a sneaky, haunting blues jam featuring impressive guitar licks and full band modulations with ease. Each song featured a notable jam of its own right, and the versatile rockers changed genres on the turn of a dime with each song. The sound was ideal as the bass was up in the mix, which is exactly what you want when Jack Casady is on stage.

    Dickey Betts Band

    After Electric Hot Tuna’s set, the crowd was antsy to hear the final headliner of the night, Allman Brothers Band guitar player and founder Dickey Betts take the stage with Dickey Betts Band, however they were forced to wait an additional half hour due to sound issues. The crowd was overjoyed when the band finally took the stage and jumped right into the Allman Brothers material Betts wrote. Betts was a bit rusty throughout the set, but still reached many highs on well-known Allman Brothers Band solos, and the crowd was happy to hear the music they grew up with.

    Overall the festival was a great success, with attendants raving about the music they had just seen as they made their way to the parking lot on the final night. With sunlight and a cool ocean breezes, you couldn’t ask for a better weekend as people from all walks of life joined together to celebrate love and music.

  • Two Reasons to Celebrate Vans Warped Tour Final Year

    On November 15, 2017, founder Kevin Lyman shared that after 23 amazing summers of music, Vans Warped Tour would celebrate its final run in the summer of 2018. Making up for the upsetting news was the release of this summer’s diverse lineup, featuring bands from the electronic duo 3OH!3 to folk singer-songwriter Frank Turner, the charismatic members of popular Canadian rock band Simple Plan, to the abrasive metalcore of August Burns Red, with so much more sprinkled in.

    While Vans holds the top seat as the festival’s primary sponsor (hence the festival’s name change), several other sponsors will be hosting multiple stages on the tour, including Journey’s (who will host a ‘Right Foot’ and ‘Left Foot’ stage), Monster (with a cleverly named ‘Mutant Red Dawn’ and ‘Mutant White Lightning’ stage, named after the ultra-caffeinated energy drinks), owly.fm and Full Sail University (to stage some up-and-coming bands). The tour is already underway, making stops in Camden, NJ this Friday, followed by Holmdel, NJ on Saturday, then Hartford, Connecticut this Sunday. The tour will also make a stop at the Darien Center in New York on July 25, and Jones Beach Ampitheatre on July 28. In celebration of it’s 23-year legacy, here are two reasons why Vans Warped Tour stands out as one of the most impressive touring festivals of its era.

    1 – From start to stardom, Vans Warped Tour has introduced us to some of our favorite bands.

    Since its first run in 1995, many bands have Warped Tour to thank for their rise to popularity. Avenged Sevenfold, Fall Out Boy, and Paramore are a few of the many bands that played the Warped Tour stage early in their careers, and continued to play each year in the early 2000s as their repertoire expanded. A prime example of the festival’s impact is Baltimore-based band All Time Low, who played a small stage at Warped back in 2007. Shortly after, the band released their second studio album So Wrong, It’s Right, which caught a wave of fans and charted number 6 on the Independent Albums chart in the US. The band went on to headline the festival in the following years, even topping the lineup list for this year’s fest.

    The festival always had punk rock at heart, but shed some light on other genres, hosting Limp Bizkit in 1997, the Black Eyed Peas in 1999, and Katy Perry in 2008. The festival organizers adapted to the evolving popular music scene while remaining true to their roots, and the massive following that ensued placed Warped Tour as the largest traveling music festival in the United States.

    2 – There’s nothing quite like the Warped Tour experience.

    Walking around the grounds of the fest is a treat alone. The outcasts of the everyday find sanctuary in a crowd of like-minded cohorts at Warped Tour. Goths, skaters, and punks alike flock to the stages to dance, mosh, or whatever feels right for them. This space is theirs and free of judgement, which fosters a unique and enticing crowd experience for a first-timer. The festival takes great pride in activism, drawing attention to important causes as well, from suicide prevention to breast cancer awareness. Patrons who donate to these causes can get special interactions with artists and receive signed gear, only to further awareness among the festival. You can even get express entry to this year’s fest by donating three cans of food or $5 to Feed Our Children NOW.

    Music education also plays a key role in the festival, with free lessons often offered to concert-goers. In past years, the John Lennon Bus has also set up shop at the fest, which holds a mini studio for younger attendees to interact with music in a reclusive setting. When attendees need a break from the scores of performances scheduled for the day, there are so many experiences to take in, and you’ll never know what (or even who!) you might find around the festival grounds.

    A bittersweet heaviness will follow each attendee at the festival’s last return this summer, but the nostalgic lineup and all-encompassing experience will be sure to bring great enthusiasm in honor of a successful 23-year run. Be sure to get your tickets for this weekend’s festivities and the tour’s future stops on the Vans Warped Tour site. The remaining dates can be found there as well in case you’re beyond the tri-state area. For the full artist lineup and more info, head to the Vans Warped Tour artist page and info page, and be sure to follow the latest happenings on Facebook. We’ll see you on tour!