Once again 20,000+ music junkies will gather in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas to partake in yet another Wakarusa music and art festival. This year the festivities will begin on May 31st, commencing on June 3rd.
Joining the long list of greats to have traveled to the beautiful and secluded mountaintop, this year music lovers will get to hear the tunes of headliners and festival vets Derek Vincent Smith aka Pretty Lights, The Avett Brother, Primus, Edward Sharpe, Girl Talk, and Fitz & The Tantrums, among many others.
As Jesse Miller of Lotus, (who may have been one of the top 5 sets) said after last years Waka, this is “A gathers of true music lovers taking in the best of the jam rock, and electronic worlds, and everything in between,” and this couldn’t be more evident than when scoping the entire lineup online.
Last year, besides the amazing time I had the secret waterfall with new and old friends, (try and find it!) the best sets, and I mean BEST sets, like best of my summer festival binge, were surely STS9, the early-morning Emancipator, EOTO, An-Ten-Nae, and Ghostland. WoW! Now that was an amazing collect of music, and I CAN NOT WAIT to venture to middle America to do it again.
Also pumped to see up and comers SOJA a reggae band from Virginia whom I remember jamming to at a $5 backyard show in high school. Savoyhttp://www.savoyband.com, Boulder residents that have a unique and funky mix of electronic and dance, and have busted out some great remixes over the years including one of my favs “Hella Good.” I first saw them opening up for Pretty Lights back in ’09 in Wilmington, NC, and this was when PL still had a live drummer. You will also see me and the rest of the Tweed family at Tea Leaf Greens set, whom we all have been fans of since way back; our great friend Lael Neale was on tour with Trevor Garrod, (keyboard and vocalist) through D.C., where we caught them at the famed DC9.
Check back with RockNYC and Tweed to hear more about the artists and breaking news.
Cheerio!