While we’re deep in cold bitter winter, looking ahead to summer festival season brings a certain warmth and happiness. Lineups are already being announced, rumors are flying, and things are starting to heat up on the 2010 festival front. Here’s a look at how things are shaping up for some of the summer’s most anticipated festivals:
WANEE FESTIVAL ~ LIVE OAK, FL ~ APRIL 15TH-17TH
Wanee Festival - Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park
The Allman Brothers Band and Widespread Panic will perform Friday and Saturday night of the Festival. Other performers include: Gov’t Mule; Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi; Bob Weir, Rob Wasserman, & Jay Lane are Scaring the Childern; Stephen Stills; The Black Keys; Dr. John; Hot Tuna Electric; 7 Walkers featuring Bill Kreutzmann & Papa Mali; JJ Grey & Mofro; Johnny Winter; George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic; The Funky Meters; The Wailers; Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings; North Mississippi Allstars; A Family Affair with Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk (performing Sly & The Family Stone); Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band; Chuck Leavell with The Randall Bramblett Band; Particle; Oteil and Kofi Burbridge with The Lee Boys; Col. Bruce Hampton; Devon Allman’s Honeytribe; Scrapomatic; Bobby Lee Rodgers Trio and Bonobos Convergence.
Wanee’s lineup pretty much speaks for itself this year – this looks to be a smoking festival with a diverse group of the best of the best in the jam scene. Tickets are on sale now at Wanee’s website.
MOUNTAIN JAM ~ HUNTER MOUNTAIN ~ HUNTER, NY ~ JUNE 4TH-6TH
Mountain Jam 2008 - Hunter Mountain
Gov’t Mule (Two Nights), Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi, Michael Franti & Spearhead, The Avett Brothers, Les Claypool (Late Night Set), Toots & The Maytals, Yonder Mountain String Band, Matisyahu, Dark Star Orchestra, Dave Mason, Lettuce, ALO, Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights, Elmwood & The London Souls plus many more to be announced. Tickets will be on-sale Monday January 25th at 10am Through www.mountainjam.com.
The big question remains who will occupy the Sunday night headlining slot? The Allman Brothers Band headlined in 2009, Ratdog in 2008, and Phil Lesh and Friends in 2007. Rumors point to either Furthur, or Widespread Panic to have the honors this year. There should be a lot of other good artists added in the coming weeks as well so stay tuned.
WAKARUSKA FESTIVAL ~ MULBERRY MOUNTAIN ~ OZARK, AR ~ JUNE 3RD-6TH
Wakaruska 2007
STS9, The Disco Biscuits, Slightly Stoopid, John Butler Trio, Blues Traveler, Zappa Plays Zappa, Bassnectar, Railroad Earth, The Machine performs Pink Floyd, JJ Grey & MOFRO, Lotus, Rebelution, ALO, Tea Leaf Green, BoomBox, Black Joe Lewis, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, EOTO, James Zabiela, Split Lip Rayfield, Hayes Carll, Sub Swara, Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers, Reverend Peyton’s BigDamn Band, Trampled by Turtles, Wookiefoot, Mishka, Big Gigantic, Truth & Salvage Co., Fort Knox Five, Mountain Sprout, Band of Heathens, Last Waltz Ensemble, Cash’d Out, Earl Greyhound, Bluetech, Uglysuit, Passafire, Simplified, Hoots & Hellmouth, Resident Anti-Hero plus many more artists still to be announced.
Wakaruska boasts a diverse and comprehensive lineup this year with a ton of big-hitter electronic headliners such as The Disco Biscuits, STS9, Lotus, Bassnectar, and EOTO. But this fest isn’t just straight-Untz, other big rock/funk/bluegrass names include the The Machine, Railroad Earth, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Zappa Plays Zappa, and Blues Traveler.
BONNAROO ~ MANCHESTER, TN ~ JUNE 10TH – 13TH
Bonnaroo 2009
The preliminary lineup announcement is due on February 2nd, heavily rumored acts include Furthur, Jay-Z, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Dave Matthews Band, Jack Johnson, Pearl Jam, Girl Talk, Steve Martin and many many many more of course. Keep an eye on Bonnaroo’s twitter feed for clues as to who will be appearing at this year’s festivities.
NATEVA FESTIVAL ~ OXFORD FAIRGROUNDS ~ OXFORD, ME ~ JULY 2ND-4TH
Oxford Fairgrounds
With Rothbury cancelled at least for this summer, rumor has it that AEG Live/Madison House are going to go big this year with their first Annual ‘Nateva Festival’ to be held in Oxford, ME over July 4th weekend. Nateva will make their initial lineup announcement this Friday, January 29th. Rumored big names include The Allman Brothers Band, Furthur, The Flaming Lips, and Trey Anastasio Band.
GATHERING OF THE VIBES ~ SEASIDE PARK ~ BRIDGEPORT, CT ~ JULY 29TH-AUGUST 1ST
Vibe Tribe - Seaside Park
No official announcment on lineup yet from the Vibe Tribe, but the festival has confirmed that they will return to Seaside Park, even after last year’s lower-than-hoped attendance, unfortunate deatch of a camper, and investigation into illegal activities by private security hired by the festival producers. All that aside, Vibes is back and is sure to be better than ever. An educated guess at this year’s lineup with we Dark Star Orchestra on Thursday night, Furthur on Saturday, and Deep Banana Blackout + other big names for Friday. If your’e a deadhead, there’s no place like the vibes, it truly is Deadhead Heaven.
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