Mike Swanson is going to be hitting up the Loki Music Festival this weekend and dropped a nice preview on what he’s going to be checking out…
The inaugural Loki Festival, running from October 10-13 in Deerfields, NC, will be headlined by Cake. The schedule has also been posted for this weekend. Loki is sure to go down in the festi record books. There is major talent all across the board, not to mention the perfect small festival setting, being the same grounds that hosted the Trinumeral Festival, which I attended in August. Judging from the time I had then, I can only imagine how much fun is to be had at Loki.
Whereas Trinumeral focused on more of the electronic/dj scene, Loki is bringing some serious funk acts to the stage, including Lettuce. They were one of the groups who blew me away at All Good this summer. Other top acts include The Roots and reggae legends Toots and the Maytals. Besides these big-name acts, I think the most exciting aspect of this festival is the multiple one-off jam sessions that are guaranteed to be down right dirty.
Included in these powerhouse groups is The Big Ol’ Nasty Getdown, featuring George Clinton. Starting out as a studio project with 35 different contributing artists, The B.O.N.G. mixes in musicians from Yo Mama’s Big Old Booty Band, P-Funk, Dumpstaphunk, Derek Trucks Band, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Galactic, The Lee Boys, Laura Reed and Deep Pocket, and others. This will be the Getdown’s first time taking the live stage, and it is gearing up to be one epic original performance.
Another first-time and equally exciting collaboration is the Peruvian Pedicurists, featuring Robert Walter (Greyboy Allstars), George Porter Jr (Meters), Col. Bruce Hampton (Aquarium Rescue Unit), Stoltz + Batiste (Funky Meters), Tim Reynolds (collaborator w/ Dave Matthews), Member of the Lee Boys, Jeff Sipe (Aquarium Rescue Unit, Trey Anastasio), and members of Lettuce. Just thinking about what this group will come up with has my head spinning.
And with the recent news from the Phish camp (can’t stop smiling), it cannot go without mention how great it will be to see Jon Fishman perform, now that the cat (or should I say, possum?) is out of the bag officially. Fishman will be playing with The Everybody Orchestra, conducted by Matt Butler. Also included in this stacked assembly is Marco Benevento of The Duo on keys, percussionist Luke Quaranta and Kora player Justin Perkins from Toubab Krewe, steel pan player Jonathan Scales, swamp music guitarist Papa Mali and members of the Barrel House Mamas on vocals. Phew, I need a breather. Toubab Krewe is also playing their own set Saturday night.
Check out the festival website for the rest of the lineup and full details. I hope to see you there, and be sure to get in the Halloween spirit and bring a costume; the Loki Costume Ball begins Saturday.
