Great South Bay Music Festival
Shorefront Park
Patchogue, NY
July 13-15

Where can you find pirates firing cannons, albino snakes, and jambands all on the same day? Long Island’s 6th annual Great South Bay Music Festival. Jazz, rock, jam, country and funk bands were all present at this three-day festival by the sea.

Kicking off the festival on Friday the 13th was a bold move, but they didn’t appear to experience any bad luck as crowds flooded in at 5:00pm. The folk outfit, Red Horse, comprised of singer/songwriters Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka and Lucy Kaplansky performed on the main stage, starting off a successful Friday night. Switching from folk to blues and rock, Kerry Kearney, a slide guitar master, performed his own style of music often called ‘psychedelta.’ Dave Mason, who has played with notable artists from Jimi Hendrix to The Rolling Stones to Fleetwood Mac, drew crowds hoping to see his most famous song, “Feelin’ Alright.” His impressive performance ended the night at 11pm, allowing festival goers a good night’s sleep before day two of Great
South Bay.

Saturday’s doors opened at 11:30am, but there was little action until 3pm. Local rock bands such as Nonstop to Cairo, Miles to Dayton, and Woodfish played to small, but enthusiastic audiences. During Woodfish’s performance, three excited audience members even danced along as the band members tried out some of their own quirky dance moves. Brother Joscephus & The Love Revival Revolution Orchestra, which features New Orleans inspired costumes and sounds with messages of love, started an interactive marching band. The 12-piece band, playing everything from mandolin to trumpet, allowed audience members to trail behind as they marched through festival grounds. They even allowed one particularly animated audience member to play along on tambourine. Finally, the trumpet player, wearing glasses with only one lense, hugged each member of the audience within close proximity to him.

The day, or night, really got going at 5pm with a performance by Tauk on the main stage. The jamband is composed of Matt Jalbert on guitar, Charlie Dolan on bass, Alric “A.C.” Carter on keyboard, and Isaac Teel on drums. They played songs from their newest album Pull Factors and even had people singing to their unique cover of the Beatles’ “I Want You.” The heavy drumbeat and appealing combination of funk, jazz, pop and rock had audience members cheering. Other than excited audience members, Great South Bay has something else near and dear to bassist Charlie’s heart. Six years ago at Tauk’s first performance at Great South Bay, Charlie tried his first deep fried oreo and he hadn’t had one since. But this year instead of stopping at just one, he ate five deep fried oreos. However, those oreos were well deserved after their great performance on Saturday.

After folk, rock, and Americana singer/songwriter Martin Sexton performed, five-piece rock band Tea Leaf Green took the main stage. The band, composed of Josh Clark, Trevor Garrod, Reed Mathis, Scott Rager and Cochrane McMillan, created intrigue by featuring two drum sets. In addition, keyboardist and singer, Trevor Garrod’s infectious smile when singing warmed crowds.

moe. closed Saturday night with a two-hour performance. Percussionist Jim Loughlin stepped in for Vinnie Amico on drums, which changed the dynamic of the band and created a bit of confusion during sets. Still, he performed an extensive and impressive drum solo and the rest of the band’s members were supportive of Jim. The set list included “Smoke,” “Akimbo,” “Haze>Paper Dragon,” “Puebla” >" Brent Black," “She Sends Me,” “The Pit” >" Downward Facing Dog," and the encore was “Rebubula.” “Haze” and “Brent Black” were the highlights in addition to the 20-minute encore.

While having a festival on the water is beautiful, inclement weather is often an uninvited outcome. Sporadic rain showers and strong winds kept people indoors, leaving what appeared to be two venders to every one festivalgoer. Due to the weather, local bands, cover bands and more established bands like Aeroplane Pageant and Garland Jeffreys only drew small crowds. However, as the weather started to improve, folk music group Ollabelle, which features vocals by the late Levon Helm’s daughter Amy Helm, performed and turned the day around. Finally, Great South Bay closed with a rock symphony titled, The Music of Led Zeppelin. The two-hour symphonic rock hybrid pleased audience members and ended Sunday on a high note.

While Great South Bay is a staple summer adventure for the locals of Long Island, it is not usually on people’s list of “must-see” summer festivals. However, after this year’s impressive performances and line-up, it is likely that next year Great South Bay will see larger, but equally enthusiastic crowds.