Levitate Music & Arts Festival 2026: We were all family
I didn’t have to look hard to come up with a theme at the two-day Levitate Music & Arts Festival this year—everywhere you turned there were families roaming the fair grounds with tots in carriages, kids boosted on shoulders to better view musicians, babies with hearing protection, and circles of friends and family in low-slung folding chairs. On stage, we came across identical twin brothers on guitar, sisters shredding roots rock, and one lead singer whose due date for her newest family member was… the next day!
Levitate has always had a family friendly vibe, and even includes a kid zone complete with animal petting zoo. It’s managed to more or less retain that feel even as the crowds grow larger each year and as each day of the festival progresses. Headliners like angsty alt-rocker Alanis Morissette and folk powerhouse Caamp drew big fan bases at this year’s rendition, while performers throughout the day had their own excited followers, plus big family and friends showings for the emerging artists.
The outdoor festival, which celebrates local visual artists and musicians alongside more established musical performers, this past weekend was the tale of two starkly different days. Saturday got progressively more drizzly and rainy, putting stage hands’ water removal skills to the test and inspiring a rainbow of poncho parades across the hardy crowd. Sunday was just plain beautiful and sunny, eliciting plenty of weather talk from performers.
The most stellar performance of the festival may have been that of Maggie Hall, one of three lead singers for Boston-based rock-pop band Copilot. She glowed early Saturday afternoon in a full-length yellow dress on stage the day before her baby’s due date, belting out tune after tune, like “Spendin All My Money” from early in their career. In a post-show interview, Hall said, unsurprisingly, that “it’s a lot harder to sing” this far into her pregnancy and told us that if her water broke ahead of the gig that the concert would have gone on for “Bropilot,” with band mates Ry McDonald and Jake Machell taking over vocal duties. As it was, their set ended with one last banger, which McDonald introduced by stating the band’s #1 rule: “Let Maggie cook.”
The band is cooking up its next album, with the first single out soon. As one of six emerging artists selected from hundreds of applicants to perform at Levitate, and receive a grant, Copilot’s members were grateful to have the chance to perform. When asked about where the grant money would go, Hall, Machell and McDonald all responded in harmony that making an album is expensive and that the funds would be a huge help on that front.
Later on the same Soul stage, emerging artist selection Hey I’m Outside brought its twangy alt-country sound… from Medford… to Levitate. Continuing on the family theme, twin brothers Patrick (vocals, guitar) and Tim McPherson (Dobro resonator guitar) joined bassist Hannah Fletcher (Patrick’s wife) and drummer Noah Wisch (whose baby was on hand to root on the band).
As my wife would say, this was a “Bob band,” grinding out short guitar-led songs with ample bounce and simple titles like “Frontyard” and “Massachusetts” originally recorded in a basement studio. This band wasn’t slamming the crowd over the head with messages of love and sunshine as many of the others did, and in its brevity went in totally the opposite direction of the stretch-it-out jam bands that Levitate is known for.
After the show, Patrick told me that he saw a promotion for the emerging artists competition, looked up what Levitate even was, and said “yeah, why not send in an application, it looks like an amazing festival.” Not long back, Hey I’m Outside consisted of Patrick and Hannah playing with a backing track for drums. Hannah said early on they had to convince themselves about getting “less precious” about what they were doing and just get out there and play. Doing so helped them discover Noah, who came up to them after a show of theirs he attended for the headliner and asked if they needed a drummer. That upped the band’s energy level considerably, the members said, and now they’re trying to figure out a release plan for a recently recorded album that band members described as a continuation of their current sound with some more experimental elements woven in.
Levitate boasts three stages—Soul, Style, and Stoke—all within a reasonable distance of each other, and the event generally limits overlap between bands’ set times. Hey I’m Outside, though, did have tough “competition” in blazing rock and blues band Larkin Poe, led by sisters Rebecca Lovell on vocals and lead guitar and Megan Lovell mesmerizing on steel lap guitar, which is played horizontally. All four acts on the large Stoke stage were female-fronted, starting with Bebe Stockwell, who during her early set spoke of the challenges of believing in love but also of finding true love. Stockwell, from the Boston area, played her original material like “Minor Inconveniences,” covered the recognizable “Home” by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, and teased an album set for a fall release that will feature more of her distinct, throaty vocals. Headliner Alanis Morissette closed the Saturday night lineup, kicking things off with “Hand in My Pocket,” and whipping the soggy crowd into a frenzy whenever she switched to harmonica. Before she entered the stage, a brief video emphasized her awesomeness in the industry (she didn’t allow press photographers to take pictures, so none of those here).
Not to be overlooked was Sammy Rae & The Friends, who blended pop/jazz/funk, on the verge of breaking into show tunes. Bundle of energy Sammy Rae strode from one edge of the stage to the other, entangling with fellow band members, reaching out to adoring fans, and bending over backwards so far one time I wasn’t sure she was going to bend back. The band, which had taken a break from touring over the past year to detox from the pressures of social media and more, came out flying, with original material like “Denim Jacket” (complete with costume change) to pre-80s songs like “Lovin’ You” that the band wished it had written. The crowd responded with waving hands, and even some jazz hands.
Levitate got started on Saturday just after noon with Jammy Buffett, a band that does exactly what it sounds like they do. They specialized in “jamming their asses off” with covers of Jimmy Buffett songs, though actually tuned up with a few bars of Jonathan Richman’s classic “Roadrunner,” which some in the Massachusetts legislature have attempted to formalize as the state song. The festival really got into its Levitatedness, though, when the bigger and louder reggae and jam bands hit the Style stage, led by The Movement and followed by Pigeons Playing Ping Pong (some fans don scary pigeon head hats) and Ziggy Marley (another camera shy performer). Out came the backup singers, the bongos, and the brass, while blue and white beach balls ping ponged among the fans.
SUNday at Levitate
While festival goers had a blast on Saturday, the drizzly weather did bring with it a certain amount of wariness that a downpour could be just around the corner. There were no such concerns on Sunday when opener Surfer Girl picked up from where the jammiest of Saturday’s bands left off with its local brand of surf rock and reggae.
Emerging local artists on the Soul Stage, including Laney Powers and Casey Rivers, served up less rambunctious stuff, with lovely voices on songs about dog sitting, young love, and rivers and dams. Rivers notched honors for one of the festival’s quirkier moments when she donned an Old Man River mask while performing “Me and Peter,” a song that reflects on what she’s inherited, including from her grandfather. She loves rivers so much she has included the word in her stage name, and says “The only way I can explain my obsession is that it’s just a part of me… always been drawn to the water. Maybe it’s the pisces in me… or that water, and rivers specifically offer opportunities for life and adventure.” Rivers is readying a new album for likely release next year.
Hans Williams, at Levitate by way of Vermont (“this feels like coming home”) and now New Orleans, delivered soulful indie folk with a dose of psychedelia, including a sampling of unreleased music he’s been working on at home. His ensemble eased festivals goers into a string of increasingly manic performances, including from Daniel Donato and his cosmic country mates, one of whom mastered a double bass.
Next up was Trombone Shorty and his mega-talented Orleans Avenue crew, who almost constantly play off each other with dueling instruments, vocals, and dance moves (the last time I saw them live was as openers for a tech convention in New Orleans years ago and the band has since gone to great heights, even playing “America the Beautiful” at last year’s Super Bowl). Punky reggae band Pepper carrying on a Levitate tradition of bands’ members guest starring with each other during the festival, brought on The Elovators’ Jackson Wetherbee ahead of his outfit’s upcoming set. While I was setting up to take photos from the pit in front of the stage, hardcore fans pressed against the metal barriers told me the main reason they bought tickets to the festival was to see this nonstop band.
While many fans gathered in front of the stages or hunkered down in folding chairs that they were allowed to bring in, others mid-afternoon gathered around a biggish TV screen to watch the World Cup Final. A smattering of Espana and Argentia (Messi) jerseys could be spotted throughout the festival. It was while there catching the end of the game a friendly fan talked hoops with me and caught me up on the history of cosmic country like that played by Daniel Donato. Meanwhile, Pepper perfectly timed a rendition of the “Hey Song” often heard in sports stadiums as the World Cup neared its finish in extra time.
Not long after this it seemed that Boston Calling, the longtime festival held in recent years at Harvard University’s sports complex, had broken out. Australian indie pop band Royel Otis, who in fact did perform last year at Boston Calling, took the Style stage and the average age of Levitate attendees seemed to suddenly plummet as 20-somethings packed the space to hear songs like “Moody” and “I Wanna Dance with You.” Lead singer Otis Pavlovic fittingly showed off some great soccer moves as beach balls drifted his way.
Folk rockers Caamp concluded the festival with a highly anticipated set that perfectly wound down Levitate as the sun set. The stage was gorgeously decorated with bouquets of flowers that added color in foreground as black and white videos played behind the versatile band.
Mr. Swellesley with members of Copilot and Hey I’m Outside
More: Levitate 2025 coverage