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 [Read more…]
Wellesley College students are looking forward to the Puerto Rican band Chuwi performing on campus as part of its Last Day of Class celebration at Munger Meadow. The event, on April 30 at 7pm, is open to members of the Wellesley College community and guests.
Come From Away is a moving and uplifting musical based on the true story of what happened in the small town of Gander, Newfoundland, on September 11, 2001. When 38 planes carrying nearly 7,000 passengers were unexpectedly diverted there, the residents of this isolated community opened their hearts and homes to the stranded travelers.