The first weekend of July marked the 11th edition of the Levitate Music & Arts Festival in Marshfield, MA. The 3-day festival featured over 30 musical artists, including a few surprise performances, but the single most obvious draw was undoubtedly the resurgent Sublime.
The festival vibes were chill, but the muggy weather throughout the weekend however, was decidedly not. Nevertheless, day 1 got off to a good start with a festival-opening set from Worcester natives Blue Light Bandits. Some performances of particular note on the opening day of the festival included the teenaged guitar virtuoso Grace Bowers, alt-rockers/plant enthusiasts The Moss, reggae rockers Dirty Heads, the acoustic trio Orebolo (an offshoot of Goose, who made a splash at last year’s Levitate), and of course Mt. Joy, making their debut as a festival headliner and rising to the task with ease.
Day 2 got off to a somewhat rocky start, with ominous overcast skies and a shortage of security personnel that caused a notable bottleneck at the main security checkpoint. The day’s first performers, Snacktime, bore the brunt of that slowdown with many potential listeners stuck in line well after gates opened. The main stage also seemed to be initially plagued by a different delay, with G. Love making his way on stage to join his band 4 songs into their set due to traffic. As the day progressed, the issues melted away and so did the threat of rain. Levitate alumni Ripe made a surprise appearance early in the day and delivered a unique performance from the deck of the VIP enclosure. Other performances of the day included Cory Wong and his 10-piece band, Massachusetts-born reggae rocker Joe Samba, and popular Marshfield locals The Elovaters. Tash Sultana overcame significant technical difficulties to demonstrate their impressive talent as a multi-instrumentalist, and headliners Lake Street Dive delivered a polished, crowd-pleasing set to round out the evening.
The third and final day of the festival had none of the hiccups of the previous day, and began with a set from Gracie Grace & All the Good Boys that ended up with an on-stage engagement between the eponymous Grace and her partner. The day’s lineup featured a double-dose of Daniel Donato, who performed a set with his band Cosmic Country and a solo set in the VIP area. The indie hip-hop duo Little Stranger and indie folk rockers Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners both drew a large crowd to the main stage early in the day, and other standout performances included a solo set from Ziggy Alberts, and an energetic full-band set with Karina Rykman. Charley Crockett also drew a large crowd as he closed out the mid-size stage for the weekend with his twangy Americana. Immediately following that show, Sublime was slated to close out the festival at the main stage, and the hype was palpable. The crowd roared as Jakob Nowell took his place on stage and settled in to lead Sublime through a shorter-than-expected set that nevertheless ran through enough of the band’s classic hits to keep the audience happily singing along all the way. They took the time to work in Sublime’s first new song in 28 years, “Feel Like That,” and that special performance featured a surprise appearance from Duxbury’s own Scott Woodruff (of Stick Figure, a Levitate staple band and one of Levitate 2023’s headliners). The whole concert was over by 9:30 PM, leaving just about everyone craving more, but that was inevitable given how long many in the audience had been waiting to see Sublime performing again. With that cathartic headline set, so ended another edition of Levitate Music & Arts Festival; it was not without its blemishes, but undeniably worth experiencing.
Check out all of Greg’s photos from the show below.
