With summer skies and salt spray on ocean breezes serving as a backdrop, the Nantucket Music Festival is set for Saturday, August 2, and Sunday, August 3, featuring a still evolving lineup of legendary bands and leading, new artists.
Boston bred, four-piece rock outfit Guster and singer/keyboardist Bruce Hornsby highlight the weekend slate along with notable acts such as Steel Pulse, Donavon Frankenreiter, Chadwick Stokes, Lukas Nelson & P.O.T.R., Ben Taylor, Freddy Clarke, Entrain, and Ayla Brown. Additional bands and performers are expected to join the lineup in the coming weeks.
“Too many years have passed since fans of rock music, blues and folk could enjoy an open air concert on Nantucket,” said NMF co-executive director Cynthia Dareshori, a longtime seasonal resident of the island who founded the event with her friend and fellow islander Cheryl Emery. Dareshori and Emery were inspired to start the NMF after attending several other similar events, including the world famous New Orleans Jazz Festival.
“Cheryl and I saw so many happy people at those festivals,” said Dareshori. “We knew in our hearts that the time was right to bring that kind of happiness to music lovers on our island.”
Daytime, open-air performances will take place both days from 10:00am to 4:00pm. In the evenings, sponsor dinners will occur under a tent with separate tickets and net proceeds to benefit the Celebrate Music Foundation to support local musical performance and education initiatives. Further information regarding sponsor dinner performances will be announced soon.
The festival will take place at Tom Nevers Field, a former naval base on Nantucket’s eastern side which has hosted several events over the years, including the Nantucket County Fair, and features plenty of space to accommodate up to nearly 4,000 ticket holders.
Tickets for the inaugural festival are on sale now at NantucketMusicFestival.com and via Ticketfly.com. Please visit the festival website for further information regarding patron passes, VIP packages, sponsorship opportunities, parking and shuttle bus service and the festival artist lineup. For more information on travel to and from Nantucket, visit http://www.Nantucket.net