10 years is a pretty long time to be doing anything, let alone to be running a very successful music festival in a fairly secluded area of the country. Well, that’s exactly what the good people of Wakarusa Music Festival have been doing, and doing it well. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the festival, but only the 5th year of it being held at the breathtakingly beautiful setting of the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas. For the 10th anniversary, they decided to go for a sort of “best of” approach for the artist lineup, going through the catalogs and taking what they think will be the best combination of artists that have represented and threw down at Wakarusa in the years past. With over 130 acts pumping out about 160 sets over the 4 full days, we feel that they will cover every attendees wants and needs, and are leaving very little to be desired as far as the assortment of genres.
With all of the artists that Wakarusa has coming through this year, it only makes sense to have music starting the early afternoon of May 30th and going all the way through to the wee hours of the morning on June 3rd. I’m not trying to do the math right now, but thats like nearly 100 hours of music.
The first day kicks off with some huge bands, as well as some lucky up and comers that get to display their act on the big stage. In the months leading up to May, Wakarusa held a self promoted contest, to give some bands a chance to play on the Revival Tent Stage. Low and behold, an old-time friend of Wookie Post is doing big things out in the Colorado area, and his band, Papagoya, got their name out there and the people voted them in!
I got to chat with Taylor Shuck, Papagoya’s bass player and also a long-time friend, to see how excited the band was to get this opportunity and what they have in their plans for the near future. He said, “We were in awe and unbelievably stoked to be given the opportunity to play Waka, let alone being given the chance to play the Revival Stage. This will be the first time out of state for us so we’re beyond humbled to get to play in such a big event amongst some of our favorite bands. Our plans for this summer mainly include touring around Colorado for shows and festivals, along with recording a full length album. We definitely have big plans for the near future but in the mean time we’re just enjoying the ride and the love we get from all the people who come out and support us in our passion for music! Join the groovement!”. We most certainly will join the groovement, Taylor. Everybody go check out their website, www.papagoya.com, to hear some funkified jams, and be in the loop before these dudes blow up.
As stated earlier, this lineup is one of the more well-rounded lineups for the upcoming season, so be ready for Day Two to bring the heat as well. If you happened to miss The Motet’s set on the first day, they’ll be playing again on the Technaflora Outpost Tent on day two, so don’t screw it up and miss them twice. Get your reggae fix in with da Soljya’s of da Army (aka SOJA). always known for bringing the chill-out vibes to a festival, and then get the funk out with Yo Momma’s Big Fat Booty Band. By that time the sun’s gonna be headin’ to the west side, and that’s when the real fun starts. The night will host sets from Umphrey’s McGee, MUTEMATH, Zion I, Disptach, Sound Tribe Sector 9, Zed’s Dead, and Boombox. Round about 2:30 is when things start gettin’ really wierrrd, with late night sets from Shpongle with The Masquerade, Galactic, Figure, Minnesota, and then Bluetech will bringing the sun back round to the east side. Helluva day here, and you even got a few hours to rest up for the next day, cuz you’ll definitely need it.
On to Day Three, Los Amigos Invisibles, a Venezuelan disco/acid jazz/funk band, has an afternoon set that would definitely be worth checking out. They play a set on night two, unfortunately right during the Sound Tribe set, so if you saw Tribe that night, you still get a chance the next day to see Los Amigos. Although there are a ton of acts to check out, Saturday afternoon could be a good time to check out all the other features they have at Wakarusa this year. According to the festival organizers, they have increased the budget for “arts and ambiance” and say they have some amazing surprises for the attendees this year. Don’t miss out! Big names for the third night include festival headliners, Widespread Panic, with a three-hour set time (possibly 2 sets?), a second Umphrey’s set, Del the Funky Homosapien (see this guy!!!), The Polish Ambassador (a Wookie Post fav), Papadosio, and if you wanna see the closest thing to live Daft Punk, you can check out Daft Phunk, which is Earphunk preforming live Daft Punk songs.
After these three full days, it’s hard to imagine what else the last day can hold, but don’t start packing up just yet. Going down to just four stages now, you have a pretty good lineup of Cherub, Griz, Rebelution, and then Felix Cartel, or check out TPA’s second set and see what kinda crazy beats he channels from space this time. No matter what name he’s under, Snoop Lion, Snoop Dogg, Snoop-a-loop, this man knows how to bring a party to the stage and the crowd. He’ll get the night time started off, followed by Gramatik, Amon Tobin, and none other than EOTO closing out the festival.
All in all, if you don’t have a good time at this festival than there might be something wrong with you. There’s nearly everything you could ask for in a lineup, and promises of new surprises that you know are going to be delivered upon. This is the 10th year of the festival, so they’ve been able to tweak it each year to make it a better for all the good people who have been supporting it. After doing this preview, I’m highly questioning my decision-making skills on not making it out there this year, but luckily we’ll have some Wookie Post correspondants there to keep us all updated.
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