Newport Folk Festival
Conan Welcomes Old Friends, Hip-Hop Gives New Definition to Newport Folk Fest: Review + Photos
Killer Mike and De La Soul brought a new energy and Conan brought a ton of guests to the festival's 65th anniversary. Conan Brings Jack White Back, Hip-Hop Gives New Definition to Newport Folk Festival: Review + Photos Ben Kaye
Beck plays surprise set at Newport Folk Fest, covers Bob Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm”
The unannounced 10-song set paid tribute to the festival's musical roots. Beck Plays Surprise Set at Newport Folk Festival, Covers Bob Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm”: Watch Jo Vito
Joni Mitchell Plays Surprise Newport Folk Festival Set With Special Guests
Folk icon Joni Mitchell wowed the crowd at the Newport Folk Festival on Sunday (July 24) when the “Big Yellow Taxi” singer took the stage for her first full-length live set in more than 20 years. In her first appearance at the annual gathering since 1969, the reclusive Mitchell held court on a gilded chair for a 13-song set that included a parade of special guests paying tribute to the 78-year-old singer who has struggled with health issues and rarely appeared in public since suffering a brain aneurysm in 2015. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Rolling Stone reported that Mitchell was supported by a group that included newly solo singer Marcus Mumford, Brandi Carlile, Blake Mills, Lucius, Taylor Goldsmith, Wynonna and more as they pitched in on s...
Paul Simon Comes Out of Retirement to Play Surprise Set at Newport Folk Fest: Watch
Paul Simon made a surprise appearance at Newport Folk Festival on Saturday, sitting in with Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats for a set consisting entirely of Simon’s own songs. It marked Simon’s first-ever appearance at the storied festival, as well as a rare live performance for the veteran singer-songwriter, who previously announced his retirement from touring in 2018. With the backing of Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Simon first performed “Graceland.” He was then joined by Rhiannon Giddens to debut a new version of “American Tune,” featuring new lyrics penned by Simon. A performance of “The Boxer” followed, with Simon joined Lucius, Lukas Nelson, Natalie Merchant, Jerry Douglas, and others. Finally, he closed his set with “The Sound of Silence.” Prior to Simon taking the sta...
Joni Mitchell Takes the Stage for Rare Live Performance at Newport Folk Festival: Watch
Paul Simon wasn’t the only surprise guest at this weekend’s Newport Folk Festival. Joni Mitchell took the stage on Sunday for a rare live performance, joining Brandi Carlile to sing “A Case of You” and “Just Like This Train.” Mitchell has been largely retired from music since suffering a brain aneurysm in 2015. Earlier this year, she made a rare public appearance at the Grammy Awards, where she was honored as the 2022 MusiCares Person of the Year and received a trophy for Best Historical Album for her retrospective album, Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol 1: The Early Years (1963-1967). At Newport, Mitchell appropriately performed while sitting on a throne. In addition to Carlile, she was backed by a number of other musicians, including Marcus Mumford, Lucius, Blake Mills, Taylor Goldsmith, and ...
The Newport Folk Festival: So Much More Than Music
I was a pretty lost and reckless high school student back in the day, but I was lucky, too. I’d managed to get into the High School of Music & Art (one of nine specialized high schools in New York City where you have to pass a test to get in). I was a voice major, which for me meant singing tenor in chorus. And I wrote songs on the piano, which meant an elective composition class on Fridays and bringing a new song in every week. All of us who got into the school knew how lucky we were to be there, which could make us competitive, but also collegial and empathic. And because music was vital to any kid in any high school at that time—a school’s music curriculum would sometimes be their only motivation to go to school at all. My own experience in high school and later, majoring in music (...
R.I.P. George Wein, Legendary Newport Folk and Jazz Festival Producer, Dies at 95
George Wein, the legendary music festival producer behind the Newport Folk and Jazz festivals as well as the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, has died. He was 95 years old. Invited by socialites Louis and Elaine Lorillard to help bring a jazz festival to Newport, Rhode Island in 1954, Wein ended up setting the stage for the modern music festival revolution. “George Wein defined what a music festival could be with the Newport Jazz Festival, Newport Folk Festival and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival,” said LL Cool J while awarding Wein the Grammy Honorary Trustee Award in 2015. “This is a great guy. More than anyone, George set the stage for what great festivals today look like; festivals like Cocahella, Bonnaro… he made this possible…” When Wein launched the Newport Jazz Fe...
Sharon Van Etten, Jack Antonoff, Fred Armisen Join Beck Onstage at Newport Folk Festival: Watch
For being such a low-key event, Newport Folk Festival sure loves to jam as many star-studded cameos and surprises as possible into their schedule. The latest example of such went down on Tuesday when Beck was joined onstage by Sharon Van Etten, Jack Antonoff, and Fred Armisen for different songs. Because, you know, why not? Normally Newport Folk Festival takes place over the course of one weekend, but the 2021 edition of the event is operating a little differently. They divided their schedule up over two back-to-back three-day chunks, each with a completely unique lineup. To help mitigate COVID-19 risks, Newport organizers also limited the capacity to just 5,000 daily attendees. All of this helps set the scene for the magical reality of a cameo-filled set like the one Beck just p...
Newport Folk Fest Marks the Glorious Return of Festivals in US
Most major music festivals coming back in 2021 chose to give perspective attendees a fair amount of time to decide to get vaccinated while still keeping the events “summer.” Hence September is jammed with nearly sold-out fests, from Bonnaroo to BottleRock. But many are looking towards August’s Lollapalooza as the first real test of what a post-pandemic festival looks like, which isn’t entirely accurate. Over the weekend (July 23rd-25th), Newport Folk Festival returned for part one of its slimmed-down Folk On 2021 double-event — and there really is no better way to bring music festivals back. Typically on the smaller side of capacity limits anyway, Newport cut back to just 5,000 daily attendees to help mitigate COVID risks. They also broke up the schedule over two back-to-back three-day chu...
Newport Folk Festival Announces 2021 Tickets On-Sale Date, Details Two-Part Event
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-11T18:24:28+00:00“>May 11, 2021 | 2:24pm ET After taking last year off like every other major event in the country, Newport Folk Festival is ready to return in 2021. The long-running cultural cornerstone is set to take place over two consecutive three-day weekends, scheduled for July 23rd-25th and July 26th-28th, each of which will feature a unique lineup. Tickets for Newport Folk historically sell out well before a single artist is even announced, and even split across two separate festivals, that’s likely to happen again. Each three-day event will be held at a 50% capacity reduction — essentially meaning the same number of tickets will be sold overall, only Fort Adams State Par...
John Prine’s Newport Folk Festival Set With Margo Price, Roger Waters, Jim James, Justin Vernon and More Coming to Vinyl
It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year since legendary singer-songwriter John Prine died from COVID complications. But the singer-songwriter continues to get the accolades he deserves, not only by winning two Grammys last week, but also having one of his most memorable shows set to be released. Prine’s set at the 2017 Newport Folk Festival was easily one of the highlights of the weekend. Justin Vernon, Jim James, Margo Price, Nathaniel Rateliff, Lucius, and ex-Pink Floyd member Roger Waters all joined the singer-songwriter on stage that weekend. Now, you can get it on vinyl. <!– // Brid Player Singles. var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ “div”: “Brid_10143537”, “obj”: {“id”:”25115″,”width”:”480″...
John Prine and Friends Live at Newport Folk Festival 2017 Vinyl Announced
John Prine’s headlining set at the 2017 Newport Folk Festival is receiving a special vinyl release. Full of whit and grace, Prine’s set at the 2017 Newport Folk Fest was a guest-heavy affair. Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon (making his first appearance at the Fest with the Bill Withers tribute Grandma’s Hands Band) came out for “Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)”, followed by My Morning Jacket’s Jim James on “All the Best”, Margo Price for the duet “In Spite of Ourselves”, and Nathaniel Rateliff on “Sam Stone”. The biggest surprise of all, however, was when Roger Waters and Lucius appeared for “Hello in There”. Waters, who had headlined the fest two years prior, was in the middle of his “Us + Them Tour”, but he and his collaborators flew in from the Midwest to sing with Prine on “Hello in There”. ...
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