Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
Check out my quick video preview of some of the artists that you can see today for FREE down in Golden Gate Park as part of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Why am I not there and publishing this now, you ask?! There may have been a flask involved in yesterday’s preceedings…
Here’s my quick thoughts from day one and read on for a bunch of videos from the amazing talent on the lineup from day two… >>>
Yesterday was a fantastic day down in Golden Gate Park for the first official day at the 2011 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, and I got to take in a ton of music that I hadn’t ever seen before while enjoying a sunny day in the park. All for FREE. Side note: I love living in San Francisco.
My musical day started off with a run by the Banjo Stage for a quick gander at the David Bromberg Quartet before meeting with friends at the Rooster Stage to see Woods. This band absolutely blue me away. READ MORE
The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival has announced its 2011 lineup, featuring HSB mainstays like Bela Fleck, Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, and Robert Plant, alongside less bluegrass-ey artists like Bright Eyes, Broken Social Scene, Buckethead, Fitz & the Tantrums, Kurt Vile & the Violators, and MC Hammer (no, seriously; he’s running the annual children’s program). The three-day music festival is FREE and will take place September 30th through October 2nd in Golden Gate Park (at the Speedway Meadow).
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival 2011 Lineup: READ MORE
The schedule for this year’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass was just posted in anticipation of this weekend’s three-day free music festival in Golden Gate Park. It still blows me away that something this big can be free. I’m probably most excited about the lineup on Sunday with Umphrey’s McGee, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and Keller & the Keels. You can download the schedule PDF here. Who’s going?!
The daily lineups for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass were just released. The stage hour-by-hour schedule gets released the week of the festival, which matters most to any of the fans that need to hop on a train to get over to Berkeley to see Arcade Fire at the Greek Theatre. I’ll be hoping to catch Sharon Jones on Sunday, for example, but she better play early in the day or I’ll totally miss it.
While we were rushing out the door every morning this weekend to catch the three-night run of Phish at the Greek Theatre and as we look ahead to this weekend’s Outside Lands music festival, there was a festival announcement for one of the best musical events I’ve had the pleasure to attend. I’m talking about Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, a free music festival that is donated to the city by a wealthy, venture capitlist featuring some of the hottest lineups you’d ever see on a fest on the West Coast. This year, anyone that wants to make a trek to Golden Gate Park the weekend of October 1st will be treated to music from Umphrey’s McGee, Elvis Costello, Railroad Earth, Bonnie Prince Billy, Jackie Greene, Conor Oberst, Trombone Shorty and so much more. Completely epic.
Read on for the full lineup so far and we’ll keep you posted as it approaches if we see any more talent added to the bill. There’s so much on there already. We’ll definitely be rocking this festival and hope to have our video crew out in full force like we were at High Sierra. READ MORE
I went down there on Saturday and caught me some Dr. Dog, then Billy Bragg, then Galactic, and finally Neko Case to finish off my day. I had a great sunburn when I got home, too.
