Bluesfest continues to expand 2013 lineup
Jimmy Eat World, The Waterboys, Watsky on the list
As the calendar ticks towards April, the organizers of Bluesfest continue to announce new acts from across musical genres, adding to what is looking like a very exciting lineup this July.
The most significant addition could be a performance by the Waterboys, British-based Celtic folk rock band. They will appear on stage July 12 and are a part of mini-British/ United Kingson invasion of the festival this July. The Waterboys, founded by the powerful singer/songwriter Mike Scott in 1983, join Belle and Sebastian, The Joy Formidable and several other Brit-sound bands at LeBreton Flats. They have influenced bands such as Simple Minds, Big Country and the Hothouse Flowers.
Jimmy Eat World will play July 4. This group is from Arizona originally and are known for their power punk pop sound. They are touring a new album called Invented.
The rapper Watsky, fresh from a successful South by Southwest fest in Texas, is also joining the lineup on July 7. George Watsky is a writer and performer from San Francisco who won the Brave New Voices National Poetry Slam in 2006. He released a self-titled debut in 2010, which reached No. 7 on the iTunes hip-hop charts. His latest is called Cardboard Castles. The Boston Herald described him thus: “Watsky offers the clean-cut Gen-Y angst of Michael Cera channelled through the rapid-fire flow of the poetry-slam star that he is.”
Watsky has performed at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, the NAACP Image Awards on FOX, three times at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and has been featured in XXL, Billboard Magazine, and The New York Times Magazine.
Organizers have also confirmed The Specials (July 8). This British band is credited with sparking the British ska revival craze.
Interestingly in all the discussion about the mix of music at this year’s festival, organizers are now at great pains to point out that electronica remains a fully fledged component.
For example, earlier this week the Citizen confirmed that Dog Blood, a project formed in 2012 by Skrillex and Boys Noize, will be on stage July 14. Their debut single, Next Order/ Middle Finger, was released last year on Beatport and iTunes. The song Next Order was No. 1 on Beatport’s top-10 Techno song list. The festival is drawing attention to, in a release on Friday, other “cutting-edge” acts such as RL Grime; Bondax; Dzeko&Torres; Keys N Krates on the EDM menu.
Other names being added to the list: Dan Deacon, The Record Company, blues trio Trampled Under Foot and two blues guitarists — Steve Hill and Steve Strongman.
“As a practical matter, in terms of the programming timeline, we’re always working toward fine-tuning the lineup following the initial announcement,” says Bluesfest CEO Mark Monahan in a media release. “From a fan perspective, it’s become something our patrons seem to look forward to with interest. The added buzz began early this year, when we were able to confirm Björk, hours after our initial launch. These more recent additions will round out the lineup nicely.”
The final list of performers with time and stages is expected by the end of April. Still to come is the name of the opening night headliner.