Luna Light Music and Arts Festival 2016 Camp Ramblewood
Darlington, MD 10/13-16
Luna Light Music and Arts Festival happens every year under the waxing gibbous moon and is timed to finish up under the full moon of October. There is much to be said about the effects of the moon on the tides and how they turn, and even more to say about the effects of the full moon on the creatures of the earth. From what I saw in my travels at Luna these effects were nothing but good ones which came with friendly, helpful, and hospitable vibes all throughout the festival grounds. In the air was a very 'howdy neighbor' feel and as a small festival comprised of mostly Philly, New York, and Boston area bands you'd have been certain to run into someone you know, or a band you know. As small of a festival it may be, it proves to have humongous heart and passion with a reputation that now carries with it a growing list of ace musicians that I'm sure will be eager to return to Luna 2017 and on.
Having spent four nights and three days on site at Camp Ramblewood I found it to have a 'cozy' feel for festival grounds which were finely manicured and tuned each day for a different feel on the grounds, to break the monotony of festival 'visuals'...and that's just what Luna Light did. After day 2 at Luna I came to realize just how many people were involved in this and I was lucky to meet several people from each team that helped make Luna Light Festival what it is today and what it will be in the future. Facilities, production, media, hospitality, parking crew, check-in crew , stage crew, video production crew, you name it...each of these teams of hard working groups of people at Luna do these jobs and help out for a reason: the love of music and the love of community.
Having spent four nights and three days on site at Camp Ramblewood I found it to have a 'cozy' feel for festival grounds which were finely manicured and tuned each day for a different feel on the grounds, to break the monotony of festival 'visuals'...and that's just what Luna Light did. After day 2 at Luna I came to realize just how many people were involved in this and I was lucky to meet several people from each team that helped make Luna Light Festival what it is today and what it will be in the future. Facilities, production, media, hospitality, parking crew, check-in crew , stage crew, video production crew, you name it...each of these teams of hard working groups of people at Luna do these jobs and help out for a reason: the love of music and the love of community.
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The lineup this year raised eyebrows and it should have, with names like Joe Russo, Tom Hamilton and Marco Benevento from Joe Russo's Almost Dead. John Medeski and Billy Martin of Medeski Martin & Wood joined the festival this year and played their long awaited set under the main pavilion with Joe Russo and Marco. The two duos together under the same roof? Was this really happening? All that was missing was Dave Dreiwitz(Ween) and Chris Wood of course to complete the two super groups. Chris unfortunately was admitted to the hospital recently for complications to an old wound received as a child but is recovering well, sources say. His illness resulted in Medeski, Martin & Wood to cancel several upcoming shows but right now John Medeski seems to be back on the road, that's for sure...hitting dates in New York and playing with Billy Martin joining Nels Cline along with Chris Lightcap, Steven Bernstein and Julian Lage at (le) poisson rouge in NYC.
If you've taken a look at the rest of this year's lineup at Luna Light you would see that it is a very jamtronica / rocktronica/electo-rock focused festival sprinkled with live DJs and producers like Tipper, OTT, and Random Rab delivering beats throughout the campus stages. When you add electricity to jam bands (mainly the use of synthesizers) the pace of the music changes and favors rapidity, which is a fancy way of saying it makes you want to dance. Luna Bands like Dopapod, Electron, The New Deal, Teddy Midnight, Space Bacon, Lespecial, Flux Capacitor, Muscle Tough, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Ichisan, Tweed, Humandala, Pink Talking Fish, CIA, Manifested and Grimace Federation each had their own specific flavor of jams or electro-rock that always seems to have a pep in the step, yet can get spacey and ambient. All of these bands comprised of young well-to-do gents from the area brought lots of support for their acts which helped keep a friendly comfortable vibe for some of the younger/newer acts. One thing is for sure, you can count on Luna Light Festival to impress once again next year because, folks...it only gets better. Check out the slideshow below of photos from the festival.
If you've taken a look at the rest of this year's lineup at Luna Light you would see that it is a very jamtronica / rocktronica/electo-rock focused festival sprinkled with live DJs and producers like Tipper, OTT, and Random Rab delivering beats throughout the campus stages. When you add electricity to jam bands (mainly the use of synthesizers) the pace of the music changes and favors rapidity, which is a fancy way of saying it makes you want to dance. Luna Bands like Dopapod, Electron, The New Deal, Teddy Midnight, Space Bacon, Lespecial, Flux Capacitor, Muscle Tough, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Ichisan, Tweed, Humandala, Pink Talking Fish, CIA, Manifested and Grimace Federation each had their own specific flavor of jams or electro-rock that always seems to have a pep in the step, yet can get spacey and ambient. All of these bands comprised of young well-to-do gents from the area brought lots of support for their acts which helped keep a friendly comfortable vibe for some of the younger/newer acts. One thing is for sure, you can count on Luna Light Festival to impress once again next year because, folks...it only gets better. Check out the slideshow below of photos from the festival.
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Tweed
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Space Bacon
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Manifested
