Funk Fest 8 Set to Rock Punta Gorda. Schedule? Yes, Please!
The Funk Fest schedule is here! The Funk Fest schedule is here!
We are less than two weeks away from Funk Fest 8 in Punta Gorda FL: Friday and Saturday, March 3rd and 4th. There are 18 performances on two side-by-side stages, which means you don’t have to miss a single note! You can read much more about the bands and performers in our earlier preview of this — well, there’s no better way to describe it than — Funk Fest!
FRIDAY
Music opens at 3:30 with Walker Lukens from Austin, followed by Cape Coral’s Soulixer (4:30). Voodoo Visionary (Atlanta) has just released a superb second album, Off the Ground, and they’ll keep everyone dancing with their “improvisational funk and dance grooves” (5:30).
Outrageous Asheville funk will be delivered by The Fritz (6:30), with Clearwater’s The Black Honkeys (7:30) continuing the soulful dance party. The Greg Billings Band then will remind us that it is time to ROCK! Just like they’ve been doing for 35 years! (8:30)
The evening’s headliners are The Motet, one badass sextet from Denver. These gentlemen just killed it on Jam Cruise and are now taking aim at Punta Gorda. This is some of the funkiest music you’ve ever heard, with plenty of Afrobeat, jazz and rock in the mix as well (8:30).
And NYC’s Black Taxi plans to tear down whatever is left of the stage with their “late” set — at 10:30.
SATURDAY
Early start Saturday as a neat collective is up first at 1:30: Das Funk Haus. Voodoo Visionary is back for round two at 2:30. Then, one of New Orleans’ very best new jazz bands takes the stage in the form of Naughty Professor (3:30); this sextet is amazing!
Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad plays their first of two sets at 4:30 (and they will shut the festival down with another at 11:30). Their psychedelic dub swirl will pull you in. Tim Reynolds and TR3 are up at 5:30 to show you what a power rock funk trio really sounds like.
Big Sam’s Funky Nation (6:30) is truth in advertising. Big Sam was formerly with Dirty Dozen Brass Band but has fronted his own band for a decade, and he is one of the best dancers ever! And if you like wrap music, then Here Come the Mummies will certainly garner your wrapt attention with delicious double-entendre funk music (7:30).
The Motet (8:45) returns for another incredible set featuring Lyle Divinisky, a dynamic front man, vocalist and dancer. These guys are monsters. And nobody — nobody — taller in the funk than Joey Porter on keyboards.
And then it’s time to PUT IT IN THE DUMPSTA! Dumpstaphunk is at the very heart of New Orleans funk and R&B, with Ivan and Ian Neville, Tony Hall and Nick Daniels, and Alvin Ford, Jr. We are sure to hear their powerful new anthem “Justice” and plenty more. Who says a funk band can’t play rock? (10:00)
MusicFestNews will see you at Funk Fest 8. You can find much more information here: