Green River Festival Preview

In it's 28th year, the Green River Festival is one of the best kept secrets in the New England concert scene. It doesn't have the name recognition of Lollapalooza or the Newport Folk Festival, but that fits Green River just fine. Western MA has long had a mysteriously great live music scene, combining national touring bands with a small town feel. The Green River Festival has long been the centerpiece of the scene.

This year will be no exception, and might just be the best line up Green River has seen yet. Saturday features Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Lucius, Puss n Boots (featuring Norah Jones), The Lone Bellow, Poor Old Shine, Grant-Lee Phillips, and more. Sunday is just ridiculous, with Josh Ritter & Royal City Band, Trampled By Turtles, Hurray for the Riff Raff, multi-national rapper Ana Tijoux, Lady Lamb the Beekeeper (and you all know how I feel about her), The Deadly Gentlemen, and more. 

Plus, there's the added extra of hot air balloons. You can ride, or watch, hot air balloons while listening to amazing music. It's also unbelievably family friendly, with music and circus acts just for kids. Also, kids under 10 are free, which is pretty much unheard of nowadays.

The Green River Festival takes place July 12 and 13 on the campus of Greenfield Community College. For more information, check out their website, and you can buy tickets and parking passes here.