Mavis Staples, Roger Waters, Jim James & More Aboard For Newport Folk Festival’s ‘Revival Weekend’

Organizers of the Newport Folk Festival will present the Newport Folk Revival Weekend of programming July 31 – August 2 — the same weekend the event was supposed to take place at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island before the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic led to a pause in live music. Mavis Staples, Deer Tick, Leon Bridges, Roger Waters & Lucius, Sharon Van Etten, Jim James and Brandi Carlile are among participating artists.

Newport Folk Revival Weekend will consist of “radio broadcasts from over 60 years of archived sets, webcast concerts, and a very special film to close the weekend.” Audio of archived sets will be broadcast throughout the weekend via WFUV, WMVY and WEXT. Tickets for the paid livestreams are available here.

Read a statement from Executive Producer Jay Sweet below:

In the history of this festival, there has never been a time like we’re in now. A global pandemic shuttering our plans to congregate before quickly shifting into the biggest civil rights movement in over 50 years. Many of our lives have drastically changed, financially, emotionally, and/or irrevocably. It has been painful for many of us, on the front lines fighting the pandemic, on the front lines fighting social injustice and especially for those losing loved ones along the way. While it was an emotional gut punch to cancel the festival in a year where it is so clearly needed, we felt it was imperative to our community to do something. Music has always brought our family together, even when we’re divided. The Newport stage has always been a sanctuary for artists to speak their minds on the times in front of us, not with merely one voice alone, but many in unison. This year’s Newport is no exception, collectively representing what it feels like to be human in today’s world by amplifying our convictions. For 2020 these voices will be our megaphone, these events our stage.

Three video livestream events have been announced thus far. A Deer Tick & Friends concert featuring special guests Leon Bridges, Sharon Van Etten, The Tallest Man On Earth, Robert Ellis and Courtney Marie Andrews will originate from an empty Fort Adams State Park. The concert film will premiere on Saturday, August 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT. Tickets are on sale now via Seated.

Mavis 80, a celebration of Mavis Staples’ 80th birthday filmed at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles on May 22, 2019 will premiere on Friday, July 31 at 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT. Carlile, Jason Isbell, Ben Harper, Phoebe Bridgers, M. Ward and Lucius are among the acts that participated. Tickets will go on sale via FANS.com.

Finally, Our Voices Together, a livestreamed special shot both at Fort Adams and remotely will premiere on YouTube Sunday, August 2 at 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT. Carlile, James, Roger Waters & Lucius, Isbell, Tom Morello, Our Native Daughters and Molly Tuttle are among performers.