Newport Folk

Rhino congratulates Joni Mitchell, who shortly after earning her 10th GRAMMY Award yesterday, made history with her first-ever performance on the GRAMMYs stage. The Rock & Rock Hall of Famer, Kennedy Center Honoree and Gershwin-prize winner, who recently celebrated her 80th birthday, dazzled the audience with a “powerful performance” (Pitchfork) of her timeless classic “Both Sides Now,” supported by an all-star cast of “Joni Jammers” including Brandi Carlile, Jacob Collier, Lucius, Blake Mills, Allison Russell, and SistaStrings.

Newport Folk Festival made a triumphant return to the fort this year, laden with curiosity and high anticipation. The buzz from last year's surprise performances by Paul Simon and Joni Jam carried over, setting the stage for another captivating experience. Adding further intrigue was this year's inclusion of Lana Del Rey, which pushed ticket prices on the controversial secondary market to unprecedented heights, primarily driven by her fan base.

Connecticut rock quintet Goose returned to Fort Adams, Rhode Island’s Newport Folk Festival for a memorable weekend of music that included a stellar full-band performance, alongside collaborations with an impressive pair of acclaimed artists. The band, now at the tail end of a massive summer tour that saw them captivate audiences at some of the largest festivals nationwide, delivered a spectacular performance highlighted by their first-ever performance with a member of The Muppets.

Joni Mitchell stunned the Newport Folk Festival audience last summer when she gave a surprise performance – her first in 20 years – delivering a heartfelt set filled with some of her greatest songs.

The Newport Folk Festival, one of the most highly-anticipated events of the summer music season, is set to return July 28-30th. Tickets go on sale to the public on February 1st, 2023 at 1:00 pm EST.

Gibson, the iconic American instrument brand, has partnered with Newport Festivals Foundation through its philanthropic arm Gibson Gives at this summer’s Newport Folk Festival to celebrate the music icon Sister Rosetta Tharpe and the 55th anniversary of her groundbreaking Newport Folk Festival performance on July 16, 1967.

These days, music festivals come and go, but some have stood the test of time, each year fostering bonds between fans and musicians, inspiring creativity, and building communities of fanatical and devoted attendees. Festival Circuit is a seasonal, narrative-style podcast about these festivals, with each season telling the story of a different, amazing music festival.

With just a few weeks until the gates open at the Newport Folk Festival, I find myself thinking about little else, at least musically. I go to a number of festivals and see a lot of shows, but it’s rare that a musical event can rob my attention well before it happens. It’s difficult to describe the festival to those who haven’t been; like anything magical, you really need to experience it for yourself to fully understand why it sells out instantly, without the fanfare of announcements and advertisements. In fact, the last ticket is sold long before the first artist is announced.

The revival of the venerable Newport Folk Festival continued with a very strong roster of artists this year that expanded once again the boundaries of what is “folk music.” Folk purists – the kind of people who booed Dylan when he went electric at the 1965 festival (this year was the 50th anniversary of that iconic set) – would probably have seen their heads explode if they caught My Morning Jacket’s surprise set on first night of this year’s gathering.

The Newport Folk Festival may not be a monster fest on the order of a Bonnaroo or a Coachella, but it has rejuvenated itself over the last half dozen years into a premier summer stop for a broad range of alternative, indie, country-rock and folk acts. Much of the rejuvenation has been the result of a conscious decision by festival organizers to loosen the definition of “folk” to include a much wider swath of bands – really anybody who could plausibly include an acoustic guitar at least somewhere in their set list.

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