Eight Artists You Need To See At Okeechobee Music Festival

Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival is a massive event celebrating the start of spring with a great music lineup, art installations, yoga and meditation events, great food choices, and even a sandy beach. The second edition of the festival is returning soon,Thursday, March 2nd through Sunday, March 5th at Okeechobee, Florida’s beautiful Sunshine Grove, located on over 600 acres of pristine grasslands, clear lakes, and exotic tropical woodlands. With such a diverse lineup, you are probably wondering who to see aside from the headliners, so we've got you covered!

Nightmares on Wax

George Evelyn, better known by his stage name Nightmares on Wax or DJ E.A.S.E., is a DJ and electronic music composer from Leeds, England. It is no exaggeration to say that Nightmares on Wax’s work is synonymous with a place in time. It is a place individual to those who have savoured his popular brand of sun-drenched dubbed out soul, where fragments of hazy memories, halcyon days and past snapshots encapsulate a generation’s sofa.

Jacob Collier

Jacob Collier is a 21-year-old, London-born singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist of prodigious talent who has been hailed by the press as “The Future of Music” (as Jazzwise magazine put it), thanks to his sheer virtuosity, keen musical intelligence, and penchant for technological innovation that is borne out in every project he undertakes. His YouTube covers, in which he reimagines everything from Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing,” to George Gershwin’s “Fascinating Rhythm,” are a marvel of creativity, with split screens displaying multiple incarnations of Collier singing multi-part vocal harmonies. His live show is even more ambitious. He simulates a digital one-man band using custom equipment built by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate student, including a “vocal harmonizer” that allows Collier to sing 12-part vocal harmonies and a series of looping stations for various instruments, plus a video element with 3D cameras that enable him to interact with multiple versions of his image projected onto a screen.

Lewis Del Mar

Lewis Del Mar is a duo from Rockaway Beach in Queens, NY. The project is two lifelong friends, Danny Miller and Max Harwood, who have crafted a sound as challenging as it is comforting. Lewis Del Mar's sonic hybrid blends barefaced bedroom recordings of acoustic guitars and soulful vocals over a rich soundscape of complex live and sampled percussion. 

George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic

he style of music known as P Funk and performed under the names Parliament and Funkadelic (two bands comprised of the same members, recording for different labels), but also in a score of offshoot groups and solo ventures. Recording under a myriad of names, this group had thirteen Top Ten hits in the U.S. R&B music charts between 1967 and 1983, including six number one hits in the R&B Charts. They were elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

Collectively, the group has existed under various names since the 1960s and has been known for top-notch musicianship, politically-charged lyrics, outlandish concept albums, and memorable live performances.

Powow!

PoWoW!, a  one-time-only live collaborative concert under the stars at Sunshine Grove. The 2017 PoWow! will take place on Saturday, March 4at the Here Stage from  10:15 p.m. – 11:30 p.m. and will feature legendary singer-songwriter-composer and keyboardist Michael McDonald, R&B crooner Gallant, DJ and electronic producer GRiZ, funk outfit Vulfpeck, Eric Krasno (Lettuce/Soulive), American R&B singer Antwaun Stanley, the horn section of instrumental jazz group Snarky Puppy and many more special guests. The PoWow! will focus largely on special reinterpretations of beloved classic songs woven together with modern music by this incredible live band. The goal of the PoWow! is for artists and audience to share a transcendent experience of connection and shared energy as these stars align at Okeechobee. 

The Growlers

ased out of the Orange County city of Costa Mesa, West Coast garage rockers the Growlers evoke the psych pop sound of 1960s California with their signature blend of reverb-laden surf rock, country-folk, and classic rock. 

Cold War Kids

Embracing influences as diverse as Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, Jeff Buckley, and the Velvet Underground, Cold War Kids grew from blog darlings into a band with a contemporary yet classic sound. They are particularly known for striking live performances. 

Sleigh Bells

Combining sugary hooks with a loud, rhythmic crunch, Sleigh Bells' experimental pop is the project of songwriter/producer Derek Miller and vocalist Alexis Krauss. You can't miss these guys and chances are, you probably know a lot of their songs.