Taking place April 17-19, the annual Green Apple Music Festival is self-described as America’s largest Earth Day celebration, aka a epic musical extravaganza spanning ten cities. Featuring acts like Galactic, Cracker, and Soulive, the fifth annual Green Apple will bring environmentally conscious music to Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC for one green, and free day.
That’s right, the Green Apple Festivals will be open to the public at no cost. The catch? Participants have to volunteer at some point between April 17-18 in some pro-environment activity. Upon doing so, they will be offered a free ticket to a thank-you concert in their respective city, a “thank you for your time” kind of thing, only 100,000 times better!
Sound like your kind of then? – who wouldn’t like to make the world a better place and catch great music? Then, head on over to greenapplefestival.com and get volunteering!
Performers by city:
Atlanta: Galactic & Friends, the New Orleans-based funk/jazz quintet, will be playing Atlanta’s Variety Playhouse. Having just returned from Europe, the band has a busy summer ahead; you can catch them at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest, Bonnaroo, BamaJam, and Wakarusa. Watch out for Wakarusa: Tickets are jumping up another price level today.
Austin: Grammy winner Travis Tritt will be performing at Austin’s live music landmark, Antone’s Nightclub. Tritt has received multiple awards from the Country Music Association, and is a member of the Grand Ole Opry – but is much more diverse than that makes him seem: He has also performed with the Disco Biscuits at the 2005 Jammys, and appeared in the movie Blues Brothers 2000.
Boston: The legendary Paradise Rock Club, opened in 1977, will be hosting Woodstock, NY-based trio Soulive. Having just celebrated their ten-year anniversary, the group is scheduled to release their next album, Up Here, in April on their own label, Royal Family Records.
Chicago: Described as “one of modern rock’s most enduring bands”, Cracker & Friends is performing at Chicago venue The Metro. The band’s next album, Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey, is scheduled for release in May.
Denver: The best funk band from New Orleans right now, according to the New York Times, is coming to Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom. Dumpstaphunk, the quartet straight out of New Orleans, is undoubtedly going to be bringing some dirty grooves to Denver. Watch out.
Los Angeles: LA natives Cary Brothers & Friends will be bringing it at The Roxy Theatre. Having been around for 35 years, it seems like The Roxy only gets better. The Cary Brothers have racked up 1.5 million plays on MySpace, and will probably take that number even higher after the spectacular Earth Day performance they’re expected to give.
New York: Eight-piece group Deep Banana Blackout, stars in the underground jazz/funk scene, will be raging with trumbonist Fred Welsey at famed venue The Bowery Ballroom. Check them at this summer’s Gathering of the Vibes.
San Francisco: Arguably one of today’s best and most well-known DJs, Bassnectar & Friends will be throwing down at Slim’s. His San Francisco cult-like following may get San Francisco the most volunteers of the ten cities.
Seattle: A solid example of Northwest hip-hop, Blue Scholars will be performing at The Croc. The duo have performed alongside Kanye West, De La Soul, and Matisyahu, and are sure to be outstanding.
We’re still waiting on Washington, DC‘s lineup, typically the biggest celebration out of the ten.