Werk Out Music & Art Festival Preview
Aug 4-6, 2016, Legend Valley, Thornville, OH
Written by Carly Shields
For the first weekend in August, the legendary grounds that once hosted the Grateful Dead and All Good Music Festival will be home once again to The Werk Out. Curated and headlined by Ohio-based jamtronica band The Werks, the festival “brings awareness to musical styles that are the backbone of the vibrant music scene in the Midwest.” In its 7th year, and 4th year at Legend Valley in Thornville, OH, The Werk Out will also feature a handful of other hit jam scene headliners as well as strong up-and-comers to support during the days and super-groups to rage out the nights.
Lucky for us, the schedule was recently leaked to The Werkers Union (a fan page on Facebook), and each day is packed with music you will not want to miss. If you have a full festival pass, you can arrive at noon on Thursday, and we suggest you do as music starts at 4. Mister F is quickly becoming a festival staple, and with a brand new guitarist in his first few gigs with the band, this set is sure to entertain. Then the heavy hitters start with Dopapod, right into Turkuaz (is that a surprise Dopakuaz set I sense?), capped off by The Werks closing the Main Stage Thursday. Over in The Big Tent, funk ragers Lettuce kick off the late night jams, followed by Todd Stoops and the Werks own Rob Chafin’s side project Trakstar- aptly named since they both tend to don track suits regularly and equally aptly placed as Thursday’s theme is Track Suit Night.
Friday, Kung Fu opens the Main Stage at 2. Be sure to check out the Big Tent early as well, as two seriously on-the-rise bands go back to back in their sets as they have on their recent tours: CBDB and Backup Planet- two bands with distinctly different but complimentary sounds and styles. Between them on the main stage will be The Werks good friends Twiddle and festival favorites The Mantras play next. Thankfully, all the camping and vendors are close to the stages, so you don’t have to go far to catch everyone you want to see. STS9 headlines and it’s safe to expect an absolute blowout of a set that will have the bowl at Legend Valley bumping. The Werks open late night and their set goes right into a highly anticipated collaboration called Twerkapod- presumptively (and hopefully) featuring members of Twiddle, The Werks, and Dopapod. The possibility of the jams that could and will come out of this session are a little mind blowing, so be sure to stay up late to catch it.
Saturday is another big day for the festival, with bass-driven funk-noodlers ShwizZ starting it off followed closely by Ohio favorites Peridoni. Another swing state sensation, Brocooli Samurai opens the Main Stage before Matt Butler’s Everyone Orchestra jumps on for an entirely improvised set featuring a secret line-up of players at from bands at the fest. Big Something plays the side stage to lead right into Saturdays featured headliner Greensky Bluegrass. LITZ has a set on the side stage during GSBG that we would highly recommend checking out, before Twiddle and The Werks bring the main music bowl to a close for the weekend. At late night, you have an undoubtedly special set from The Motet to look forward to, as well as a Daft Punk tribute from Earphunk they’re brilliantly calling DaftPHUNK before Glostik Willy plays until everyone’s favorite time at a festival, ???.
Besides music, there will also be performance arts from such groups as The Amazing Giants and Propane Dancefloor, as well as live painters at the sets and Werkshops throughout the weekend.
Get your tickets here. VIP was previously sold out, but a limited amount were released last week, so snatch them up before they’re gone!
