BERLIN– Saturday’s Ocean98 Mayday Playday Music Festival looks to be virtually overflowing with live music, with 14 different bands playing in an eight-hour time span.
Boulder, Colo. singer/songwriter Rob Drabkin will make his first trip to the east coast, playing a solo acoustic set at 3 p.m. Ocean98 was the first radio station in the area to play Drabkin’s latest album, “Little Steps.”
“A good number of east coast stations have been playing it, but they were the first,” said Drabkin. “We decided we needed to go out and go on tour with (the album) and the east coast is the first place we wanted to hit. The timing worked out perfectly for us to come to Maryland.”
Drabkin’s 2012 “Live at the Bluebird Theater 1.19.12” saw the performer cover Paul Simon’s Grammy-winning album “Graceland” live in its entirety.
“I love live albums,” he said. “There’s just an honesty to it that speaks for itself. That moment in time is captured and there are no overdubs and there’s no going back and fixing it. I’m intrigued by that element of it – that’s about as honest of a representation of a band as you can get.”
On his current solo tour Drabkin will be hitting radio stations like Ocean98 heavily.
“There’s a number of club shows, but there’s probably twice as many radio stations,” he said. “I think there are two or three days when I’m in one city in the morning and them I’m in a different city in the afternoon.
“I will definitely be a lot of me playing the stripped-down version of the single,” Drabkin continued. “I always liked hearing stripped-down acoustic versions of songs. For the fest in Maryland it will just be me bringing as much energy as I can into that acoustic.”
Pittsburgh-based 28 North are no strangers to playing on the Eastern Shore. In April the rock quartet played at Fager’s Island and made an appearance on Ocean98’s Live Lixx program.
“I’m expecting a great set and expecting the band to play its best,” said singer/guitarist Michael Lindner. “If this tour is any indication it should be an incredible night. We headlined down in the Alabama gulf shores and we played an hour and a half past curfew, and we brought 15 different girls on stage to dance with us. It was an incredible night – an outdoor place like that where you can see the water and all kinds of people. I’m expecting Mayday Playday to be great and I’m expecting it to be a big turnout.”
28 North is scheduled to play at 5:40 p.m. during Mayday Playday. Although the band’s last album, “World on Fire,” was released on Tuesday, April 29, Lindner said the band will draw just as much from its back catalogue as it will from the newer material.
“A lot of the early stuff if very danceable and it works really well in an outdoor setting such as this,” he said. “The club dates have their perks, but the fun thing about festivals is that they’re usually outside, which is always a special thing. These music festivals usually attract music lovers whereas a bar sometimes attracts alcohol lovers, so the festivals are a great audience for us. We’re a band and we want people there who want to listen to music because we’re there to make the music.”
Ocean City-based Eastern Electric Co. scored a primetime slot during Mayday Playday. The roots rock band, who released their sophomore album “Working Title” in 2013, will play at 7 p.m.
“We’re centered around a couple of really good national bands and it will be nice just to play,” said singer/guitarist Nate Clendenen. “We’ll be doing some tunes from the new album and we actually have some even newer material that we worked in, so we’ll do a couple of those. It’s going to be a good day for music on the Eastern Shore.”
Clendenen, who also plays solo acoustic shows in the area as well as with local bluegrass stalwarts Saltwater Stringband, is a Mayday Playday veteran.
“It’s going to be awesome,” he said. “I think I might be the only person that’s played at every single Mayday Playday and this one is certain going to be the biggest and best yet. I’m super stoked to be included.”
For more information visit www.ocean98.com/mayday-playday-music-festival-5k.
Boulder, Colo. singer/songwriter Rob Drabkin will make his first trip to the east coast, playing a solo acoustic set at 3 p.m. Ocean98 was the first radio station in the area to play Drabkin’s latest album, “Little Steps.”
“A good number of east coast stations have been playing it, but they were the first,” said Drabkin. “We decided we needed to go out and go on tour with (the album) and the east coast is the first place we wanted to hit. The timing worked out perfectly for us to come to Maryland.”
Drabkin’s 2012 “Live at the Bluebird Theater 1.19.12” saw the performer cover Paul Simon’s Grammy-winning album “Graceland” live in its entirety.
“I love live albums,” he said. “There’s just an honesty to it that speaks for itself. That moment in time is captured and there are no overdubs and there’s no going back and fixing it. I’m intrigued by that element of it – that’s about as honest of a representation of a band as you can get.”
On his current solo tour Drabkin will be hitting radio stations like Ocean98 heavily.
“There’s a number of club shows, but there’s probably twice as many radio stations,” he said. “I think there are two or three days when I’m in one city in the morning and them I’m in a different city in the afternoon.
“I will definitely be a lot of me playing the stripped-down version of the single,” Drabkin continued. “I always liked hearing stripped-down acoustic versions of songs. For the fest in Maryland it will just be me bringing as much energy as I can into that acoustic.”
Pittsburgh-based 28 North are no strangers to playing on the Eastern Shore. In April the rock quartet played at Fager’s Island and made an appearance on Ocean98’s Live Lixx program.
“I’m expecting a great set and expecting the band to play its best,” said singer/guitarist Michael Lindner. “If this tour is any indication it should be an incredible night. We headlined down in the Alabama gulf shores and we played an hour and a half past curfew, and we brought 15 different girls on stage to dance with us. It was an incredible night – an outdoor place like that where you can see the water and all kinds of people. I’m expecting Mayday Playday to be great and I’m expecting it to be a big turnout.”
28 North is scheduled to play at 5:40 p.m. during Mayday Playday. Although the band’s last album, “World on Fire,” was released on Tuesday, April 29, Lindner said the band will draw just as much from its back catalogue as it will from the newer material.
“A lot of the early stuff if very danceable and it works really well in an outdoor setting such as this,” he said. “The club dates have their perks, but the fun thing about festivals is that they’re usually outside, which is always a special thing. These music festivals usually attract music lovers whereas a bar sometimes attracts alcohol lovers, so the festivals are a great audience for us. We’re a band and we want people there who want to listen to music because we’re there to make the music.”
Ocean City-based Eastern Electric Co. scored a primetime slot during Mayday Playday. The roots rock band, who released their sophomore album “Working Title” in 2013, will play at 7 p.m.
“We’re centered around a couple of really good national bands and it will be nice just to play,” said singer/guitarist Nate Clendenen. “We’ll be doing some tunes from the new album and we actually have some even newer material that we worked in, so we’ll do a couple of those. It’s going to be a good day for music on the Eastern Shore.”
Clendenen, who also plays solo acoustic shows in the area as well as with local bluegrass stalwarts Saltwater Stringband, is a Mayday Playday veteran.
“It’s going to be awesome,” he said. “I think I might be the only person that’s played at every single Mayday Playday and this one is certain going to be the biggest and best yet. I’m super stoked to be included.”
For more information visit www.ocean98.com/mayday-playday-music-festival-5k.