If You’re Going to Newport Folk This Year, Don’t Miss Out On the Bike Stage
Every music festival has a way of bringing something different for attendees to experience. It could be an art installation of some sort, an array of unique vendors or even the location itself. When it comes to the Newport Folk Festival, it’s recently been the Bike Stage. This year’s edition happening from July 26–28 at Fort Adams marks the third consecutive year of this aspect being part of the historic and heralded event. An assortment of bands and musicians will be performing with their instruments and equipment being powered by electricity generated from people riding bikes, which are staying in place on the festival grounds. It guarantees an intimate experience for everyone involved due to the actual stage not being as elevated as the others.
The people who conceived the behind the Bike Stage are Jeff Gorman and Jake Cochran, who make up the Harrisonburg, Virginia based alt-rock duo Illiterate Light. Along with contributing to the communal love for live music that Newport Folk creates, they want people to embrace the consciously environmental theme behind it.
“Our hope is to bring people together for a shared experience that is more than entertainment,” Gorman mentions. “We want to awaken people, we want folks to feel their body and feel the music. We want to create electricity, and so we do. It’s easy to participate. Our schedule is listed on the Newport Folk Festival app and elsewhere. Simply come on over to the Bike Stage when you hear the music, jump on a bike and join the revolution.”
Illiterate Light are also going to be performing on the Bike Stage, and the same can be said for a bunch of other acts over the weekend. This includes Cambridge, Massachusetts singer-songwriter Alisa Amador, Katie Gavin from the Los Angeles indie pop act Muna (who are performing on the Quad Stage on the festival’s first day), Philadelphia rockers Mo Lowda & The Humble and a poetry reading from folk icon Joan Baez among others. There’s also going to be an open mic starting things off every morning from 10–11am.
“‘Special’ doesn’t even begin to describe Illiterate Light’s Bike Stage at Newport Folk,” Sasha London from the Virginia folk trio Palmyra, who are former performers, says about the stage. “Palmyra’s been lucky enough to play it, bike it, and coach the bikers through the set. There’s a palpable and electric excitement in the air — from the bikers to the listeners to the musicians to the solar panels and back to the bikers — there’s nothing else like it.”
Along with running and exhibiting their craft on the Bike Stage this weekend, Illiterate Light are going to be putting on a Newport Folk pre-party on July 25 at the Newport Blues Cafe located on 286 Thames Street starting at 8pm. Thao, who is formerly of Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, Liz Cooper from Liz Cooper & The Stampede and some special guests are going to be joining in on the fray while benefiting the Newport Festivals Foundation. If you have a ticket for that, then make sure you attend. If you have a ticket for this weekend’s Newport Folk Festival, then go check out what’s happening where the bikes are.
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