Lockn’ To Return As Three ‘Mini Fests’ Topped By Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Tedeschi Trucks, Goose In August

Courtesy of Lockn’ – Lockn’ Loaded
Lockn’ will return to Arrington, Va., as three “mini fests” this August.

Lockn’, the jam-oriented Virginia festival that has run since 2013, announced a modified format for its 2021 edition.

The event will return to Lockn’ Farm – previously known as Infinity Downs Farm – as a three-weekend concert series in August, with different lineups for each.

Festivities will kick off Aug. 13-15, when Joe Russo’s Almost Dead will perform six sets over three nights, joined by Boston rock trio The Slip each night. John Medeski and Billy Martin will stage late-night improv sessions.

The following weekend, rising jam band Goose – among the artists documented in Pollstar‘s June 2020 cover story about 11E1even Management – will present FRED The Festival, where they will headline a bill also featuring Dr. Dog, Hiss Golden Messenger, Cory Wong, Grateful Shred and Sammy Rae & The Friends. The weekend will also feature Dawes performing Black Sabbath’s Paranoid in full, a performance by the reunited Vasudo, an aGOOSEtic trio performance and late-night jamming by Ben Atkind’s Elephant Proof.

Courtesy Lockn’ – Farm Fresh
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Goose and Tedeschi Trucks will top 2021 events at Lockn’ Farm.

For the third and final 2021 Lockn’ event, Tedeschi Trucks will top a bill rounded out by Jon Batiste, The Marcus King Band, Lettuce and Gabe Dixon Band.

Tickets and camping options for all three weekends are available now.

In addition to music, Lockn’ offers activities including the Farm Color Olympics, open jam sessions, a disc golf course, morning yoga and an outdoor arcade.

The event will feature reduced capacities and follow CDC guidelines, according to a press release. Fans who had yet to seek a refund for 2020’s postponed then canceled edition will be automatically refunded.

“Lockn’, the music festival, has had an amazing run, with hundreds of thousands of fans witnessing countless epic performances and collaborations by hundreds of legendary artists,” said Lockn’ founder and Dayglo Presents’ Peter Shapiro in a statement. “Given the realities of COVID-19 and the world we now live in, it feels like the right moment to do something new and a bit more intimate, while keeping the best of what the four-day festival has offered since 2013. This August, Lockn’ will become a weekly destination — Lockn’ Farm — a place with a history of good vibes and magic, and instead of hosting a single annual festival we will sprinkle the Lockn’ spirit across multiple music and camping weekends. Positive things often emerge out of challenging times, and Lockn’s evolution from a single-weekend festival to a place where bands can host their own special events is going to be one of them.”

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Lockn’ was to take place in June 2020 as a celebration of Phil Lesh’s 80th birthday, with three headlining sets by the Grateful Dead co-founder and a bill also including Brandi Carlile, David Crosby, Leon Bridges, Gov’t Mule, Goose, Yola, Black Pumas and several others.

The event was postponed to October 2020, then eventually canceled and replaced by three livestreams from the Lockn’ site by Joe Russo’s Almost Dead. When those streams were announced in August 2020, Lockn’ also revealed plans to take place Oct. 1-3, 2021.

“It never really broke right,” Shapiro told Pollstar at the time.

But, in a comment that’s telling in retrospect, Shapiro noted, “We have the land, so we have that flexibility” to adapt.

In fact, Shapiro has long teased the idea of using Lockn’ Farm, the property in Arrington, Va., that Lockn’ purchased outright in 2014, for events other than Lockn’ proper.

“Hopefully, in the future, we can create a setting that can be used by other bands, without the full overhead of having to go in and set up from zero,” Shapiro told Pollstar in a 2019 cover story about Lockn’. “You have to keep pushing it forward and not be like, ‘Oh, we got to the place we wanted it to be.’ There are some ideas that we want to do that I don’t think really fully exist out there!”

Lockn’ was most recently held in August 2019, when its lineup was topped by Bob Weir & Wolf Bros, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Trey Anastasio Band and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead. Anastasio sat in with Tedeschi Trucks for a full-album cover of Derek and The Dominos classic 1970 album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, which will be released as Layla Revisited (Live at Lockn’) on July 16.

Shapiro will speak at Pollstar Live! 2021, set for June 15-17.