The second round of announcements for Nelsonville Music Festival include The Flaming Lips, Lucero and five other bands.
In 2011, The Flaming Lips played for a large crowd at the Nelsonville Music Festival, eliciting excitement despite pouring rain and muddy conditions.
Now they’ve planned to travel to Nelsonville again for the 11th year of the festival, which is set to take place at the end of May.
The band is among the bands announced in the latest line up updates for this year’s event. Six other acts were also announced, including the Tennessee trio Oblivians, Grammy-nominated folk musician Greg Brown, violinist Sarah Neufeld, Southern-rock band Natural Child and Dayton band Good English.
Last year’s festival drew a crowd of about 7,000 and included performances from Dinosaur Jr. and The Avett Brothers, said Brian Koscho, marketing director of Stuart’s Opera House. More acts from different genres will continue to be announced and the festival usually has around 50 acts total, he said.
“We know year to year that we often hear from a lot of our fans that they fell in love with a certain band a couple years back and they’d love to see them again,” Koscho said. “Our big thing is we want to make the festival different, unique and exciting. It has been four years for (The Flaming Lips), but yet they are amazing so it was the perfect thing to do again.”
Koscho said due to the crowd’s reaction and the continuous growth of the band, it only makes sense to have The Flaming Lips return.
“It’s crazy that the festival attracts so many big artists since it’s Nelsonville, Ohio,” said Casey Wakefield, a junior studying political science and history. “But it’s really cool The Flaming Lips are coming to Ohio.”
Lucero, a country punk band from Memphis, was another one of the bigger acts announced Friday morning, Koscho said. The group has a strong following of devoted fans but also puts on an exciting live show.
“I think it’s great they bring in a lot of different acts because a lot of people my age tend to only focus on music like rap,” Joshua Roberts, a junior studying nursing, said. “I think the violinist sounds pretty cool, though.”
Koscho said the event aims to appeal to people who generally do not attend larger festivals, such as Bonnaroo, Coachella or Lollapalooza, but to cater to those traveling across the nation and from different countries for the weekend.
“We’re trying to really create a top-notch event with a really high quality, creative atmosphere with amazing music whether that’s a folk band or a rock band or a Cuban band,” Koscho said. “We have a festival here this year where a country music legend is playing two nights after The Flaming Lips. I think that’s a really good way to sum up how Nelsonville can be its own special thing.”
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