As the Bluebonnets and spring wildflowers pop up along the Hill Country roadsides, festival season is in full bloom. This spring marks the return of the 3rd Annual Bands 4 Band Music Festival to Yett Memorial Park. The daylong event which takes place on Saturday, April 27th has traditionally drawn many enthusiastic music fans from as far away as Dallas, as well as the surrounding Austin and San Antonio area. The festival is produced by the Blanco Band Boosters, and all proceeds benefit the Blanco Panther Band and music programs.
This year’s festival will feature a performance at 1:30 by the award winning Blanco High School Band. The band will be presenting music from their “Latin Show”, immediately followed by this year’s headlining act Grupo Fantasma. Blanco band director Brian Hecimovich remarked “the Panther Band kids worked very hard this year learning how to play Latin styled music for our marching show, so I am really excited they are going to be able to see a word class band like Grupo Fantasma right here in our home town!”
Grupo Fantasma is an eleven-piece, Grammy Award winning Latin funk orchestra from Austin, Texas. Formed in 2000 the band is best known for their exuberant live shows and their recent association with Prince and his 3121 Club in Las Vegas. The band has backed Prince on numerous occasions, including his performance on the ALMA Awards in 2007, and often perform at his after party jam sessions. The ensemble has sold more than 20,000 albums independently.
Grupo Fantasma twice played the Austin City Limits Music Festival and taped an episode of the popular Austin City Limits TV Show on PBS, which first aired November 17, 2007. They have also performed at such festivals as the Montreal Jazz Festival and the Calgary Folk Music Festival and have headlined numerous SXSW showcases in their career. The band performs relentlessly, regularly doing over 150 performances a year. Their horn section has also made various appearances on worldwide releases and has recently been performing with indie rock band Spoon. The group's album Sonidos Gold was nominated for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album for the 51st Grammy Awards. Grupo's album El Existential was awarded the Grammy for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album at the 53rd Grammy Awards two years later.
Two stages will be utilized at the event, providing nonstop music throughout the day.The complete line up for the festival’s main stage includes a wide variety of acts from the country sounds of Allen Ray and Southern Comfort, to the Cajun and Zydeco styling of local favorites Zydeco Blanco. “Texas blues guitar legend” Bobby Mack, who is a Blanco resident will be offering up a full helping of his traditional Texas blues sounds as well. Rounding out the bill will be Dallas based guitarist Hunter Hendrickson, and Austin’s Patrice Pike along with the Jitterbug Vipers and Lannaya West African Drum and Dance Ensemble
Doors open at 12:00 pm and the event will conclude at midnight. Tickets prices are $20.00. The show is open to all ages. Ages 5 and under admitted free. Tickets can be purchased at the gate or in advance online at http://www.prekindle.com. For more information and a complete schedule, visit http://www.bands4band.com
More from Community News.
