THURSDAY HIGHLIGHTS
The big draw is Long Island Music Hall of Famers Taking Back Sunday, who headline the night at 8:45 p.m., but the main stage bill is strong from start to finish. Long Island pop act Whatever We Are, who just released the catchy single “Limbo,” kick things off at 4 p.m., followed by Frank Iero & the Future Violents, the Menzingers and Long Island scene heroes Glassjaw.
Don’t miss: Long Beach’s King Neptune (5:30 p.m., Clamshell Bandshell) is a Great South Bay fest staple, with Ian Kenny bringing something new and noteworthy each time, like his standout “Everybody’s Falling in Love.”
FRIDAY HIGHLIGHTS
Headliners Slightly Stoopid and Sublime With Rome have that reggae-fueled rock fusion down, but so does Long Island’s Oogee Wawa, who will kick off the main stage music at 4:20 p.m. That sound also gets carried through the music of Long Island’s Gnarly Karma and Baldwin-based Nonstop to Cairo at the Clamshell Bandshell.
Don’t miss: Mount Sinai’s punk-popsters Patent Pending will close out the Jambalaya Stage at 10 p.m. before they head off for their U.K. tour. And Brentwood’s Dudley Music may reveal some of the music he’s been working on in his 6:15 p.m. set at the Clamshell Bandshell.
SATURDAY HIGHLIGHTS
The jam-band tradition continues with headliners Lotus, though Dweezil Zappa’s interpretation of his father’s work may give the night a bit more edge than usual. At the Jambalaya Stage, there will be a daylong Woodstock tribute.
Don’t miss: Cassandra House plays the Clamshell Bandshell at 7:30 p.m., showing how her album “The Roam” brings the singer-songwriter tradition of Patty Griffin to Long Island.
SUNDAY HIGHLIGHTS
Classic Rock Day at the festival takes on new meaning this year, with teenage guitar phenom Brandon “Taz” Niederauer bringing his own spin on the classics, while Blue Coupe — featuring members of Blue Oyster Cult and Alice Cooper’s band — showing how those sounds fit together. And that’s all before America and War close out the festival main stage.
Don’t miss: Two of Long Island’s up-and-coming singer-songwriters, Pete Mancini and Travis McKeveny, will team up on the new Busker Stage at 7:20 p.m.
THE BUSKER STAGE
The idea for the new stage for singer-songwriters came after Faith saw some impressive ones at a recent music conference. “I realized almost nobody’s ever going to go see them,” he said. “They usually play coffeehouses and hopefully they sell some CDs, but I think they are kind of one step over poets in getting work and getting their stuff heard. I just thought it’d be good to give them an opportunity to get their music out there.” The Busker Stage will be next to the Jambalaya Stage on Saturday and Sunday and performers will include Pete Mancini and Mark Newman on Sunday night.
THE WOODSTOCK TRIBUTE
Sweetwater, the first band to play at the Woodstock festival 50 years ago, will be the first to play at the Great South Bay Music Festival’s tribute on Saturday at 2 p.m. And they will be part of the festival’s first “Artist Q&A,” where fans can talk to them at 5:20 p.m. at the Busker Stage. Juma Sultan, percussionist in Jimi Hendrix’s Gypsy Sun & Rainbows band at Woodstock and the current Kiss the Sky — The Jimi Hendrix Re-Experience, will also have a Q&A period at the Busker Stage at 8 p.m., before Kiss the Sky closes out the tribute at 10:10 p.m. The bill will also include Grateful Dead tribute band Half Step, The Band tribute band The The Band Band, Janis Joplin tribute Joplin’s Pearl and The Who tribute Who’s Next. “There’s going to be a lot of great ones on the Island, but, in this case, we wanted to give people something that was more unique, different than the others,” Faith said. “I think this will be a fun one and more educational.”