Hanging out, socializing and having a good time is at the core of the annual Longwoodstock festival.
“It’s like a backyard barbecue for Nanaimo with a big old sound system,” said Dave St. Jean, festival director and a member of the Nanaimo band Dope Soda.
This is the second year of the festival. It was expanded to two days and performances are spread out among three main locations: Longwood Brewery, the Queen’s and Koncept Nightclub.
St. Jean said the multiple locations are to give more people a chance to participate in the event.
Longwoodstock features specialty beer created by the Longwood Brewery. It includes Berried Alive and Island Time Lager.
Each year the festival also features a beer that isn’t available any other time of the year. Last year’s feature beer was Throat Punch.
Beverages will also be available from Cobble Hill’s Merridale Cidery and Distillery.
“Beer and music goes hand in hand…” said Harley Smith, a brewmaster partner at Longwood Brewery. “The beer is there to complement the experience.”
Food will also be available at the brewery and is provided by the Longwood Brew Pub and Mambo Gourmet Pizza.
Longwoodstock runs Aug. 12-13. Main stage events run at the Longwood Brewery, located at 101A-2046 Boxwood Rd. and additional entertainment will be featured at the other venues.
Entertainment at the Longwood Brewery includes performances by Daniel Wesley, WiL, Northcote, The Leg Up Program, DJ Allgood and the Turntemple, Nat and Dave and the Grinning Barretts.
A two day full pass is $55, an advance brewery pass is $40.
Tickets for the Aug. 12 performance at the Queen’s, which features Dope Soda, Lovecoast and Jon Middleton are $13.
“We really thrive in the late-night bar scene. It’s very energetic,” said St. Jean about Dope Soda. “We thrive on playing really aggressively, but also very advanced so they are all jazz musicians so we will be rocking hard and then our trumpet player will do a trumpet solo.”
Tickets for the Aug. 13 performance at Koncept, which features, Illvis Freshly, SirReal, Chersea and Wax Organix are $13.
Tickets for the Aug. 13 performance at the Queen’s, which features Boomshack, the New Groovement and Chase Spencer, are $13.
Tickets are available in advance at http://longwoodstock.com.
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