Bands Compete For Chance To Play Atop Lighthouse
/By Joseph Zapata
info@longislandergroup.com
Bands will compete at the Nautical Fair in May for a chance to play atop the Huntington Lighthouse at the annual Lighthouse Music Fest in September.
The annual Huntington Lighthouse Music Fest just became a bit more interesting.
This year, bands will compete in the inaugural “Fight for the Light” competition, to be held next month at the Nautical Flea , in hopes to chosen to perform at the 2015 music festival at the end of the summer.
Bands were required fill out an application (online at Lighthousemusicfest.com), and they must have provided a YouTube video link, which will be used as an audition tape. All bands were welcome to apply.
From the entries, a listening committee for the Fight for the Light contest will choose nine bands, which will perform in front of a panel of judges on May 17. The judges consist of the Lighthouse Music Fest chairperson, the festival’s music producer and others from the Huntington Maritime and music community.
The judging criterion includes vocals, musical performance and overall likability. At the contest, each band will be allowed a half-hour set, which includes setting up and breaking down equipment.
The winning band will be chosen the week of May 25, and results will be posted on the Fight for the Light website.
The annual Huntington Lighthouse Music Fest is an event unlike any other. Every Saturday of Labor Day weekend, over 1,000 boats with 10,000 attendees travel to the now-102-year-old lighthouse and spend the day enjoying live music.
According to the festival’s website, it is the only music festival in the world held on top of a working lighthouse in the middle of the water.
“It’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced before,” said Pam Setchell, president of the Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society. “It’s the Woodstock of the water… just without the drugs.”
The festival consists of several genres of music, such as rock, pop, reggae, Latin and many more. The diversity of the music is meant to match the diversity of the crowd, which can range anywhere from teenagers to 70-year-olds.
The Fight for the Light contest will take place on Sunday, May 17, during the Nautical Fair being held at Mill Dam Park from 11 a.m.-4 p.m., and the Huntington Lighthouse Music Festival will take place on Saturday, Sept. 5.
