For two days and nights in Marshfield, experience all the good vibes of a beach rock destination without all the sand that ends up in unmentionable places. It’s Levitate Festival, New England’s favorite music festival that used to be a surf and skate shop, returning July 18-19 to the Marshfield Fairgrounds.
The family-friendly event has built its brand on easy listening lineups that throw a bone to every age group. Gen X will get up, stand up for Alanis Morissette and Ziggy Marley. Millennials will doff their cap to Caamp and Larkin Poe. The kids will enjoy Australian rockers Royal Otis and the Americana of Bebe Stockwell. When in doubt, the festival throws reggae at the wall, and more than a few lucky fans will experience elevated thrills as the dutchie gets passed from the left hand side.
We highlight the headliners below, plus a few risers and local artists that are worth their weight in sunscreen. For more summer fun, see the Indie’s Summer Fest preview.
Saturday
Alanis Morissette
The alt-rock vocals icon returns … Did she ever really go away? Since her appearance on the scene in the early ’90s (she opened for Vanilla Ice in 1991!), the child actor turned pop star has toured at regular intervals. “Jagged Little Pill” celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2021. The musician who takes the stage these days combines the amplified chutzpah of that breakthrough album with a more introspective air, reflecting time that’s passed and wisdom gained. (Although was she ever more full of wisdom than in her cameo as God in Kevin Smith’s 1999 movie “Dogma”?) Notwithstanding her 2022 meditation album, “The Storm Before the Calm,” you can trust that this veteran artist still knows how to turn it up to 11 in front of a festival crowd.
Ziggy Marley
If you don’t know how to levitate, reggae royalty Ziggy Marley will teach you how. His first name is slang for “spliff.” His dad had a sense of humor and well-defined areas of interest. But Ziggy has long since graduated from living in Bob’s shadow. At 57, he’s at the apex of a lifetime of writing, recording and producing the music that’s synonymous with the great island of Jamaica. Maybe he can show The Movement, another reggae band on the bill, what’s what.
Sammy Rae & The Friends
Transcendent, uplifting, full-throated pazz & jop. Samantha Bowers is the bandleader out of Brooklyn that keeps this feel-good franchise rolling. Each song feels like a musical number dedicated to short attention spans. This outfit could open for The Wiggles and you wouldn’t blink twice. The latest album “Sun” keeps it sunny.
Bebe Stockwell
The local product crafts upbeat Americana pop for the Lana Del Ray crowd. We know she can handle big stages because we saw her wow the crowd at Boston Calling last year. Sorry to remind you that there was no Boston Calling this year. The chance to hear Stockwell perform cuts from her latest album, “Volume 1,” at Levitate makes up for it.
Also: Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Larkin Poe, The Movement and Jammy Buffet.
Sunday
Caamp
It’s a new album, a new chapter and a new day for the Americana band out of Ohio. 2025’s “Copper Changes Color” was earnest and easy listening confirmation of what everyone needed to know: that Caamp is still a thing, despite internal beefs that threatened to blow up the band at Red Rocks in 2023. After a quick timeout, the band returns to form with banjo- and guitar-driven melodies that sound effortless. It’s the perfect soundtrack as dusk falls over the Marshfield Fairgrounds.
Royal Otis
An Australian pop duo whose catchy tunes have been produced within an inch of their life. Ideal summer fest fodder. Big rig sound techs appreciate that type of polish because it maps neatly to their PAs and fits outdoor spaces like a velvet glove.
The Elovators
Boston’s rock and reggae outfit The Elovators just released an album called “Shark Belly Motel,” which includes tracks such as “Sunburn,” “Tommy Bahama” and “Staring at the Sun.” It’s a follow-up to 2024’s well-received “Endless Summer.” I ask you in all earnestness: Is there any band, besides the Beach Boys, who have more assiduously laid commercial claim to the “sun & fun” space? Probably. But they’re not playing Levitate, and The Elovators, twice-anointed “Ska/Reggae Band of the Year” by the Boston Music Awards, are.
Pepper
A three-piece rock and reggae band out of Hawaii, now based in San Diego. Content is king, so of course the band has its own vodcast, “The Pepper Chronicles.” These things are mostly ignorable except for super fans, but Episode 25 caught my attention because it features guest Surfer Girl; the band performs earlier in the day at Levitate. Like they say, bands that vod together, play together.
Hans Williams
Hans Williams was raised in Vermont, so he’s got that local connection. Life came calling, though, and the winds of destiny blew him along to New Orleans where his love of vintage pop sounds is blooming. His songwriting weaves disparate threads of pop, Americana, soul and folk into a credible and contemplative whole.
Surfer Girl
While frontman Carter Reeves is from landlocked Wayland (sorry, Lake Cochituate doesn’t count), the surf rock band now spends a lot of its time on the beach festival circuit. Helloooo, Levitate! New album “Midnight” (a follow-up to 2025’s “Sunset”) drops in August. Most of the singles have dropped already, so grab an early listen on your streaming platform of choice.
Also: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue and Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country.
About The Author
