Music festivals have a way of taking out-of-the-way places and making them into major cultural destinations. A Maury High grad has a vision for just such a one-day open air live music event that could–if executed well–turn into Hampton Roads’ version of Firefly or, eventually, Bonnaroo.
Music festivals have a way of taking out-of-the-way places and making them into major cultural destinations. A Maury High grad has a vision for just such a one-day open air live music event that could–if executed well–turn into Hampton Roads’ version of Firefly or, eventually, Bonnaroo.
“The idea for LAVA started over two years ago while I was working a summer job in Suffolk and has evolved into the festival we are presenting in May,” said Josh Coplon, who after Maury earned a degree in music business from Berklee College of Music in Boston. “We’re all huge music lovers and really saw a need for an event of this sort to come to the area.”
Local festival lovers at this point don’t have many immediate options. Lockn’ Music Festival transforms Arrington, VA, into a Long Weekend Music Heaven three and a half hours away, bringing in Tom Petty, Wilco, and Willie Nelson last year.
Firefly, which in 2014 brought the likes of Foo Fighters, Outkast, and Beck to Dover, DE, is almost four hours away. FloydFest, in Floyd, VA, is five hours away but worth the drive last year for Lauryn Hill, Ben Harper, and Ray LaMontagne. It would be pretty great to have something of that quality in our own backyard. Some fun things happen at Town Point Park and the Oceanfront during the summer, but nothing of this magnitude.
“The closest outdoor festivals are over three hours away,” said Coplon, whose team is calling their festival LAVA. “We’ve really taken our time putting together a truly amazing team and feel we have created an event that people will be very excited about.”
While I’m always personally skeptical of grand economic impact declarations, these kinds of festivals make a mark on the community beyond the grounds.
LAVA team, onsite.
According to a University of Delaware study, “The four-day Firefly Music Festival contributed more than $68 million to the regional economy and created the equivalent of 579 full-time jobs in 2014.”
For anyone out in Suffolk reading who might hear “music festival” and imagine walking outside your door to your child eating a pot brownie out of a hippie’s beard, Lockn’ had over 25,000 attendees, many of them camping, and there were no major incidents reported to officers over the weekend, said Lt. Billy Mays, of the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office, to the Roanoke Times.
Coplon was coyness personified when I pressed him about some specific acts they’ll be bringing in.
The best I could get out of him was to say that these are the level of bands that do, and in some cases, have, headlined packed shows at The NorVa.
The plan is for two alternating stages of music and for thousands of people to attend. A craft beer brewery is signed on as a sponsor. Most of the line-up will consist of national indie rock/alternative bands, with a few well-known local acts included.
According to Coplon, who is waiting until January to release the exact venue location (though I’ll give you two guesses), “Our location in Suffolk is the perfect position to be the home for LAVA and welcome guests from Hampton Roads, Richmond and beyond.”
More to come as information is released. Here’s to this being just the beginning of something real.
LAVA is scheduled to take place on May 16, 2015 in Suffolk, VA. To follow along here is the website, and here is the Facebook page.
