This Week is Bear Creek, Baby!

Funk legend Bootsy Collins plays Saturday at 5:15

The music party that's been happening at Live Oak, Florida's  Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in a series of festivals since October gets SERIOUS this week when one of the premier funk gatherings on the planet convenes starting Wednesday --- we're talking about  The Bear Creek Music & Art Festival . 

Bears, bears and more bears

This festival is ridiculous fun, packed full of  world beat, jazz, hip hop (The Roots,) cutting-edge funk (from New Orleans and elsewhere), old-school funk (George Porter Jr. of The Meters, Bootsy Collins and Bernie Worrell of Parliament Funkadelic, Ohio Players horn man Ron Haynes, and more), R&B, and DJ electronic dance beats for late night/early morning ragers.

Don't forget your costume

What makes Bear Creek such an absolute gas is the crowd -- the people who come to Bear Creek are there to get down. There’s an infectious vibe, outrageous costumes and it's a booty shaking dance party of epic proportions.

The festival proper runs Friday through Sunday with a standard Weekend Ticket. There is music for two more days for an extra charge -- a special musical benefit 4p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Wednesday night and a pre-party Thursday from 2 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. . 

The Roots -- Jimmy Fallon's house band, play Saturday at 8 p.m.

A Weekend Ticket (includes camping) is $175 advanced (though Nov. 11 at midnight), and $195 at the gate. Weekend Ticket holders can add two more nights of camping and music: $50 for Thursday night and $25 for a special musical benefit Wednesday night. Single-day tickets (no camping) are $80 for Friday, $80 for Saturday, and $50 for Sunday. See VIP ticket options at the website.

Bear Creek's musical offerings expand as the fest goes along -- it starts with one stage Wednesday, three stages on Thursday, and then  five stages run continuously Friday and Saturday. Things get cozy --- and super funky -- for Sunday, when New Orleans' Dumpstaphunk and killer New England funk band Lettuce close out the fest. Throughout the weekend, lots of musical sit-ins provide constant surprises. 

And don't miss a sojourn to take a break and go to the park's beach on the beautiful Suwannee River...

The lineup includes The Roots, Bootsy Collins and the Funk Unity Band, Galactic, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, Lettuce, Bonobo Live Band, Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, The New Mastersounds, Antibalas, Lee Fields & The Expressions, Zach Deputy, Toubab Krewe, George Porter Jr's Runnin Pardners, The Motet, Jennifer Hartswick Band, Break Science, Mike Dillon Band, Pimps of Joytime, Robert Walter's 20th Congress, Bernie Worrell Orchestra, Roosevelt Collier Band, Dr. Klaw, The Revivalists, Kung Fu, The Werks, The Malah, Space Capone, Nth Power, Flow Tribe, Dopapod, The Legendary JC's, Ron Haynes Game Changers, Brownout, Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes, Jaime McLean Band, The Monophonics, Ghost Owl, Greenhouse Lounge, Cope, Chris McCarty and the Underground Movement, The Resolvers, Profit, Suenalo, Lucky Costello, Oteil Burbridge, Skerik, Natalie Cressman, Dave Watts, Joey Porter, Jans Ingber, Clay Watson, and Pee Wee Ellis.

You can check out a general list of who plays which days here and peruse the full schedule here 

Don't forget to thank our hard-working and hosts from Big IV Productions,
Lyle Williams and Paul Levine!