A&O Productions has landed 11 musical acts to take the stage during next weekend’s second annual Philfest, a two-day celebration to remember the life of a Northwestern student who died in an August 2000 car crash.
Eight bands will groove from noon until 11 p.m. May 18. The headliner bands are Sound Tribe Sector 9, a trance jam band from California; The Slip, a Boston-based group with a heavy jazz influence; and Robert Walter’s 20th Congress, which plays funk.
Leif Moravy, A&O’s outgoing director of productions, said the mix of trance, funk and jazz will appeal to all audiences.
“We are very excited,” Moravy said. “The mix will bring together many different communities who listen to different types of music. We want to open their eyes to all music scenes.”
Other groups that will play on Saturday include Indian-influenced Fareed Haque Group, Chicago grass band Cornmeal, experimental funk group Frank Catalano Band, improvisational rocker CDO and Family of Souls, a reggae band.
On May 17, three or four groups will play at the Philfest A&O Experience at Patten Gymnasium, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
A&O expects to receive approval for three contracts today. It’s also looking for a possible 12th band for the weekend after on dropped out.
Philfest was started last year by the family and friends of Phil Semmer, who would have graduated from the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science with the class of 2001.
Students attending the festival are asked to give a $5 donation to the Phillip Austin Semmer Memorial Fund, which is trying to raise money to fund an internship at the Rocky Mountain Institute, an environmental think-tank where Semmer hoped to work.
