The Home Rule Music Festival last year was a blast. On a beautiful afternoon in June, we teamed up with the team at HR Records for a full day of music, record-shopping, great food, drinks and fun at The Parks at Walter Reed in Petworth. This big, free, concert-slash-fair-slash-cookout was a meeting of generations and genres, and a celebration of all things D.C. music.
It was such a heavy day of music and community, we decided to do it all again this year — times three. This summer, HR Fest will run across three different days at three different venues. There will still be a big, free afternoon of music at The Parks on Saturday, June 17. But we’ll also take over two of D.C.’s dopest clubs — the Black Cat and Songbyrd — with separate nights featuring some of the most exciting, unmissable musicians alive today.
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With HR Fest, our emphasis is on the music and culture of D.C., but we’re bringing next-level artists and living legends from all around the country, and the world: the District’s own legendary Experience Unlimited, a.k.a. EU; Kassa Overall; Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble; Hear in Now (featuring Tomeka Reid); Brian Jackson (yeah, that Brian Jackson); Hamid Drake’s Turiya, paying tribute to Alice Coltrane; Mark G. Meadows; Nag Champa Art Ensemble; Jamal R. Moore … and much more.
This festival is not to be missed. And it might be the biggest thing CB does all year. So scroll down for full info, or jump over to homerulemusicfestival.com/tickets to reserve your tickets.
June 16: HR Fest launch feat. Kassa Overall @ Songbyrd
>> GET TICKETS (VIA EVENTBRITE)
HR Fest launches on Friday, June 16, with a kickoff show at Songbyrd DC headlined by Kassa Overall — cutting-edge drummer/rapper/producer extraordinaire, whose incredible new album, Animals, is about to come out on Warp Records — with sets from D.C.’s own FootsXColes and DJ Underdog. Tickets to this show are available for just $20 in advance, or as part of our combined VIP package, which gets you admission to the Songbyrd show as well as special privileges at The Parks on Saturday. (Click “get tickets” above for more information.)
June 17: HR Fest @ The Parks at Walter Reed
>> REGISTER & GET VIP TICKETS (VIA EVENTBRITE)
The festival continues with a special day of FREE, family-friendly music at the Parks at Walter Reed. Starting at 1 p.m. and running until dark, this day will include an outdoor record fair, great food trucks, craft brews from Anxo, other local vendors and a full afternoon of live music from a mix of living legends and rising stars. Headliners include the famous EU, Brian Jackson (the co-leader of Gil Scott-Heron’s 1970s bands), Doug Carn and the Home Rule Band, Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, The Experience Band & Show, and Mark G. Meadows & The Movement will all perform. General admission to this day of family-friendly fun is free and open to the public.
You can register to attend this amazing day of music and fun via Eventbrite at the link above. A limited number of VIP tickets are also available, granting you access to the closest sightlines and sound-lines, plus other great perks.
We’ll close out Saturday night back at Songbyrd, where DJ John Murph will be spinning at our special (and free) HR Fest After Party.
June 24: Closing Night @ Black Cat
>> GET TICKETS (VIA BLACKCATDC.COM)
The following Saturday, June 24, HR Fest comes to a close at the Black Cat, the iconic 14th Street club, where we’ll be presenting yet another all-star lineup: Hear In Now (featuring MacArthur “genius” and cellist Tomeka Reid, violinist Mazz Swift and bassist Silvia Bolognesi), Hamid Drake’s Turiya (a band honoring the legacy of Alice Coltrane, featuring saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, keyboardist Jamie Saft, vibraphonist Pasquale Mirra, bassist Joshua Abrams and drummer-bandleader Hamid Drake), Nag Champa Art Ensemble and saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Jamal R. Moore. We are thrilled to present this concert at the historic Black Cat. Get your tickets before they sell out!
These engagements of Hear In Now and Hamid Drake are made possible through the ArtsCONNECT program of Mid Atlantic Arts with support from the National Endowment for the Arts. This engagement of Mark G. Meadows is made possible through the Jazz Touring Network program of Mid Atlantic Arts with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
A component of the Doris Duke Jazz Ensembles Project, Chamber Music America’s Presenter Consortium for Jazz program, which supports this presentation of Kahil El’Zabar, is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
All of CapitalBop’s programs are supported in part by the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities.
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