The 2018 Lockn’ Festival will take place at Infinity Downs and Oak Ridge Farm in Arrington, Virginia on August 23 – 26. Organizers have revealed a pair of special collaborations set to go down at the annual event.

Lockn’ promoter-producer Peter Shapiro revealed to Rolling Stone that headliners Dead & Company will be joined by renowned saxophonist Branford Marsalis. This will mark the first collaboration between the acts, though Marsalis previously shared the stage with the Grateful Dead in the early-1990s.

“As I’ve always said, if we’re not having fun, we’re not doing our job,” Grateful Dead/Dead & Company guitarist Bob Weir told Rolling Stone. “With Branford, at Lockn’, I’ll expect we’ll be working overtime.”


Drummer Jason Bonham, the son of late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, will join Umphrey’s McGee at Lockn’. The two acts will perform a full set of Led Zeppelin classics.

“[Led Zeppelin is] one of our biggest influences,” Umphrey’s McGee guitarist Brendan Bayliss told Rolling Stone. “We technically have three drummers in the band, and I guarantee you that all three would say John Bonham taught them more about rock ‘n’ roll than any other drummer. Getting the opportunity to play with Jason is another example of Pete [Shapiro] asking, ‘How can we make this place go off?'”

The Lockn’ 2018 lineup also includes Widespread Panic, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Toots & The Maytals, Lettuce, George Clinton & P-Funk, Blues Traveler, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real, Keller Williams, Moon Taxi, Sheryl Crow, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Turkuaz and more. Head here for details and links to purchase tickets.

[Grateful Dead – Bird Song With Branford Marsalis – March 29, 1999]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vicnvmk8qKc