LOCKN’ Festival is going down August 23 – 26, 208 at Infinity Downs & Oak Ridge Farm in Arrington, VA. With headlining performances from Dead & Company (4 sets), Widespread Panic, Tedeschi Trucks Band (2 sets), and Umphrey’s McGee (3 sets), jam band fans from all over are planning to make their way to one of the most exciting music festivals of the summer. Known for their unique tribute sets and out-of-left-field collaborations, LOCKN’ is a place of magic. Now that the official lineup has been unveiled, festival organizers will be revealing special twists over the next couple of months until we land on show day.

As such, LOCKN’ Festival has announced that saxophonist Branford Marsalis will sit in with Dead & Company and drummer Jason Bonham will sit in with Umphrey’s McGee for a Led Zeppelin set.

This will be the first-ever collaboration between Dead & Company and Marsalis, though the saxophonist has played with the original Grateful Dead five times, along with their various side-projects.

As Relix notes,

Marsalas first performed with the [Grateful Dead] on 3/29/1990 at Nassau Coliseum. Originally, Marsalis was supposed sit-in for one song, but he meshed with the band so well that he played the entire second set. After that fateful night, Marsalis played with the original band on New Years 1990 as well as 9/10/91, 12/10/93 and 12/16/94. Later in life, he also sat in with The Dead in 2009 and Furthur in 2013.

“I still remember fondly my time playing with the Dead in 1990,” Marsalis told Rolling Stone, “and this latest iteration of the Dead aesthetic is filled with great musicians. I look forward to making music with them.”

“As I’ve always said, if we’re not having fun, we’re not doing our job,” Bob Weir added. “With Branford, at LOCKN’, I’ll expect we’ll be working overtime.”

Watch Branford Marsalis discuss his experience playing with the Grateful Dead in a 1996 TV interview below via YouTube user Josh Daniel:

Additionally, Umphrey’s McGee will welcome drummer Jason Bonham during one of their three sets at LOCKN’. Umphrey’s McGee has a long history of playing Led Zeppelin tunes, covering over 15 total tunes several times since 1998, including “Bron-Yr-Aur” (x13), “Fool In The Rain”(x84), “Immigrant Song” (x30), “Kashmir” (x19), “Moby Dick”(x25), “That’s The Way” (x18), “The Song Remains The Same” (x80), and more, according to allthings.umphreys.com, so the collaboration comes as no surprise.

According to Relix,

Jason Bonham will also break new ground at LOCKN’ 2018, performing with Umphrey’s McGee for the first time. Through his career, Bonham has collaborated with Slash, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck and more. He also played in place of his father—the legendary John Bonham—at the historic Led Zeppelin reunion in December 2007.

“[Led Zeppelin is] one of our biggest influences,” 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 & 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?'”

As you can see in last week’s teaser video below, guitarist Jake Cinninger is perfecting a few choice covers of the classic English rock band. Get psyched:

Two weekends ago, Umphrey’s McGee incorporated “Fool In The Rain” into their rain-soaked closing set at SweetWater 420 Fest in Atlanta, GA, foreshadowing the exciting announcement. Watch a clip of the performance below, courtesy of YouTube user CornBinladen:

Umphrey’s McGee – “Fool In The Rain” [Led Zeppelin cover]

Catch Branford Marsalis with Dead & Company and Jason Bonham with Umphrey’s McGee only at LOCKN! You can grab your weekend pass now via the LOCKN’ website.