Sound on Sound Music Festival is coming to Bridgeport, Connecticut next weekend, September 24 & 25 at Seaside Park to close out the summer festival season. Although this is only the first year of this festival, they didn’t hold back with the array of talent performing these two days. There’s a stacked lineup consisting of Stevie Nicks, Dave Matthews, The Lumineers, Jenny Lewis, Noah Cahan, and many more. For somewhere like Connecticut, where many people travel to New York City or Boston to attend concerts, this festival will hopefully open up the possibilities of live performance in this state going forward. 

The goal of this music festival is to not only showcase music artists of different genres and popularity, but also to bring the community closer by including many local eateries, breweries, and wineries on the festival grounds. Although the Wine Grove and Craft Beer areas are almost separate from the stage views, the music will certainly be heard from the majority of the festival grounds. For both days, the lineup starts at 12:15 and lasts until around 11PM, featuring two stages without overlapping sets. No overlapping sets is certainly a perk, as it allows festival goers the experience of each set without the worry of two artists they enjoy performing at the same time. 

Luckily for the attendees, the prep work done for this festival is some of the best I’ve ever seen, especially with it being an entirely new festival this year. Their website features easy-to-read graphics for allowed bags, lawn chair types, and the festival grounds map. These graphics, among other features, can also be found in the phone app they created for the festival in order to make navigation on the day of the festival that much easier. Although many things are now digital for the festival, they still have included physical wristbands that were mailed out as tickets. 

As far as ticket packages go, there are many to choose from. They range from two types of GA tickets, to two types of VIP tickets, and even a special Bungalow booking for the weekend. Just like a standard music festival, tickets are deemed certain sitting areas, bathroom areas, complimentary Wi-Fi, and in some cases, complimentary drinks and re-entry privileges. Although, all of the VIP, Platinum, and Bungalow tickets had been sold out long before the pass mailing deadline of September 13.  

Located right on Long Island Sound and a 10 minute shuttle ride from the train station, this is the most ideal location for a music festival in Connecticut. As I said before, I hope this festival leads to more opportunities for the future of music in this state, especially with a new amphitheater that also opened up in Bridgeport within the past year. We are looking forward to bringing you amazing coverage from this event.

Preview by Brittany Whitham