GSB 2026: Day 4 Live Blog

8:00 PM

Thank you for following our GSB 2026 Live Blog!  We hope you had fun seeing the festival through our eyes- we sure did!

We had an amazing four days at the 2026 Great South Bay Music Festival. The music was epic, the weather was perfect, and the collaboration between all the students and faculty was off the charts.

 

7:30 PM

We got a new interview set this year and decided this was the right time to see how many people could fit on it while broadcasting live on the FTC Sound Stream…..?!? Even Professor Andre Doughty, who has been guiding the four-day radio coverage, jumped in on the action.

Kelli Baker is up next to close out the Five Towns College Stage. That’s a radio wrap for the 2026 Great South Bay Music Festival.

 

7:00 PM

David Frith is a Mass Comm student who you frequently see in front of the camera or hear on FTC Sound Stream. However, during this year’s Great South Bay Music Festival, David has focused on the Production Design aspects of the event. David has been working with Professors Joe Kenny and Laura Albert to make the Five Towns College Stage an awesome visual sight.  David told us a little about his role here, saying:

“I learn something new everyday and get closer with my professors, classmates, and peers. My favorite moments are actually when I’m working, being in contact with all aspects of the lights, the board, the fog, and the sparks. Working together and seeing howgj it shows on the broadcast has been my favorite thing to do after the long nights into the festival. I am sad to see it ending today but I’ll have the memories and the broadcasts to remember it by.”

 

 

6:30 PM

OM-EN moved along their set of bluesy originals for a tie-dye-filled audience in front of the Five Towns College Stage.  The OM-EN have played the Great South Bay Music Festival fifteen times and their performances aim to spread positive messages through spiritual songs.

 

After this set, Little Feat will soon put on a jamming show, just a short walk away on the Main Stage. “What’s great about a music festival is that you just have to walk maybe a hundred feet and you’re at another stage,” says Len from Manhattan. “You can listen to live music you’ve never heard before and you can really enjoy it.” 

 

6:00 PM

The food is as tasty as ever on the last day of the festival. From soft pretzels and oysters to Filipino, Jamaican, and other ethnic delicacies, there is something for every palate. “I think serving food at a festival is more than just serving food,” says Kenny Bishop of CHAR by Lobster Rolls and More. “You meet new people who make connections. You never know who you can meet.”  Throughout the four days of the festival the Five Towns crew sure did their part to taste a variety of food and meet all the vendors.

5:30 PM

Just on the Main Stage, a supergroup celebrating the life and music of late Grateful Dead icon Bob Weir wrapped up to a grateful crowd. Weir died in January 2026. Guitarists Andy Falco of the Infamous Stringdusters and Rob Eaton of the Dark Star Orchestra, drummer Alwyn Robinson of Leftover Salmon, and more performed classics from Weir’s solo career and his time with the Dead in his honor. 

 

5:00 PM

Jace DeMarco is checking in from the Jambalaya Stage.

4:30 PM

FTC band, The Astral Party, just wrapped up a bubble-filled set of psychedelic rock originals, like “Houses.” The crowd was filled with festival fans dancing along with Five Towns students, who popped out of the production tent to hear the band play on the FTC Stage.  “I think it could be a good precedent to see more bands from Five Towns, as well as local bands containing Five Towns students in the future,” says FTC Music Performance and Audio Production alum Christian Dormier.

The Astral Party frequently plays at campus events and has debuted new songs in Studio 400.

*”It’s crazy seeing these guys in the halls, and now, they’re performing onstage on the Clamshell Bandshell performing for all these people, says FTC alum Sal Pizzurro. “Hopefully, next year, we see them on the Main Stage as a headliner.

 

4:00 PM

After being delayed by 20 minutes due to some technical difficulties, TAZ took the main stage to a loud crowd. He performed his own original music, and classic hits like OutKast’s ‘Hey Ya!’

After getting the show on the road TAZ apologized to the audience. “We have done everything we could to be here with you, so thank you for being patient with the technical difficulties, and let’s keep this party going Long Island!”

TAZ is expected to join us for a post-performance interview on the FTC Sound Stream at 4:30pm.

 

3:30 PM

Stony Brook Medicine is supplying free sunblock, lip balm, bandanas, and more to keep festival goers sunburn free. “Sunscreen is really important to prevent skin cancer,” says Stony Brook nurse practitioner Amy Curran. “A lot of us don’t know the signs of early skin cancer, so the first thing to do is to keep your body safe with sunscreen and shade.”  The sun is bright at Shorefront Park today so be sure to pop by their tent for protection! 

 

3:15 PM

Another recent grad alert! FTC Mass Comm alum Jace DeMarco joins us today to help cover all of the action around Shorefront Park.  Jace recently won a Long Island Press Club Award for Best College Reporter so you know his blogging is going to be good.

“I’ve been looking forward to seeing my friends and colleagues again and helping them with another great festival,” says DeMarco. “The music and the food are awesome, but it’s the personal connections that make the experience of working a festival what it is.” 

 

 

3:00 PM

Music on the Five Towns College Stage officially kicked off with Albert Liu and the Wild Hearts, who provided a mix of covers and originals in their rock-filled setlist today. “They have great energy,” says Alyssa from Manhasset, NY. “They’re bringing a really awesome first performance to today’s festival day, so I’m super excited to see [the other acts] pick it up.”

 

2:30 PM

This September, the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame (LIMEHOF) will be celebrating 23 years as an entity. Originally known as the Long Island Music Hall of Fame, the organization has expanded over time to expand the connection of music to different forms of distribution.

The Great South Bay Music Festival has continued to be a staple for the brand. “This is a Long Island music festival, and we represent Long Island music, so we’re very pleased to keep spreading the word this way,” said LIMEHOF Co-Founder Norman Prusslin. “A weekend like this is just another opportunity for our organization to let people know we exist if they’ve never heard of it and to talk up the greatness of the Long Island music scene, past, present, and future.”

LIMEHOF can be found near the main stage selling raffle tickets for a chance to win a trip to their Stony Brook location, swag, and more!

 

2:00 PM

Excited for the final day of the Great South Bay Music Festival. Great bands on the Five Towns College Stage with a special eye on the Astral Party, a group formed at Five Towns College.

1:30 PM

It’s the final day of music, food, and fun at the Great South Bay Music Festival in Patchogue and who better to kick off the live blog today than FTC Record Reporter Grace Bonamico, who is teamed up with recent graduate Daniel Garcia (’26).  Daniel just got a job at SiriusXM as an Associate Producer for Doctor Radio and we are happy to have him with us at Great South Bay before he starts his professional career in media.

It’s going to be another beautiful day at Shorefront Park as we continue our live coverage of it all on the FTC Sound Stream, and the Five Towns College YouTube Channel.

Albert Liu & Wild Hearts kick off Day 4 on the Five Towns College Stage at 2:30pm. Stay tuned!