The momentum is building for this year’s Greenwich Town Party (GTP), the all-day, family music festival set for Saturday, May 25, at Roger Sherman Baldwin Park.
Throughout the day, the performances will rotate between the Main Stage and the Town Stage, where seven local bands with Greenwich roots will perform, including Fashionably Late, School of Rock Greenwich, Rock Paper Soul Band, MOJO, Outcalls, harf. and Cenzo, GTP organizers announced today.
Representing the Color Guard, the Ninth District Veterans Association Color Guard will kick off the day’s festivities at 11 a.m. The Melody Men will then perform God Bless America, followed by the United States Military Academy’s West Point Band singing The National Anthem.
The Main Stage performances will start in the early afternoon with the highly anticipated, award-winning lineup of The Cameroons, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats and Mumford & Sons, which was announced last month. Local musician Drew Angus, who performed on the Town Stage last year, will kick off the toe-tapping beats on the Main Stage. Created to celebrate talent within the Greenwich community, the Town Stage offers local musicians of all ages, backgrounds and styles the opportunity to open for world-renowned artists.
Town Stage Band Bios
Fashionably Late
Fashionably Late is a band consisting of five high school seniors from Greenwich Country Day School (GCDS) — Paige Setterberg on vocals, Owen Hoffman on guitar, Jonah Saidi on keys, Thayer Ross on bass and Max Dubner on drums — who play a mix of funk and rock. After meeting in the fourth grade, they played for their middle school’s band, and eventually formed their own band five years ago during the pandemic. Driven and passionate about music, they quickly fell in love with performing. They play jazz by day as members of the GCDS’s advanced jazz ensemble, and then a versatile mix of music and genres by night. Fashionably Late performs at local restaurants, events, and community service venues.
School of Rock Greenwich
The School of Rock Greenwich House Band is made up of the most dedicated and talented students currently attending the School of Rock Greenwich. The students in the current band are between the ages of 12 and 16 and have been playing together since the beginning of the year. They play a high-energy set, featuring a variety of rock songs from various artists spanning decades and sub-genres. Led by musical director Byl Cote, the band includes: Ava Hagerty, Max Hagerty, Jasmine Cohen, Jacob Cohen, Ben Schindelman, Ashwin Siva, Nikolas Rowland, Nina Smith, Charlie Madden, Anthony Krause, Ian Lee and Julian Wang.
Rock Paper Soul
Rock Paper Soul Band (RPSB) has been rocking venues, private parties and events throughout Fairfield County with their irresistible live energy since 2018. The ultimate party band, RPSB is known for their high-octane, danceable covers of timeless classic rock, funk, R&B, soul, and contemporary hits. Led by singer-keyboardist Dana Gordon, a longtime Greenwich resident and a Juilliard-trained piano and voice teacher, the band’s exceptional lineup includes guitarist and Greenwich High School alumni Larry Nardi, Sr., vocalists Caroline Tucker and Victoria Heyne, bassist Aaron Gerard, guitarist Johnston Tucker, saxophonist James Marcus, and drummer Rob Gallois.
MOJO. Contributed photo
MOJO
Musicians Muhammad Jami and Greenwich High School alum Alan Johnson met in 2014 on a NYC subway platform where Jami was busking. Ten years and 1,500 gigs later, they are a first-choice band for party hosts from Greenwich to the Hamptons, and Napa Valley to Sun Valley. The innovative duo has boiled the band format down to its core essence without sacrificing energy and fullness. With Jami’s powerful voice and guitar playing, and drummer Johnson’s big beats, MOJO covers more than 900 hit songs in styles ranging from dance, country, 90s R&B, classic hits, and even songs for Swifties.
Outcalls
Led by Greenwich native Britt Olsen-Ecker, who attended Old Greenwich School, Eastern Middle School, and graduated from GHS in 2005, and Melissa Wimbish, Outcalls uses operatic influence to create pop music that refreshes and refines the structures of songwriting. The vocal power and performance prowess of this collaborative duo summons legends like Kate Bush, Donna Summer, Carole King, and Diana Ross. Music publication Earmilk describes them as: “a unique style of genre-defying music… Outcalls is a sight to behold.”
Harf.
Harf (Will Harford) is a folk artist from Greenwich dedicated to “finding something real.” Harf aims to write songs that connect people to one other, and to the earth that we share. His band is composed of his friends – Billy Apostolou on bass, Declan Harris on lead guitar and Chris Conte on drums — from the University of Richmond, where they also started a band called Dogpark.
Cenzo
Cenzo was founded by Greenwich native Vinny Nobile in 2004 and released its debut CD, “Maybe Now,” to rave reviews. Vinny has played and recorded with Bim Skala Bim, Pilfers, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Specials, and the English Beat. After a long hiatus, Cenzo is back recording and playing shows in the Tri-State area and has released the EP “Incognito,” available on Spotify and other streaming outlets.
An IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, the Greenwich Town Party is privately funded through generous contributions from residents and businesses and, in part, through ticket sales. In the spirit of mutual generosity, the GTP encourages everyone to contribute as much as they can so the General Admission ticket prices can remain at $85. One generous Greenwich resident matches all contributions, and 75 percent of the cost of each Community ticket is generously funded by individual and corporate sponsors of the GTP. The GTP has no cost to the Town of Greenwich and is not funded by taxpayers.