Register Here!DowntownDC LIVE! is back at Franklin Park.
Come down every Thursday at 12:30 PM from June 2 to July 28 and enjoy a great variety of rhythms and styles from different artists, curated by Mars Arts DC and Multiflora Productions.
Bring your lunch, bring your friends and bring your energy to Franklin Park for DowntownDC LIVE!
This event is FREE and ALL-AGES. See you all there!
Downtown DC LIVE! Full Line Up:
JUNE 2 – Curated by Mars Arts DC
- The Sweater Set
The Sweater Set will pluck at your heartstrings” with “an intimidating number of instruments,” (Washington Post) and soaring soprano-alto harmonies. The folk duet is a five-time Washington Area Music Award-winning ensemble consisting of singer songwriters Sara Curtin and Maureen Andary. Listeners are invited into Sara and Maureen’s joyful friendship as they sing about loves lost and found. Brightest Young Things calls them as “D.C.’s most endearing duo,” claiming their attraction to them was “instant and inescapable.” “Folk music is at its best when it helps uplift the listener in a deeper sense, and the Sweater Set has lavishly honed that ability.
JUNE 9 – Curated by Mars Arts DC
- Justin Trawick
Justin Trawick has been performing in the Washington DC area and along the East Coast since 2006. In February of 2014, Trawick won “Song of the Year” at the Washington Area Music Awards for his solo recording of “All the Places That I’ve Been.” In June of 2015, Trawick released his first single, “Goodbye,” under the band name “Justin Trawick and the Common Good”. In January of 2018, “Justin Trawick and The Common Good” released their first EP, “The Riverwash EP,” which features Norah Jones’ guitarist Adam Levy. In 2020 the band released the single “Back of the Line” during the coronavirus quarantine and was featured on several important media all round the country.
JUNE 16 – Curated by Mars Arts DC
- Brad Linde
Hailed as “the capital city’s contemporary cool king” (Giovanni Russonello, Capitalbop), Brad Linde is a saxophonist, educator, bandleader, and impresario in the Washington DC metro area. He is the director of Jazz and Creative Music at Georgetown Day School and founder of the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra. For over a decade, he has led large ensembles, including the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra, the Brad Linde Expanded Ensemble, BIG OL’ (featuring the music of Australian composer Elliott Hughes), and the Team Players BIG LEAGUE. Small groups and chamber ensembles are at the core of his performances, with multiple projects and recordings.
JUNE 30 – Curated by Multiflora Productions
- Cheick Hamala Diabate
A steward of the 800-year-old tradition of the griot, the storytellers of West Africa, the DC-based Grammy-nominated Cheick Hamala Diabate creates joyous, danceable grooves on multiple instruments: he’s a master of the traditional ngoni and banjo, and also a virtuosic guitarist. He has learned from and played with the full pantheon of Malian musical greats, including Toumani Diabate, Oumou Sangare, Ali Farka Touré, and Salif Keita.
JULY 7 – Curated by Multiflora Productions, and Sponsored by Amazon
- The Messthetics
An instrumental trio featuring Brendan Canty (drums), Joe Lally (bass), and Anthony Pirog (guitar). Canty and Lally were the rhythm section of the band Fugazi from its inception in 1987 to its period of hiatus in 2002 and this is the first band they’ve had together since then. Pirog is a jazz and experimental guitarist based in Washington, D.C
JULY 14 – Curated by Multiflora Productions, and Sponsored by Amazon
- Crank LuKongo
A African Worldbeat musical collection, akin to a D.C. Go-Go rhythmic foundation infused with elements of Progressive Soul, Jazz, Reggae, Blues, Rock, Afro-Beat, Folk, and Hip-Hop. In 2014 Crank LuKongo was conceived and produced in Washington, D.C. by percussionist, drummer, songwriter, and actor, *Matt “Swamp Guinee” Miller of Pure Light Seed, Bambu Station, Junior Marvin’s Wailers, Thievery Corporation, and The Addison Brothers Quintet.
JULY 21 – Curated by Multiflora Productions, and Sponsored by Amazon
- Black Folks Don’t Swim?
A world based Black Queer led movement of musicians, songwriters, composers, and activists generating comfortable spaces for all to come together and feel uplifted through music.
JULY 28 – Curated by Multiflora Productions, and Sponsored by Amazon
- Feedel Band
Their sound can best be described as East African jazz, a merging of 1960s R&B and funk with traditional Ethiopian songs and instruments. The mixture creates dynamically rich dancefloor grooves. Feedel band’s original pentatonic melodies harken back to the Golden Age of Ethiopian popular music – a time that had Addis Ababa littered with groups playing brass-heavy concoctions influenced by American soul and jazz.
AUGUST 4 (Raincheck date) – Curated by Mars Arts DC
- Rayshun Lamarr
Rayshun has appeared in stage productions and tours around the U.S. Life changed for him in 2012, when he was diagnosed with Lymphoma. During his fight against cancer, he temporarily lost his hearing and voice. In 2018, Rayshun LaMarr made it all the way to the semi-finals of season 14 of NBC’s “The Voice”. Since then, he has performed at NFL half-time shows, NBA opening games, and stages nationwide. During the pandemic, he released three singles, “Time 4 Change”, “Can’t Hold Back”, and “Still in Love”, available on all streaming platforms. Currently, he is working on his debut album.