Get ready for the Great Life Festival!
Showcasing Kool & The Gang and WAR, with the Family Stone on Saturday, June 24, 2023!
Tiger Lane in Liberty Park, Memphis, TN
About The Show
Great Life Festival has been a tradition for 12 years in Arizona and has been so successful that we are bringing the Great Life to Memphis, TN! Live music on June 24th begins at 4:00pm; gates open at 3:00pm.
Great Life Festival is a complete entertainment experience with renowned national and local acts on an outdoor stage and a variety of prime experiences that celebrate “the Great Life.” In 2023, guests will enjoy a pre-concert wine, craft beer, and bourbon tasting, a variety of food, and even shopping. Add great live music under the stars after an afternoon of wine/beer tasting with savory bites and you have the makings of a perfect day at the Great Life Festival 2023.
Schedule*
3:00pm | Gates open
4:00pm – 5:00pm | The Family Stone
5:30pm – 7:00pm | WAR
7:30pm – 9:00pm | Kool & The Gang
About Kool & The Gang
Kool & the Gang have influenced the music of three generations. Thanks to songs like Celebration, Cherish, Jungle Boogie, Summer Madness and Open Sesame, they’ve earned two Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, 25 Top Ten R&B hits, nine Top Ten Pop hits and 31 gold and platinum albums. Kool & the Gang has performed continuously for the past 43 years, longer than any R&B group in history. Their bulletproof funk and jazzy arrangements have also made them the most sampled band of all time.
With the explosion of hip-hop in the 90’s, Kool & the Gang’s incredible catalog of grooves made them DJ favorites. They were second only to R&B icon James Brown as sources of rap music samples.
Today, the group enjoys global fame and recognition and a following that spans generations due in part to the groups widely sampled catalogue. Kool & the Gang’s drum beats, bass, guitar and signature horn lines lace the tracks of numerous artists including the Beastie Boys, Jay-Z, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Cypress Hill, and P. Diddy. Kool & the Gang is the most sampled band in hip-hop by far. Their music is also featured on the soundtracks for Rocky, Saturday Night Fever, Pulp Fiction, Wreck-It Ralph and countless others.
Kool & the Gang has continued to tour the world appearing with artists such as Kid Rock, Dave Matthews Band, Elton John, The Roots and a 50-city tour with Van Halen.
About WAR
Multi-platinum-selling WAR, the original street band, has been sharing its timeless music and message of brotherhood and harmony for 5 decades before millions across the globe. WAR has sold more than 50 million records since its formation to include ten Billboard Top 10 hits. Top 40 hits include the timeless classics “Why Can’t We Be Friends,” “Low Rider,” “The World Is A Ghetto,” “The Cisco Kid,” and many more.
Fifteen of WAR’s albums have achieved Gold Status in the US and many of them have gone multi-platinum, including “Eric Burdon Declares War” (1970), “Black Man’s Burdon” (1971), “All Day Music” (1971), “WAR Live” (1972), “The World Is A Ghetto” (1972), “Deliver The Word” (1973), “Why Can’t We Be Friends” (1975), “Greatest Hits” (1976), “Platinum Jazz” (1976), “Galaxy” (1977), “The Music Band” (1979), and “Best of WAR and More” (1986).
Former President, Barack Obama, placed “All Day Music” on his 2020 summer playlist, just the latest example of WAR’s influence being felt in modern times. With samples and nods by artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Flo-Rida, Thomas Rhett, Tupac, Smash Mouth, Janet Jackson, Dave Matthews, Korn, and countless others, it is evident that WAR remains a household name. More recently, LA Weekly declared WAR in the top 10 concerts of 2018. The group has been honored numerous times by the City of Los Angeles for its community involvement, as well as many other communities throughout the world.
WAR has not only sealed their status as a household name, but has also proven that their music and messages continue to be as relevant as ever today as they have always been.
About The Family Stone
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, R&B Pioneer Award Winner, and original founding member of Sly & The Family Stone; Jerry Martini, along with Phunne Stone (The multi-talented daughter of Sly Stone and the late great Cynthia Robinson) bringing the music of the first inter-racial inter-gender, main-stream major bank in Rock & Roll history…
…the chart topping hits of Sly & The Family Stone.
These Funksters are joined by the powerful voice of Swang Stewart on vocals, bringing a message of peace, love, and social consciousness
Through musical harmony with some of the funkiest players of all time. Big Guns of Funk like Nate Wingfield on the Guitar, Jimmy Mckinney on Keys, Frank Klepacki on Drums, and Blaise Sison on bass adding the proper pocket to the raw Family Stone sound.
They present an explosive set of their Psychedelic Funk classic hits of the 60’s and 70s. The raw, unfiltered original sound that became part of
The essential building blocks of many, if not most, of the great modern artists toolkits. Sampled and covered by major artists around the world,
The influence of their music and sound is immeasurable in the development of modern music as we know it today. Shaping the music of artists like Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Prince, The Jackson 5, Miles Davis, Run DMC, Dr Dre, Snoop Dog, Chuck D, John Mayer, John Legend, Madonna, Aretha Franklin, Doris Day, Lenny Kravitz, The Roots, The Beastie Boys, 2pac, The Gorillas Digital Underground, LL Cool J, Ice Cube, Fatboy Slim, A Tribe Called Quest, Arrested Development, Maroon 5, Brandy, Cypress Hill, Public Enemy, Missy Elliot, NWA De LA Soul, Ice T, Kid Rock, Coolio, Queen Latifah, The Beach Boys, Massive Attack, Tony! Toni Toni!, Black Uhuru, Will I Am, Outkast, Cee Lo Green, Steven Tyler, and countless other mainstream top 40 artist too numerous to mention.
Legendary Anthems like “I Want to Take You Higher,” “Everyday People,” “Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin, “Dance To The Music, “
Hot Fun In the Summertime,” “Family Affair, “Sing a Simple Song,” and many other recognizable tunes from their vast catalog of albums including the album “STAND’ which in 2015, was declared a National Treasure, preserved in The United States Library of Congress. In 2015, “STAND” was also induced into The Grammy Hall of Fame.
