07/17/2025
Eastport a Rockin' 2025 bands were 🔥🔥🔥🔥!!!!
As always, all of the musicians donate their time and world-class talent to play Eastport a Rockin', where all of the proceeds are donated back to the community via AMFM, the Maritime Museum, and other local causes.
This makes it even more remarkable how diligent and professional every single musician was: arriving with time to spare and a positive spirit, navigating to their stage, and giving 100% to their performances, with some musicians playing in 2 or even 3 bands at the festival. This diligence by the musicians made it possible for all 4 stages to run smoothly and on time – a great accomplishment at any multi-stage festival – and which was particularly crucial this year because of the Moment of Silence we all observed to honor the Capital Gazette shooting victims, senselessly murdered exactly 7 years before this year’s Eastport a Rockin'.
This recognition required very careful coordination and timing among all of the musicians, and we are particularly grateful to those bands playing during the 2:30 timeslot for managing meticulously to synchronize this moment on all stages.
All 40 bands on all 4 of our beautiful stages played phenomenal sets showcasing their original music from a variety of different genres. We've heard a plethora of positive feedback from so many of the attendees who raved about the music this year.
Particular thanks to Ryan Abbott and Journos for sharing your moving tribute to the Capital Gazette journalist heroes at 2:30 on the Wendi & Jeni Memorial Lawn Stage. Susanna Laird opened up the Lawn Stage beautifully, playing an extended set at a moment’s notice, leading into Carly Winter’s lovely set, taking us through to the Eastport Oyster Boys, who remain the only band to have played all 28 years of Eastport a Rockin'. We were so very grateful to welcome back Dean Rosenthal and the 5-piece Racket, as well as Skribe and Leo & Cygnus. Steve Lowe and the Lowe Downs graced this stage, and we were excited to include The Bards for the first time, with their super-entertaining set.
The Kelly Bell Band kicked things off right on our Second Street Stage, as part of their year-long celebration of 30 years as a band! EAR veterans Loop of Boom and Doug Segree Band gave us stellar sets leading into The Jello Boys playing –believe it or not – their first time at Eastport a Rockin', and handled the Moment of Silence so seamlessly (special thanks Band Mom and vocalist extraordinaire, Leslie Webber). Followed by Brendan Lane & The Sugar Packets, Tobias Russell, and Area-301 just about blowing the tent off that stage . . . and then Honest Lee Soul and Sweet Leda closed with the most badass, musician-sharing back-to-back set that I will never forget. Dj Folly was spinning all day on Second Street, with his catchy mix including some of our beloved local bands on request, since that’s what we’re all about at Eastport a Rockin'.
Thanks to Madisun Bailey who returned to Eastport a Rockin' and hosted the Moment of Silence on the Horn Point Harbor Marina Stage. Shelby Morgan (and her badass band) rocked it out her first time on this stage, as did Local Souls (wow!) and The Last Second Save. We were super-psyched to welcome back MR VCR, Dirk Schwenk, Honey Sol, All You Need and Desert Shade, while DJ Syck Turtle did his thing, spinning sweet tunes and hyping up the crowd.
Thanks to Don’t Fret who managed the Moment of Silence on the SailTime/ Priddy Music Stage, flanked by their fellow Priddy Music Academy bands: Turning Tides, Blame Lee, Lettucehead, Savage in Nature, Premier, Dagger, and Q-Funk.
We were glad to welcome back Naptown Sings and Plays for their consistently beautiful performance, and were excited to include Chase Segree, DOMN and Tim Kurtzberg for the first time.
Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!!!
I wanted to wait until I had some photos back from some of the uber-talented photographers who donated their work for the festival. Huge thanks to Demetrios Fotos, Steve Satzberg, Mark Peria and Rob Boucek for the great shots featured here.
We've been listening to this year's Eastport a Rockin' bands ever since the festival. I purposely included many bands this year who are putting out new albums right about now, so please check out these fresh releases. I can say that every band and musician who played Eastport a Rockin' 2025 is extremely talented and community-oriented; we are lucky to have them in our vibrant music scene. You’ll do well to follow and support them; keep up with all they have going on. 🤩 😍
