Before taking an indefinite hiatus, Aqueous will go out with a bang with the Great Flamingle II. The second installment of the Buffalo, NY progressive jam quartet’s curated festival will bring a lineup of friends, longtime collaborators, and special sets to Kissing Bridge Ski Resort in Glenwood, 30 minutes outside the band’s hometown.
The festival set for August 11th and 12th will feature five sets from hosts Aqueous. Finding time between those performances, AQ’s longtime colleagues Dopapod and TAUK will perform in addition to Mungion, Tand (which now features Aqueous drummer Rob Houk), Witty Tarbox, The Pickle Mafia, Damone Jackson Outcome, Cypher, Turtle Logic, and more.
The Great Flamingle II will also present a special Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater tribute set hosted by Aqueous guitarist Mike Gantzer. Uncle Mike has never been shy about the effect that the punk/metal soundtrack to the skateboarding video game franchise has had on his musical identity. Back in 2021 when he first broke news of his hardcore side project Death Kings with Umphrey’s McGee bassist Ryan Stasik, he said that the THPS soundtrack was directly responsible for Death Kings.
“All the music on [Hawk’s] video games, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, is the music that most influenced this project,” he told Andy Frasco on his World Saving Podcast. (In addition to liking the soundtrack, Gantzer isn’t too bad at the game either.)
Related: Tony Hawk Sits In With ‘Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater’ Cover Band In London [Videos]
When Aqueous announced the inaugural Great Flamingle back in July 2022, it was similarly billed as a last hurrah. Earlier that same month, Aqueous announced it would take the rest of the year off as guitarist/keyboardist Dave Loss welcomed the birth of his first child.
Two weeks into 2023, Aqueous returned to announce that the hiatus would go on longer than anticipated. With Dave Loss’ announcement that he will step away from full-time touring to be with his family, Aqueous originally planned to go dark following an appearance at Summer Camp Music Festival over Memorial Day Weekend. With the announcement of The Great Flamingle II, it appears there’s one last, last hurrah.
Tickets for Aqueous’ Great Flamingle II go on sale on Friday, June 9th.
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