Four Nights on the Bay: Great South Bay Turns 18 With The Used, Sublime, Gov't Mule and My Morning Jacket
Clear your Thursday. And your Friday. And — you know what, just take the whole weekend of July 23–26 and point your car at Shorefront Park, because the Great South Bay Music Festival has stacked its 18th annual edition high enough that no single day does it justice. Long Island's largest music event, on a waterfront lawn in Patchogue, with a cast Relix pegs at 28 acts "in jam, indie, roots-rock, Americana, ska and more." Here's how the four nights break down.
Thursday, July 23 — The Used headline the loud one, with Bayside, Cartel and Koyo along for the ride. If you came up screaming along to early-2000s emo, this is your homecoming; Bayside are practically local royalty, and the pit will remember every word.
Friday, July 24 — Sublime take the top slot, backed by Common Kings, The Ries Brothers and the NY Ska-Jazz Ensemble. Bring sunscreen and a skank step. This is the night the bay smells like summer.
Saturday, July 25 — Gov't Mule anchor the jam-and-roots centerpiece, and it's a murderers' row underneath: Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers, Sierra Hull, Quinn Sullivan, and TAZ featuring Long Island's own guitar phenom Brandon Niederauer. If you like your solos long and your musicianship absurd, do not miss a minute.
Sunday, July 26 — My Morning Jacket send it home, with Little Feat, Andy Falco and Miles To Dayton. Jim James's reverb over the water at dusk is the kind of thing you'll describe to people for years, poorly.
Two things that make this festival more than a lineup. First, the money means something: organizers say "a portion of every ticket sold will benefit the GSB–Stony Brook Cancer Center Fund, which has raised more than $250,000 for cancer research and patient support to date." Second, the door policy is refreshingly humane — kids under 10 get in free, so this is a bring-the-family bay day, not just a pilgrimage for the tattooed faithful.
A few field notes. Set times, stage assignments and gate hours weren't finalized at publication time, so check the festival's own site before you commit to a plan. Shorefront Park is a real park — grass, water, sun exposure — so hydrate like an adult and pack accordingly.
Eighteen years in, Great South Bay has quietly become the thing the rest of the country assumes Long Island doesn't have: a genuine, multi-day, multi-genre festival with a conscience and a view. Four nights, one bay, and a lineup that runs from screamo to Southern rock without blinking. See you on the lawn — I'll be the one crying during "Wordless Chorus."
Sources: GSB 2026 lineup — Relix; GSB 2026 — NYS Music; GSB 2026 — JamBase; Artist lineup