Downtown Youngstown will rock to 13 bands
By Jon Moffett
A local band, Jones 4 Revival, is hosting Saturday's music festival.
YOUNGSTOWN — Although summer won’t officially start for another few weeks, downtown Youngstown should heat up this weekend.
The Youngstown band Jones 4 Revival is putting on a music festival that is sure to cause a stir in the streets. JonesFest will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday on West Federal Street, between Phelps and Wick, as well as inside Barley’s, 21 W. Federal St. Jim DeCapua, J4R’s frontman, hopes there will be many more JonesFests in the future.
JonesFest is the first attempt by the band to offer a summer-style concert for their fans. The event is free.
“The whole idea [behind JonesFest] is we’ve always wanted to throw a festival,” DeCapua said. “The more we started thinking, we asked ourselves ‘why not?’”
The event will feature 13 bands.
In addition to music, visitors will be treated to an array of other activities and entertainment. Before the bands begin to play, JonesFest will feature food, games such as cornhole, two comedians, street magicians, a mechanical bull, vendors and a disc jockey playing music. The first band is slated to begin at the outside stage at 4:20 p.m.
DeCapua and his band mates (Matt Hahn on bass, Drew Ridgley on keyboard, Fredo Burazer on saxophone/flute and Gino West on drums) hope for a crowd of more than 2,000, but note that with good weather, that number could easily double.
“There are a lot of people around here who want to go to concerts, but don’t want to drive or whatever,” DeCapua said. “What I can do is promote the scene, first off, in [downtown] Youngstown. We can really start bringing some life down there. Youngstown is really starting to come around again. My goal is to add to that. We’re getting a lot of juice from Vex[Fest], and I think that should help.”
The idea for JonesFest came as a result of the successful VexFest event, an annual all-day music festival in the same location. DeCapua hopes that people will take an interest in JonesFest, and that it, too, can grow in popularity.
“VexFest was amazing,” DeCapua said. “This will be the one of the first big events since then, so I think people are going to come and check it out.”
When asked what separates this event from others, DeCapua noted, “I think the vibe will be there. There will be so much going on that there will be something for everyone. The Zou, one of Youngstown’s bigger bands, is a co-headliner. They’re unique in their own way. Mystic WIP Hustler are kind of Youngstown veterans. Their last show was at Vex, and they’re going to bring their whole crowd with them. Winslow played at Vex — they are a very neo-soul type of band.
“There’s a ton of great music. I want to show people that there is something out there for them. I could talk for hours about this thing.”
The event is being put on strictly through donations and sponsorships. Jones 4 Revival hopes that the event inspires other bands to put on similar venues to help bring people back to the music scene.
“We’re learning,” said DeCapua, “so we’ll see if it works.”