Performance

Live Tribute Benefit Music Festival

A community tradition of over 30 years, Performance is Northampton’s annual end-of-summer Live Tribute Music Benefit at Pines Theater in Look Park.

Jointly presented by The Northampton Arts Council and the Parent-Teacher-Organizations (PTO) of the four Northampton Elementary Schools, JFK Middle School, and Northampton High School, proceeds from "Performance" are shared to equally fund arts enrichment programs in the public school, and an additional second grant round administered by the arts council to support the work of many, many local artists and performing groups.

"Performance" started way back in 1991 when funding for the arts took a dismal turn. The Mass Cultural Council went from a budget of 20 million down to 3 million dollars. The Arts Council met with cultural liaisons from PTOs of local schools and decided to create a big event to raise money. Lookstock: The Performance Peace brought close to 2,000 people to Look Park, and we’ve been going strong ever since! Each year the festival is a near sell-out, bringing our community together to rock out to their favorite local bands, dance in the sunshine, help raise funds for a good cause and strengthen our connections.

The original concept for "Performance" was for local bands to transform into the persona of another established nationally recognized act and perform their bands’ style, based on a new theme for each year’s festival. Examples include Transperformance 22 “Food Groups” (Heather Maloney as Amy Winehouse), Transperformance 20 “Body Parts” (King Radio as The Flaming Lips) Transperformance 13 “Southern Fried” (Mark Mulchahy with J Mascis as The Allman Brothers)

Past Themes:

• 1991 – Lookstock: The Performance Peace

• 1992 – Beyond Karaoke

• 1993 – Dick Clark Look Park

• 1994 – Rock and Roll Heaven

• 1995 – Way Off Broadway

• 1996 – Night at the Opry

• 1997 – Tuesday Night Fever

• 1998 – Oy Vegas

• 1999 – Limeypalooza

• 2000 – Look Punk

• 2001 – Cali-Faux-Nia-Dreaming

• 2002 – Oh! Canada

• 2003 – Southern Fried Transperformance

• 2004 – Animals and Insects

• 2005 – New York: A Bite from the Big Apple

• 2006 – All in the Family

• 2007 – Color by Numbers

• 2008 – Letters and Numbers

• 2009 – LookStock

• 2010 – Body Parts

• 2011 – Nohobility

• 2012 – Food Groups

• 2013 – Beyond Bob

• 2014 – Off The Map

• 2015 – Look at The Movies

• 2016 – Labor Party

• 2017 – Rock N Roll Heaven

• 2018 – Amperbands

• 2019 – LookStock

• 2020 – LIVE AID

• 2021 – Unsung Heroes

• 2022 – Nevermind the 90s

• 2023 – The Elements!