By: Jonny Verbeten, Ph.D. (Arts Education Coordinator)
Every August, the downtown streets surrounding the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts and Two Doc’s Brewing Co. transform into a vibrant celebration of music and art. Since its founding in 2021, the Lubbock Live Festival for the Arts has become one of the city’s most dynamic live music events, blending a grassroots spirit with high-end concert production.
The festival began with the goal of amplifying local talent and drawing attention to artists who, despite their skill, often performed for small crowds in scattered venues. I spoke with the festival founder and organizer, Jeremy Couture, who recalled his motivation: “There weren’t very many people at the majority of the shows I went to… so I decided that I wanted to make an event where I could put these artists in one place and make it easier for locals to find cool projects and follow them throughout the rest of the year.”
The result was a single-day, multi-stage festival that began with local music but soon encompassed multiple streams of artistic expression. “We started adding as many types of art forms as we could,” Couture recalled, “like dance, theater, visual art, etc.” This expansive spirit also came to include more out-of-town musical acts. The 2025 lineup reflects this evolution, featuring groups like Austin-based Silverada and Band of Heathens, alongside Lubbock artists like Velvet Grove, JoJo DiSalvo, Clement Hall, and of course, Couture himself. “We’ve added some out-of-town headliners to help draw in more people,” he explained, “while still staying true to the mission of showcasing the awesome local scene. I think the blending of both is important.”
This year’s festival will be held once again at Two Docs Brewing Co. and will be scaled down to two stages. “I think not having it be so spread out will help make the experience more fun and more festival-like. Also, like last year, we will be building a giant stage in the street as our main stage!” As in years past, every effort has been made to keep the festival as affordable as possible, coming in at just $20 a ticket. This is consistent with Couture’s larger vision of making art accessible, a challenge he clearly welcomes by noting, “some folks might say that it’s a bad business practice, but the goal isn’t to make a massive profit—it’s to give people a chance to be exposed to great art, and to support the scene in all of its different facets.” As a performer himself, Couture understands the unique challenges faced by musicians and makes his festival as accommodating as possible. “I’ve played a lot of festival-style gigs that were incredibly frustrating due to a lack of planning,” says Couture. “I wanted to make sure that my event was easy for the artist and that they leave happy. I take pride in feeling like this is an event made by artists, for artists.”
At the core of Lubbock Live is a philanthropic mission to support the local arts community. Each year, a portion of the festival’s proceeds is donated to local nonprofit organizations. Since its debut, Lubbock Live has contributed to the LISD Fine Arts Department, East Lubbock Art House, the Lubbock Roots Historical Arts Council, The Wallace Theater, and this year’s beneficiary, the Lubbock Youth Orchestras. This fulfills a key element of the festival’s mission statement “to give back to the local arts community [and to] raise awareness for Lubbock citizens who may have been uninformed about the wonderful art happening all around us, while simultaneously giving back to and supporting these artists and ultimately, our city.”
Couture explained, “The idea behind donating to local arts programs is to help support the programs that make and grow the artists that are in Lubbock [and that] all arts programs deserve to be awarded funds for their work.”
Looking ahead, Couture envisions the festival becoming a major cultural anchor for the region: “In five to ten years, I envision Lubbock Live growing exponentially. I want to have multiple stages with big out-of-town acts, along with many local bands throughout the day.” With this vision, Lubbock Live has positioned itself to become a haven for the arts and live music in our community for many years to come.
This year’s Lubbock Live Festival will be held on Saturday, August 23. Grab your tickets. If you’re traveling in from out of town, check out our friends at Visit Lubbock for great suggestions of where to stay, eat and the many fun things there are to do while you’re in the Hub City. You can find their website at visitlubbock.org.
For more information on this year’s festival please visit: https://www.lubbocklivefestival.com/