Norfolk, VA – Norfolk Festevents, Ltd. has announced the main stage music lineup for the 50th Annual Norfolk Harborfest® Music, Food & Maritime Festival on Friday-Sunday, June 19-21, 2026, at Town Point Park along the Downtown Norfolk Waterfront. Headlining performances for this year’s event include Patti LaBelle, Fitz and the Tantrums, and JJ Grey & Mofro.
America’s largest, longest-running, free maritime festival, the iconic Norfolk Harborfest®, enters its 50th year in 2026, coinciding with the Juneteenth Norfolk Celebration and Sail250® Virginia. On both land and sea, thrilling activities and live music take center stage, including the annual Parade of Sail featuring international tall ships, TWO of the largest fireworks shows on the East Coast, interactive family games and activities, military exhibits and demonstrations, artisan foods and beverages, and much more. Mark your calendars for Friday-Sunday, June 19-21, 2026, for a historic maritime celebration and one of Hampton Roads’ biggest summertime events!
Below is the Main Stage music lineup for the 2026 Norfolk Harborfest®:
FRIDAY, JUNE 19
Main Stage
4:00pm – Roberta Lea (Country/Pop)
6:00pm – Sister Sledge ft. Sledgendary (R&B/Disco/Pop/Soul)
8:00pm – Patti LaBelle (R&B)
9:30pm – NEW! Fireworks Show
SATURDAY, JUNE 20
Main Stage
4:00pm – The Last Bison (Southern Folk Rock)
6:00pm – Paper Aliens (Psychedelic Soul/Funk/Rock)
8:15pm – Fitz and the Tantrums (Indie Pop/Neo Soul)
9:30pm – Fireworks Show
SUNDAY, JUNE 21
Main Stage
2:30pm – Holy Roller (Southern Rock)
4:30pm – No BS! Brass (Funk/Jazz)
6:30pm – JJ Grey & Mofro (Rock/Soul/Funk/Blues)
The complete music lineup to be announced soon.
ARTIST BIOS
Patti LaBelle | Performing Friday at 8:00pm
Beautiful, simply does not describe the incomparable force known to the world as Patti LaBelle. Through the years, the songbird’s name has become synonymous with grace, style, and class. Her effortless ability to belt out classic rhythm and blues renditions, pop standards and spiritual sonnets has created the unique platform of versatility that the artist is known and revered for.
For more than 60 years, Patti’s resplendent voice has left an indelible mark all over the world. This Philadelphia born entertainer captured her first hit in 1962, as lead singer of The Bluebelles and went on to receive worldwide acclaim with the trailblazing and genre bending trio, Labelle. A solo artist since the 1970s, Patti has created timeless songs that have helped cement her place as a music icon and garnered her numerous honors, including GRAMMY Awards, American Music Awards, NAACP Image Awards, New York Times bestselling books and more.
From music, to film and television, to books, to her successful food and lifestyle brand, Patti’s Good Life, living legend Patti LaBelle has shown her diversity and continued to break down barriers as an artist, entertainer, actress, author and entrepreneur.
Sister Sledge ft. Sledgendary | Performing Friday at 6:00pm
With dance floors all over the world set alight with the contagious joy and expression in their music, the Sledge sisters became a household name and symbol of unity with their 1979 world-wide hit and iconic album ‘We are Family’. The multi-lead vocal group are responsible for some of the biggest dance anthems of all time. Lost in Music, He’s the Greatest Dancer and Thinking of You are universally cherished songs that bring people together in love, life and soulful groove. The group have amassed a string of Gold and Platinum hits and GRAMMY nominations. They have performed on prestigious stages such as London’s Royal Albert Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall, the White House in Washington DC, the famed Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival and before Pope Francis at the World Meeting of Families in their hometown Philadelphia, PA.
Sister Sledge now featuring even more of the Sledge Family, continues the group’s sensational legacy. Under the vocal direction of founding member Debbie Sledge and the genius of Musical Director Dominic Amato, along with an ensemble of insanely talented musicians, the group has achieved a ‘Sledgendary’ place in the entertainment industry. Specializing in BRINGING THE PARTY with the family’s classic hits, Debbie Sledge, Camille Sledge, Tanya Tiet, Thaddeus Sledge and David Sledge make one funky family affair. Sister Sledge continues to deliver the “Sledgendary” message: “Nothing is Greater than LOVE”, honoring sister Joni Sledge’s memory, the gift of family, and spreading joy and togetherness that uplifts and celebrates life through love and music.
Fitz and the Tantrums | Performing Saturday at 8:15pm
In the not-so-distant past, Michael “Fitz” Fitzpatrick, lead singer of acclaimed,
multi-platinum-selling soul-pop outfit Fitz and The Tantrums, admits he would often second-guess himself when writing new music. Following the band’s breakthrough 2013 album, More Than Just a Dream, not to mention a slew of massive hit singles that followed including “Out of My League,” “The Walker,” and “HandClap,” suddenly, Fitz said, “I’ve got all these other little voices in my head swirling around: ‘What do people want?’ ‘What do the fans want?’ You just get all these other things that start to influence you both consciously and subconsciously.” As a direct reaction to this, over the past year, as the band wrote and recorded their forthcoming sixth studio album, Man On The Moon (due on July 25 via Atlantic Records), the singer says he decided to instead throw caution to the wind so as to feel more free in the creative process than at any time during his career to date.
“I decided I was simply going to write for my heart and for my soul and nobody else,” Fitz explains one recent morning. “At this point in our career, myself and the band feel we have complete creative license. Because, c’mon, nobody knows what the rules are anymore. So I’m not going to chase some vapor in the wind. I’m going to just do what I want. And now we have 100 percent creative freedom.”
The result is Fitz and The Tantrums’ most daring album yet — a no-nonsense collection of soulful, pop-infected masterpieces that both thrill and engross listeners in equal measure. It’s the sound of a band — which includes co-lead vocalist Noelle Scaggs, bassist Joseph Karnes, multi-instrumentalist James King, and keyboardist Jeremy Ruzumna — that knows their signature sound, but are willing to take it in new and bold directions. “We’ve never wanted to be stuck in a box. We refused to do that,” offers Scaggs. “With this project, we’re daring to be different.” While some of the band’s previous LPs, Fitz admits, were admittedly written with hit singles in mind, when it came time to craft Man On The Moon, they instead decided to go for a more subtle-sounding collection of songs — more cohesive as a whole, but still with the band’s signature dramatic flair.
Fans got their first taste of the new album with lead track “Ruin The Night,” a funky, infectious song Fitz says is injected with some Gorillaz vibes. It also excitingly finds the vocalist singing in falsetto on the chorus, which he says “felt risky and different.” “I wanted people to know very clearly what this record is going to be, what the journey is
we’re about to take them on,” Fitz says of leading with the track. “I didn’t want to go with the most obvious song first. I wanted to go with the song that’s really setting the intention for this record.”
The Motown-flavored title track and lead single “Man On The Moon”, both Fitz and Scaggs agree, was the one that jump-started the album’s writing process. The doo-wop slathered song, which Scaggs says has a “sticky” chorus and Fitz says is “a cool Supremes song you’ve never heard,” set the compass and direction for the entire project. Other standouts, including the nostalgic “Perfume,” as well as “OK OK OK,” feature a thrilling new vocal innovation that’s a direct result of the band being together so many years. In essence, Scaggs explains, she and Fitz double each other’s vocals on these and other tracks – a vocal effect she’s taken to calling a “super voice.”
This cohesion as a band is naturally reflected in their forever-mesmerizing live show. From their earliest days, the live show, Fitz says, has been the band’s calling card, and fans’ palpably passionate response to each of their gigs remains to this day. “It just feels so natural and so second nature,” Fitz says of the feeling every time the band hits the stage. “It’s what we do. We’ve set a bar for ourselves. It’s one dance-punch after another.”
Fitz and The Tantrums are set to head out on a massive summer headline tour, and the band members say they’re anxious to introduce their new songs into their tight, nonstop set. “It’s going to be a really interesting challenge to how we approach our live show for this record,” Scaggs says.
As for what success looks like to Fitz for the new LP? The frontman says he already feels like he and the band have won. 16 years into their undeniably riveting career, anything that happens going forward, he says, is an added bonus.
Says Fitz: “We only have a profound sense of gratitude.”
JJ Grey & Mofro | Performing Sunday at 6:30pm
From the days of playing greasy local juke joints to headlining major festivals, JJ Grey remains an unfettered, blissful performer, singing with a blue-collared spirit over the bone-deep grooves of his compositions. His presence before an audience is something startling and immediate, at times a funk rave-up, other times sort of a mass-absolution for the mortal weaknesses that make him and his audience human. When you see JJ Grey and his band Mofro live—and you truly, absolutely must—the man is fearless. On stage, Grey delivers his songs with compassion and a relentless honesty. Grey and his current Mofro lineup offer grace and groove in equal measure.
Visit https://bit.ly/Harborfest50 for more details on the 2026 Norfolk Harborfest® Music, Food & Maritime Festival.
The 2026 Norfolk Harborfest is sponsored by the City of Norfolk, Virginia Is For Lovers, Southern Auto Group, Wolcott, Rivers, Gates, Waterside District, Pepsi, CFE Equipment, Sentara Health Plans, LIDL, Customer Magnetism, TFC Recycling, Old Dominion University, Miller Lite, Modelo, Hornblower Cruises & Events, WVEC 13 News Now, WAVY TV 10, 96X, 92.9 The Wave, 106.9 The Fox, 97.3 The Eagle US106.1, Metronet, Smithfield Foods, ZYN, U.S. Air Force Performance Lab, W.F. Magann Corporation, Crofton Industries, Russell’s Heating Cooling Plumbing & Electric, and Rover Cruises.
For more information on Norfolk Festevents and the 2026 Season of Events, visit Festevents.org.
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