This years Kokua Festival, put on by Jack Johnson, was hyped to be the best yet. With local group Go Jimmy Go, Hawaii born Mason Jennings, Local Girl Paula Fuga, Dave Matthews, Tim Reynolds, and of course Jack Johson how could it not be good.

But in the 4 years that I’ve gone (missed one) this was the best one yet, both days. Yeah I was lucky enough to score tickets to both days of Kokua this year. Aside from the $7.75 beers, it was a winner. I’ve been waiting for a while to see Dave Matthews perform in Hawaii and to see him with Tim Reynolds was even better.

Each night was different, the first night Dave was a little more comical, and Jack played longer. Even Matt Costa, who was in town earlier in the week for a concert at Next Door in Honolulu, played a song with Jack. The second night Matt wasn’t there but Dave played some great songs, Bartender, Crash, and The Maker. Each night finished up with a Dave, Tim and Jack Jam session, some solor Jack songs, and of course, the 3 R’s with the whole group. That’s right, Dave Matthews was up on stage singing Reduce, Reuse, Recycle while Timmy Reynolds jammed. It was crazy!

The Eco Village was larger this year than previous years, either that or there was just more free stuff, and there was water stations this year for refilling water bottles (can’t remember, but I don’t think they had that last year.) In fact, this was the only place I’ve ever seen the line for water be longer than the line for beer!

All in all it was a great concert. I’m sure I’ll remember more, like if you road your bike to the concert you got free valet service and a separate line to go in.

UPDATE: You can check out our photo galleries from this years Kokua Festival at Kokua Festival 2008 Day 1 and Kokua Festival 2008 Day 2