As G. Love & Special Sauce prepare to celebrate 20 years of Lemonade—the album that helped define their blues-soaked, hip-hop-leaning sound—this anniversary tour is gaining a powerful new dimension: the addition of musician and surfer, Makua as a special guest on the 2026 run.
While the tour honors a defining moment in G. Love’s catalog, Makua’s presence adds a new level to the experience. The North Shore big-wave surf champion–turned–globally touring musician brings a magnetic, island-rooted perspective that expands the tour from a look back into something fully alive, forward-moving, and emotionally charged.
From Big Waves to Big Stages
Makua’s transition from world-class surfer to full-time musician reads like a second life—one sparked by a career-altering injury that forced him to slow down and reconnect with the music threaded through his family. Under the guidance of multi-Diamond, multi-Platinum producer Jimmy Messer, he’s built a sound that blends reggae, rock, rap, and soul, anchored by the warmth of his Hawaiian lineage and the spirit of his uncle, the legendary Israel Kamakawiwo‘ole.
In the past few years, Makua has stepped onto some of the biggest stages of his musical career: opening Eddie Vedder’s Ohana Festival (with Vedder joining him mid-set), collaborating with Wiz Khalifa, touring internationally with AWOLnation, and delivering a standout performance at BottleRock Napa Valley. His artistic rise has been fast, but also unmistakably genuine.
A Natural Fit for G. Love’s Musical Universe
G. Love has always thrived at the crossroads—between blues and hip-hop, tradition and reinvention, legacy and improvisation. Makua lives in those intersections too. His musical vocabulary is wide, his tone rich with lived experience, and his presence disarmingly rooted. Adding him to the Lemonade anniversary tour feels less like a feature and more like an expansion of the show’s emotional palette.
Where Lemonade radiates sun-drenched ease and communal joy, Makua channels ocean-deep calm, soulful grit, and the storytelling pulse of the Pacific. Together, the combination creates something bigger than either on their own—a tour anchored in history, but lit from within by a global, surf-soaked perspective.
As G. Love highlights the timeless glow of Lemonade and his newest project, Ode to R.L., the tour becomes a gathering of eras: Hill Country blues, island-born soul, hip-hop blues fusion, and the connective thread that ties all of it together.
Makua is the through-line to the next chapter. His inclusion signals that this tour isn’t just a look back at 20 years of a classic record—it’s a celebration of the evolving community around G. Love & Special Sauce, one that spans coasts, cultures, and generations.
Tickets and more information are available at philadelphonic.com.
