3 Best Washington State Music Festivals for 2014

May 13, 2014
By Jimmy Berg

I’m sure you all have noticed music festival announcements happening left and right in the past month, signs that music festival season has indeed arrived once again. Here in the Pacific Northwest, after being shrouded in clouds all winter, we like to get out and enjoy the great outdoors. Throw in a ton of incredible local and national acts and it’s a no-brainer. The only problem is, we have so many great festivals to choose from, it can be hard to know which ones to choose.

Don’t fret. Today, we’re featuring our 3 picks for Washington’s 2014 music festival season. The Fisherman’s Village Music Festival in Everett, located just a half hour north of Seattle, is celebrating its inaugural year this weekend. Timber! Fest is celebrating its second year in the idyllic setting of Carnation and features some great national names alongside local talent. And, finally, Chinook Fest, located in beautiful Naches, Washington, in the heart of Central Washington’s agricultural lands, has an amazing lineup for lovers of roots-rock and Americana music.

Fisherman’s Village Festival

The good folks at the Everett Music Initiative have an incredible lineup in store for music lovers this coming weekend, Friday, May 16 and Saturday, May 17 in Everett. 60+ bands will perform on four stages in Everett’s beautiful downtown district. All venues are within walking distance from each other, including the historic Everett Theatre, the oldest running theater west of the Mississippi.

Northwest favorites The Moondoggies and singer Mary Lambert hail from Everett and this festival is all part of an effort to raise Everett’s profile as a bastion of local talent.

Festival organizer Steven Graham says, “After two years of putting on shows in downtown Everett as the Everett Music Initiative, Ryan Crowther and I decided it was time to launch our own festival. This is all in an effort to bring more quality music to Everett and make it a better place to live, work and play. Events like this festival help shine a light on some of the great talent we have up here in our city.”

The Moondoggies will be performing one of their only shows this year at the festival alongside Rose Windows, La Luz, The Grizzled Mighty, The Maldives, Fly Moon Royalty, Hobosexual and more. Be sure to pick up your tickets in advance as they’re going fast!

Austin’s Wildfire Festival and 3 Months of Reggae

February 20, 2013
By Jimmy Berg

Music festival season is fast approaching and our site is already starting to fill up with tickets to festivals all around the country.

One of the first big events of the season is, of course, SXSW in Austin, Texas. Originally started in 1987 as a way to showcase independent music, SXSW has turned into one of the biggest interactive media events in the country, complete with corporate-sponsored showcases featuring big name acts, high-tech trade shows and media startup conferences. Attendance has sky-rocketed from 700 attendees in its first year, to over 40,000 attendees today. As a result, being able to see bands has become a bit of a challenge for the average music fan.

That’s why we’re excited to be ticketing a real “independent” festival in Austin that’s focused on a genre of music that we deeply love here at Brown Paper Tickets: reggae! Our music doer Billy Geoghegan has been playing in reggae and ska bands for years and you’ll often hear a reggae beat coming out of the computer speakers of many of our employees’ desks.

So, when we see that we’re ticketing a festival like the 4th Annual Wildfire Reggae and Arts Festival, we naturally want to spread the word and support it in any way we can. It’s going on during SXSW, so if you’re in town for “South By” and want to experience some high quality grooves in a beautiful setting, then Wildfire is for you!

Now in its fourth year, the Wildfire Reggae and Arts Festival will take place at The Music Ranch from Thursday, March 7 to Saturday, March 9 and will spotlight more than 30 bands offering a cross-section of the reggae genre, from ska to rocksteady to roots, dub and beyond. Past headliners have included Collie Buddz, Lynval Golding (of The Specials), HR (of Bad Brains), Common Kings, Contra Coup and Josh Heinrichs. This year offers another stellar lineup: Don Carlos (of Black Uhuru fame), Gyptian, Marlon Asher and the Farmers, The Expanders, Mike Love, Alex Marley, a large selection of DJ’s and more. They expect over 4,000 attendees this year and there will also be camping in a beautiful 80-acre oak tree forest. You can pick up daily passes, three-day passes or the coveted VIP passes right over here.

Feel the Love This Friday!

February 8, 2012
By Jimmy Berg

Northwest Lovefest began in the same Seattle neighborhood as the Brown Paper Tickets flagship office. It’s a community-based music and arts festival that began in 2010. What originally started as a celebration of the artistic talent residing in this eclectic neighborhood has now expanded its vision and scope to include like-minded talent from throughout the Northwest.

The goal of LoveFest is to provide an affordable alternative to the high-priced, fenced-in music festivals that have become the norm. They have lowered advanced ticket prices this year and with the help of TerraPass, will be neutralizing the carbon waste from their generators. They also donate a portion of each ticket sale to offset 50 miles of carbon per person. Last year they offset 9.3 metric tons of carbon waste from the festival. Through these environmental efforts and by lowering the admission price, LoveFest gets closer to their goal of being all about ‘love for the environment and love for one another.’

This year’s festival will take place on Saturday, June 30 and Sunday, July 1 in Magnuson Park. Preview shows will take place in the months leading up to the festival. These shows will give folks a taste of the incredible musical talent that will be hitting LoveFest stages this summer. The kickoff show will take place at Nectar Lounge, this Friday, February 10 and will feature live performances from Cody Beebe and the Crooks, Perry Acker and Redwood Son. You can pick up advanced tickets right over here.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO3Ss2ZZDRs]

Get out to Nectar and support Northwest LoveFest, a true community, music and arts festival – powered by love!

Music >

BPT’s Summer Music Festival Guide

June 3, 2011
By Jimmy Berg

Through the tiny window in the Event Promotions office, a ray of light penetrates the Brown Paper Tickets basement offices. It hurts my eyes to look at. It’s something that I haven’t seen for many months. What could it be? I think it’s sunshine! That tells me one thing, summer is coming. Time to break out the sunglasses and the shorts and get out there and do some outdoor living.

The sunshine also heralds the beginning of summer music festival season and, let me tell you, we’re ticketing tons of great festivals all over the country. From classical concerts to jam bands to indie rock, it’s all represented here and while my list is probably far from complete, I’ve included some of the festivals that caught my eye.
Read More…

Music >

3 Best Washington State Music Festivals for 2014

Austin’s Wildfire Festival and 3 Months of Reggae

Feel the Love This Friday!

BPT’s Summer Music Festival Guide

Topics

Tags