Festival Reviews – Page 2

Pilgrimage Festival Sets High Bar in its Inaugural Year

October 2, 2015 Meredith Mattlin

Cage the Elephant's Matt Shultz showing off his acrobatics at Pilgrimage — Cage the Elephant’s Matt Shultz showing off his acrobatics at Pilgrimage

The forecast for Saturday in Franklin was rainy and bleak, hardly the weather thousands of eager Tennesseans wanted for the inaugural Pilgrimage Festival in Franklin. Big names like Cage the Elephant, Iron & Wine, and Wilco dominated Saturday.

The two-day event likely seemed quite cozy to seasoned veterans of the summer festival circuit, with only two main stages (and two smaller ones) and a schedule that frustratingly overlapped nearly every performer with another. Yet, the lineup itself made up for it.

The Festival(s) of Your Dreams

April 17, 2015 Julia Anderson

Spring has sprung and that means Rites of Spring is upon us here at Vanderbilt. This two-day festival is the most anticipated music event of the school year. The hype got me thinking, while this may be one of the most exciting occasions in the Nashville area: what are the most interesting and unique festivals around the world? I began the search for the festivals that sounded too good to be true, exceeded expectations, and attracted people from all the around the world. While I am sure I missed many worthy names, the following list are a few of the events that really caught my eye.

Are You Ready to CounterPoint?

April 14, 2015 Julia Anderson

WRVU is hosting its final giveaway this semester to give two lucky people a general admission ticket to CounterPoint Festival happening May 22-24 in Georgia! We will be announcing one…

Girls, Girls, Girls! A Look At Some Leading Ladies In The Current Alt Scene

October 24, 2014 Alex Justice

November 9th, 2013. Winter was upon us as potential students scurried around campus knocking leafs around the greek row sidewalks with their weathered, leather boots as they toured a campus and a city that might one day become a home to them. Pretending the brisk Nashville temperatures were still fall conditions, I dressed in a thin long sleeve shirt and prepared for the night ahead of me. We had been looking forward to this day for months. American Authors at one of Nashville’s most unique, bursting of character and quite frankly small venues, The End. Thrilled to leave the lonesome cave I’d created of post break-up tears and cheesy rom coms, otherwise known as my room, my friends and I arrived at the venue minutes before the show facing a crowd of no more than 30 people. Lost in chatter and introductions a voice suddenly broke through the noise and stopped me in my tracks. Who was this girl with the powerhouse vocals strong enough to shatter the thoughts of everyone in the room and draw every eye in this small dive club to her luscious hair, small frame and impeccable style? The voice belonged to Mandy Lee, one third of the trio Misterwives hailing from New York City.

Adventures at Bonnaroo 2014

July 20, 2014 Ashley Eady

Ah, Bonnaroo 2014. As I wrote this post, I had a difficult time formulating the proper words to describe my experience. Well first of all, I’ll say when I set out for Bonnaroo on Wednesday night, I knew it’d be a great time, but I had no idea that after I got back home on Sunday, I’d be thinking I had the best weekend of my life.

Bonnaroo 2014- The Highlights

July 4, 2014 Jillian Stein

My attendance a few weeks ago at the strange 4-day escape from reality called Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival marked my fifth year at the event. Early on every year the same doubtful thought runs through my mind: Why do I continue year after year to put myself through this? Sometime between my first use of the less than gleaming porta-potties and the realization that yes, I would indeed be this sweaty and disheveled for the next four days, that moment of panic comes.

Why Everyone Should Experience the Honda Battle of the Bands

February 2, 2014 Ashley Eady

I know what you’re thinking. Perhaps you’re thinking marching band is lame. When you see or hear the words “marching band,” you might think of the stereotypical “band geek” who walks around talking about cork grease and spit valves. Or maybe you think of sexually frustrated high schoolers, who brag about all the unmentionable things they did during that one time at band camp (looking at you, American Pie). But, I can promise you that marching band isn’t really like that…

…well, except maybe for that one time at band camp. Anyone who’s been in marching band knows band camp can get pretty wild for a number of reasons.

All band jokes aside, here is an explanation for why everyone should experience the Honda Battle of the Bands at some point during their lifetime.

Fly Free Festival 2013

November 4, 2013 Holly McKee

Adams, TN is a brief town: home to barely 600 people and a few miles of softly rolling fields, glinting golden in the husky glow of the late autumn sun. Signs for corn mazes and freshly harvested clover honey adorn the narrowly winding US 41–leading a silver Chevy, stereo blasting James Blake’s “Retrograde,” to the Red River Campground, where the one rule of the weekend is to fly free.

This past weekend hosted the inaugural Fly Free Festival, a festival aiming to de-Roo the middle Tennessee music & arts community. Bonnaroo, though it is a world of magic, has grown to such incredible proportions that it has lost the intimacy and mindfulness of the original festival mission–it is, essentially, a temporary urbanity. Fly Free was the type of festival where an unlocked car did not mean property theft and falling asleep under the stars did not pose an invitation for violence.

Atlanta’s Music Midtown Festival is a Can’t-Miss Weekend

September 25, 2013 Lucas Kunsman

Image from Music Midtown

This past Friday and Saturday marked the 3^rd year of the return of Atlanta’s Music Midtown Festival to Piedmont Park. The two-day festival included three stages and a diverse line-up ranging from rap genius Kendrick Lamar, to classic rock titans Journey, to live show titans Red Hot Chili Peppers. I attended the festival with a friend who is a graduate student in chemistry at Georgia Tech. In short, it was an amazing weekend. After the jump, I’ll be giving you a look at it day-by-day, and then summarizing the festival experience as a whole to wrap things up.

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