If It's Too Loud...

I'm a huge supporter of early fall festivals. It's still warm enough to comfortably spend the day outside, but you most likely won't be profusely sweating all day. There tend to be less obligations on the weekends than there are in the summer. Considering how many festivals are packing the weekends this September, organizers are finally agreeing with me. Here are festivals we're curious about coming up next month! River Roads Festival September 7 Millside Park, Easthampton, MA Western Massachusetts has been a favorite festival destination for me from back in the Warped Tour days in Northampton. River Roads takes place in a park in Easthampton and boasts an amazing folk/singer-songwriter oriented line up. You get well established artists like Dar Williams, Iris Dement, Jill Sobule, and Paula Cole along with favorite up and comers like Haley Heynderickx and Sunny War. Listening to amazing artists in a park on the side of a river is one of our favorite things to do, and Ri...

Photo by Ken Sears Freshgrass definitely has changed since the last time I made it back in 2012. The courtyard where the main stage was is now the smallest stage and the main stage is now in a large field. Well, large compared to a courtyard. As far as an outdoor festival is concerned, it's still relatively small giving the entire fest an intimate feel. The food choices have definitely improved, too. In 2012 we only had the museum cafeteria which quickly ran out of a lot of choices. Now we could choose from a variety of food trucks and caterers spread through the grounds of MASS MoCA.  I was unable to attend Friday evening, so this will be a Trampled By Turtles free review. I'm going to focus on my favorite aspects of Saturday and Sunday, with plenty of pleasant surprises and new discoveries. Rhiannon Giddens Having seen Caroline Chocolate Drops a few times in the past, I fully expected Rhiannon Giddens to be good, even great. Somehow I didn't expect her performanc...

As we prepare for this weekend's Freshgrass 2018 (checking the weather report every hour, repeatedly listening to the festival's Spotify playlist ...), we thought we'd share what we're most looking forward to this weekend. Of course, these could be dropped instantly for another set or by getting lost in the galleries of MASS MoCA, but as of right now, these are our top 5... Rhiannon Giddens, Saturday, 5:00 pm, Courtyard D My first trip to Freshgrass included seeing the Carolina Chocolate Drops in 2014. I've been obsessed with them since then, which has included following each member's solo careers. I still haven't seen Rhiannon Giddens solo live, but that will change on Saturday. Her solo work has been a bit more mainstream than Carolina Chocolate Drops and I'm very curious to see how that plays out live. Seeing how Carolina Chocolate Drops stole the entire festival in 2014, this could be the must see of 2018. Flogging Molly, Saturday, 9:00 pm, ...

Back in May we brought you a handful of some of the smaller music festivals you should be checking out. It's been a couple of months, so we have some updates for you! Here are three late summer/early fall festivals that should be worth your time! The Cranking and Skanking Fest August 25, Worcester, MA If you're like me, you spent many years attending the Warped Tour, only to quit as you seemed to age out. My last year was 2002 (?), when I realized I was only there to see four bands (The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Bad Religion, Circle Jerks, The Damned). When they announced that this would be the final year of the tour, I hoped they'd reach out to some of the more classic bands that have played in the past, and maybe they did, but you'd never know it by looking at it. This might be why I'm so excited about The Cranking and Skanking Fest. Sure, it's in the parking lot of the Palladium in Worcester which isn't the most glamorous location, and I prefer when ...

Now that we're past Memorial Day, it's time to start looking at what's out there for summer music festivals. We're going to skip the major national ones, because you already know about them, and their line ups keep getting less and less interesting every year. Plus, you'll be roughly 1/4 mile from the main stage, anyway. Instead, here are some of the more interesting, smaller music festivals in the Northeast (since that's where we're located)! The Thing in the Spring June 6-10, Peterborough, NH Peterborough, NH may not seem like the hippest town out there, but somehow they get some of the best indie bands together for a music/film/arts fest every year. This year, they include virtually all genres: noisy indie rock, folk, hip hop, etc. Some of our highlights are Sammus, The Huntress & Holder of Hands, Giraffes? Giraffes!, Wooden Dinosaur, and, closing out the festival, the double bill of Iris Dement and Bonnie Prince Billy. They somehow keep weekend...

I've only made it out to the Freshgrass Festival once, way back in 2012, but it looks like I'm going to have to get out there again this year since their always great line up is extra fantastic this year! Set on the grounds of Mass MoCA, which is one of my favorite museums around, Freshgrass is a niche festival specializing in bluegrass and roots music, but definitely pushing the boundaries of what is considered either. The festival features such If It's Too Loud... approved artists like Trampled By Turtles, Yonder Mountain String Band, Rhiannon Giddens, Steep Canyon Rangers, Alison Brown, Della Mae, Molly Tuttle (performing with Keith Little), and Leyla McCalla, who I discovered at Freshgrass 2012. One of the headliners are the absolutely legendary Indigo Girls, who I normally wouldn't see on my own but I'm thrilled to have the chance. Plus, they have artists they haven't announced yet, which doesn't seem possible. Besides just music, the festival feature...

Let's face it. Nobody you know got into the Newport Folk Festival. Putting tickets on sale just before Christmas pretty much guarantees anyone with kids or over the age of 30 got shut out. Plus, while there are some fantastic artists playing this year, some of the announced bands seem kinda questionable. Unfortunately, some other festivals are out this year: Tweed River called it quits, Gathering of the Vibes is taking the year off, Solid Sound only runs on odd years. So what else can you do with your festival going time this summer? One Providence Experience Where: Providence, RI Dates: June 4 Tickets: Free! Why you should go: First of all, it's free, and we all love free! It takes place in the "shadows of the ruins of the Providence National Bank," which is about the most Providence way you can describe a venue. For a free show the line up is ridiculous, with Screaming Females, What Cheer? Brigade, Rough Francis, Last Good Tooth, The Low Anthem, Death Vesse...