Music Fest Northwest 2008

Last night was the closing night of Portland's Music Fest Northwest event that is put together by the Willamette Week. The festival included 215 bands at 20 venues in 4 days. You can choose to buy a ticket to the shows you want to go to or you can buy a red MFNW wristband for $50 that gets you into all of the shows on a first come first serve basis. My internship at Mike Thrasher Presents scored me one of these wristbands. So I busted out my centerfold schedule of all the bands from the Willamette Week, and mapped out my week. I decided to hit Mogwai at the Roseland on Wednesday, The Cool Kids and Del the Funky Homosapien also at the Roseland on Thursday, the Sand People and Jedi Mind Tricks at the Hawthorne Theatre on Friday, and then Saturday would be Ratatat at the Wonder Ballroom and The Helio Sequence at the Crystal Ballroom.

Wednesday, the first night, I went to see the Scottish instrumental band Mogwai at The Roseland Theater. I showed up with my buddy Matt at 10:15, and they were scheduled to start at 10:30. We arrived at the Roseland surprised to see 200 people standing in line outside of the venue extending down the street and nearly around the corner. We were absolutely devastated, having been talking about this show for weeks. We decided to get in line even though we knew that the venue was at capacity, and their policy is 20 out - 20 in, so there was really no real way that we were going to get in. I had some handbills to pass out to the line so Matt stood in line and I headed to the front to start passing out the bills. I got about half way down the line and I see three kids come out of the emergency exit, and a few people decided to file in as they come out. I see this and run back to Matt at the rear of the line, and say "Dude, emergency exit, let’s go!" he and I run back to the exit and by this time tons of people are rushing in. we ran into the crowded venue and caught the whole show. It was extraordinary. The capacity +150 crowd stood in amazement and what caught me as I looked around, besides the fact that I never had, and will probably never again see the Roseland that packed, was the diversity that the crowd had to offer. Ages varied greatly, as did walks of life. The show was better than I could have expected. Much of it I got on film, you can see the footage on my youtube which is linked at the bottom of the page. The lead guitarist set his pick on the stage as they left, and I rushed the barrier as everyone exited. A member of the crew was nice enough to respond to my plea “BRO! PICK!” and he handed it to me.

Mogwai from Aaron Nicholls on Vimeo.
Thursday, the second night, I tried to plan ahead. Now I was getting familiar with the way that MFNW works, and I learned that MFNW is long lined, sellout crowd, underground, mainstream craziness. So I went to the Roseland at 9pm. The Cool Kids were scheduled to begin at 10 and Del at 11. I borrowed my friend Aimee's car and parked a few blocks from the venue. I walked to the venue expecting to see a line, but luckily I had beaten the crowd and entered the venue at 9 without a problem. A guy named Cool Nuts was on stage when I arrived and he was alright, but then The Cool Kids came out and killed it. Their set was pretty damn good. Then Del came out and while I liked it, I wasn’t all that impressed. As I left I realized that the line that I had expected must have formed shortly after my arrival because the Roseland seemed to be just under capacity. I got back to the car at around 12:30… or at least where I had left the car. I hadn’t realized it when I arrived, but I had parked in front of a fire hydrant, and now the car was gone. I walked home.

By A_Niks
On Friday, after shelling out $280 to get Aimee’s car out of the tow lot, we headed to the Hawthorne Theatre to catch Jedi Mind Tricks. Local Hip-Hop group “Sand People” were on stage when we got there, and I really enjoyed their show. They had something like 7 members, and were constantly handing off the 3 mics that they had been supplied. I think they had a great show. Jedi Mind Tricks came out and gave the underground savvy crowd of maybe 200 exactly what they had come to see, Raw, Anti-Corporate, Anti-Police underground rap. The venue, while not full was still very alive and the rap duo kept the place moving for upwards of an hour and a half. We left having received our monies worth, if I would have paid.

By A_Niks
Saturday was the final day of MFNW and this is a sad day. Knowing that MFNW was hours from ending, I headed to The Wonder Ballroom around 5:00 to see about getting in to see Ratatat at 5:30. I was foolish to expect anything other than what I arrived to see. The line of 400 kids spanned nearly 2 city blocks, and the venue was already at capacity. I had forgotten that this was one of Nike’s free events that simply required you to pick-up a ticket from one of two Jackpot Records locations. I did not see Ratatat live. After bailing on Ratatat I was invited to go see a segment of the Time Based Art festival at the Portland Art Museum which is right across the street from my apartment, so at 9 I headed over there and caught “Zidane, a 21st Century Portrait”. This film was of Zinedine Zidane the famous French soccer player playing for Real Madrid against Villareal in 2005. The concept was to follow only Zidane throughout the 90 min. game. They used 17 different cameras and much of the film was accompanied by Mogwai. I loved it but many people got up and left when they realized the film was exactly what it had promised. After the movie, I ran to the Crystal Ballroom to catch Helio Sequence. I arrived to find yet another signature Music Fest Northwest line that ran down the block and around the corner. I looked at my phone, it was 11:15 and Helio Sequence wasn’t scheduled to start until mid-night. I stood in line for a minute, and then decided I was tired and had homework to do, so I started home. I got across the street and thought to myself, “This is what MFNW is. This line is the essence of the entire festival. Tonight is the last night, now get back in line!” I quickly heeded my conscious’ advice and got back to the rear. It took just under a half hour to get in the door and I made my way up the stairs to the giant venue that is the Crystal Ballroom. Crystal’s capacity is 1500, and there was still a line around the corner. I caught the end of Menomena’s set and I was quite impressed. They had drawn an amazing crowd, and half of them left as the band tore down their equipment. The line outside gave new life to the Ballroom as those who left were simply replaced with eager Helio Sequence fans. I had not really listened to them much, but when the Beaverton natives hit the stage I became a fan. They played a great show, and as the venue emptied I heard many satisfied Portlanders talk about the sadness of MFNW being over until next summer.

My first Music Fest Northwest was a great one and I came away with a few stories to tell and some great video to show. I applaud the Willamette Week for their excellent work in bringing this great festival to Portland every year since 2001. I can’t wait to see the bands that come next year.