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MusicfestNW Now Third-Largest Indoor Music Festival in U.S.

september 10, 2008  08:04 am
MusicfestNW Now Third-Largest Indoor Music Festival in U.S.
Press Release
September 9, 2008

Willamette Week's annual MusicfestNW, held last Wednesday through Saturday, has established itself as the third biggest indoor music festival in America, after SxSW and CMJ, according to executive director Trevor Solomon.

The 2008 festival drew some 15,000 attendees to hear 218 bands at 47 shows. This is up from 12,000 attendees and 186 bands in 2007. In a year when concert attendance is down all over the country due to the sluggish economy, MFNW had capacity crowds at 35 of its shows and strong attendance at the rest.

Said Solomon, "Portland proved, for the third year in a row that people here come out to support great music."

Performers at the festival included Built to Spill, Vampire Weekend, TV on the Radio, Mogwai, M. Ward, Les Savy Fav, Battles and Ratatat. TV on the Radio was the featured band in Sunday's New York Times Fall Arts Preview.

The festival also drew significant national attention, including this report from Spin Magazine.

WW, which organizes MFNW each year, provided its own take on the festival: wweek.com/wwire/?p=13045 and wweek.com/wwire/?p=13047. See also localcut.wweek.com/?p=3398 for a wrap-up of other coverage of the event.
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