This is always my favorite time of the festival season, when the headliners and main stage acts are all announced (although adding Atmosphere this time around is huge) and we start to get some of the free stage acts announced. While a lot of the time, the free stage acts are locals and I like to think I’m pretty familiar with most of them, 80/35 always surprises me with one or two regional and national bands that were a little under the radar.
Last year’s big surprises to me were Pink Mink, Gold Motel and The Handsome Furs. All three were incredible acts to discover and although I may not have caught all of their sets, just knowing about them was awesome.
This year, the big surprises for me are Now, Now (who everyone seems to know about but me…) and Night Moves. I was lucky enough to hear some tracks from Jaill a few years back, otherwise they would’ve been on the list as well. Hopefully, there is someone on this list of new acts who you weren’t expecting and now are a must see.
As for locals, well, along with Mumford’s, Maxilla Blue, Leslie and the Lys and Sundogs we have Derek Lambert and The Prairie Fires, Mantis Pincers, Pieta Brown, Dead Larry, Dustin Smith and the Sunday Silos and a trio of exciting EDM artists, Jesse Jamz, Brad Goldman and Jade Reed, among others.
There is still the play-in winner to be decided as well, so hopefully you have been following along with that.
I’m not sure if DMMC plans any further announcements. Going Friday-Saturday has limited the amount of bands they can feature, so hopefully they aren’t done altogether, but well, we might be out of space at this point.
So, take a minute and head over to 80/35’s website and read some band bios, click some links and get acquainted.
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