Willamette Week is thrilled to announce the lineup for MusicfestNW 2012, now in its 12th year of showcasing the finest in national and regional music in one of the most compelling urban areas in the country.

MusicfestNW is once again returning to the historic Pioneer Courthouse Square—Portland’s civic living room—for three picturesque outdoor headlining performances at Levi’s Pioneer Stage headlined by shoegazing alternative rockers Silversun Pickups (Sunday, Sept. 9), mashup superstar Girl Talk (Saturday, Sept. 8), and the world music-tinged indie folk of Beirut (Friday, Sept. 7).

Beyond the Square, MusicfestNW will once again take over the city of Portland for five days, with 150 bands playing at 16 clubs all over the city. On Wednesday, Sept. 5, electropop upstarts Passion Pit headline the Crystal Ballroom (the band also plays the next night) and reunited post-hardcore titans Hot Snakes play the Roseland Theater. The alt-country act Old 97’s playing their seminal record Too Far to Care front-to-back, the beautiful folk tunes of The Tallest Man on Earth, local atmospheric rockers The Helio Sequence, local heroes Hazel reuniting for Cavity Search Records 20^th anniversary show, rising hip-hop phenoms Yelawolf and Danny Brown, A-Trak DJing on the Nike Sportswear stage, and the debut of the Red Bull Common Thread series featuring guitar heroes Dinosaur Jr. with sets from the bands’ two offshoots, Sebadoh and J. Mascis. The festival also features Critics’ darlings Ceremony, Julia Holter, Lightning Bolt, The Men, Fucked Up, Trust, and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart will all be performing special sets of over the September weekend.

Willamette Week is also proud to announce the debut of its very own tech conference to coincide with MusicfestNW. Portland has a rich and underrated tech scene, and in its first year, Portland Digital eXperience (PDX) will extend the MusicfestNW beyond music to embrace the technology and startup community by featuring conversations with leading thinkers, both local and from outside Portland. The event, held September 6-8, will focus on individuals who exemplify an “attention to detail, creativity, and the craft of building compelling experiences.” Among the confirmed speakers are Aaron Draplin of Draplin Design Co., Evan Doll of Flipboard, James Keller of Walmart Labs, and Chris Teso of Chirpify.

Previous MFNW performances include: The National, The Decemberists, Smashing Pumpkins, Modest Mouse, Vampire Weekend, TV on the Radio, Explosions in the Sky, Sunny Day Real Estate, Spoon, Iron & Wine, M. Ward, Built to Spill, Arctic Monkeys, Cat Power, Panda Bear, Black Lips, Band of Horses and The Silver Jews.

Festival wristbands and tickets for shows at Pioneer Courthouse Square, Crystal Ballroom, Roseland Theater, and Aladdin Theater go on sale on Friday, June 1 via Cascade Tickets. Festival wristbands are on sale at two price points:

- $125 for an all-inclusive wristband that gets you into all three outdoor shows and the rest of the five-day festival.

- $75 for a ticket to one of the three outdoor shows (Silversun Pickups, Girl Talk, or Beirut) and a wristband for admission to the rest of the festival.

For further ticket information, see musicfestnw.com/tickets.

2012 Lineup

 

Silversun Pickups

Passion Pit

Beirut

Girl Talk

A-Trak

Dinosaur Jr.

Sebadoh

J. Mascis

The Tallest Man On Earth

The Helio Sequence

Old 97′s performing Too Far To Care

Yelawolf

Hot Snakes

Menomena

Trampled By Turtles

Starfucker

Red Fang

Danny Brown

Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit

Typhoon

Swans

Lightning Bolt

Purity Ring

Black Mountain

King Khan & the Shrines

Hazel

Fucked Up

Big Freedia

Future Islands

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

Redd Kross

Sloan performing Twice Removed

John Maus

Moonface

Omar Souleyman

Joe Pug

Big Business

The Men

Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three

I Break Horses

Milo Greene

Tanlines

The Growlers

Trust

DJ Mr. Jonathan Toubin

Touche Amore

Ceremony

Nite Jewel

Chelsea Wolfe

Blouse

Julia Holter

Mirrorring

LP

Xiu Xiu

Gardens & Villa

The Builders and The Butchers

Bobby Bare Jr.

The Soft Moon

Cheap Girls

Pete Krebs and the Gossamer Wings

Sad Baby Wolf

Radiation City

These United States

Brown Bird

Joyce Manor

Defeater

Daughn Gibson

Holcombe Waller

Hey Marseilles

Craft Spells

Mean Jeans

The People’s Temple

Fort Lean

Mrs. Magician

The Drowning Men

Crystal Antlers

And And And

Alialujah Choir

Quest For Fire

Evian Christ

Tender Forever

Curious Mystery

Onuinu

Pure Bathing Culture

Mac Demarco

Dante vs. Zombies

DJ Beyondadoubt

Sandpeople

Hungry Ghost

Brainstorm

Erik Koskinen

Lake

White Lung

Naytronix

Hosannas

Headaches

AAN

Arrington De Dionyso

Casey Neil & The Norway Rats

Copy

Dirtclodfight

DJ Cooky Parker

Grandparents

Guantanamo Baywatch

Kendl Winter

Lemolo

Old Light

Palmas

Snow Bud & The Flower People

Stay Calm

Sun Angle

Swahili

The Dangerous Boys Club

The Dimes

The Needful Longings

The Suicide Notes

Tyler Lyle

Vice Device

White Fang

 

 

Mark your calendars now, ‘cause May 30th will be a Wednesday to remember. Besides a major announcement, we’ve planned a great kick-off party featuring Santa Barbara’s Gardens & Villa along with Portland’s own Grandparents and fellow locals Swahili. You won’t wanna miss it!

New York record label-owning journalist and musician, Jonathan Toubin added ‘DJ’ to his resume in 2006, and since has become notorious for his eclectic selection of soul, garage, jazz, and rock.  Starting out solely at the Motor City Bar on the Lower East Side, within a year Toubin became widely known throughout the city and the states alike for his distinct D.I.Y. style and musical choices.

As you may remember, last December while visiting Portland, a cab tragically struck Toubin as he slept in his room at the Jupiter Hotel. After weeks in intensive care at OHSU, Toubin was released mid-January and has been making remarkable progress ever since. Now, at last, MFNW is proud and excited to announce that the “dude who made NYC dance parties fun again” will at last bring his mixing of danceable rock and soul to Portland this fall at MusicfestNW! This will be his first performance in Portland since the accident, and will surely be unmissable!

MFNW is returning to Portland September 5^th through September 9^th, 2012.  The twelfth annual MusicfestNW promises to be the biggest and best yet.  Keep checking back for information about all the great things were planning for this year’s festival.

In addition to another year of amazing music, MFNW is pleased to announce the emergence of PDX: Portland Digital eXperience.  Our goal: to capture the creative spirit and drive that fuels Portland’s flourishing start-up scene. From mobile applications to social media and the technologies that support them, Portland has become a place where start-ups are creating new ways of engaging minds, exploring the world, and amazing people with beauty and simplicity.  In 2012, we are adding PDX in order to bring the creative communities of Portland closer together.