Northside Festival brings 350+ bands to our Brooklyn back-yard every summer, and it’s getting bigger and bigger. Bigger names coming to the small stages, bigger crowds, bigger line-ups and bigger parties. This year, we were treated to headlining sets by The Walkmen and Solange at the wonderful outdoor McCarren Park venue, some serious lines to get into some parties and, most importantly, a sold out The Wild Honey Pie party at Cameo Gallery. Still, it’s not a summer festival until we get up our facts and awards. So without further ado, here are our take-aways from Northside.
The Set Up: We love Northside Festival a lot, but let’s be real — it’s basically a less crowded SXSW. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. We love seeing a huge swath of bands play on our home turf, and if we were tech and film people, it would probably be even better. This year’s free McCarren Park shows offered more of a traditional festival atmosphere, but the focus is still on watching up-an-coming bands perform on small stages.
Overall Crowdedness: More crowded than Brooklyn is normally. There were lines around the block for some showcases, like Pitchfork’s Saint Vitus party or Chance the Rapper at Europa, and venues were known to sell out. The McCarren Park shows were filled to the brim on Saturday and Sunday for The Walkmen and Solange, but not so much that it was unbearable. All in all, it was pretty comfortable.
Not Your Festival If: You dislike the overall feel of CMJ or SXSW. That said, if your problem with those two festivals is over-crowding and over-hype, then you’ll love Northside. A savvy fest-goer needs to have a plan and be willing to deviate from that plan if it’s too crowded — navigating Northside simply requires a good balance between preparedness and going with the flow.
Most Hilarious Front Man: Despite being a huge fan of his particular brand of garage jangle-pop, I’ve never seen Mac DeMarco perform before. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that, not only does he have an awesome set, but a funny one. Between his little side-joke banter, giant grin and ironic, silly cover of “Tears in Heaven”, he kept the crowd chuckling all night.
Flyest: With her acid wash jeans, long hair and giant high heels, Solange looked just about as cool as you can get for her sold out set at McCarren Park on Sunday afternoon. She danced and grooved around the stage with a stunningly dressed band, and the crowd’s getups could fill a street style blog for a year. I felt criminally underdressed in my jeans and tank top.
Most Likely to Win New Fans: Sure, it’s hardly fair to give an award to one of the bands that played our show, but Braids was so good, we decided to do it anyway. Their set was absolutely mind blowingly powerful. With dark synths and powerhouse vocals, they captivated the filled-to-the-brim Cameo Gallery.
Show You Missed: Within one of the festival’s best rock and roll lineups, NYC Homegrown band Raccoon Fighter & The Finks threw down a face melter.
Most Failed Pick Up Line in a Line: “Bro” is not a proper thing to say when trying to pick up a chick, gentlemen. If she’s savvy enough to be going to a Chance The Rapper show at Europa, don’t talk about Kanye and your weed money and expect to get lucky. She’s probably at least ten steps ahead of your weak ass game and can probably see through your “swagger” like Prince’s Roller Skates. PS: Kendrick Lamar is not from Chicago, Mr. Pink Popped-Collar Frat Boy wearing boat shoes to an almost rap show.
Best Tater Tots: Cameo Gallery’s tots are famous, and they’ve been that good for years…Oh, and never be afraid to go “Nacho Tot.” A move for the bold, indeed, but a victorious one.
Show Probably Sponsored by Urban Outfitters: The Walkmen’s show on Saturday was easily one of the largest displays of homogenized, macro-packaged counter-culturalism I’ve ever seen. This shit looked like they dumped a bunch of extras from “Girls” or “How To Make It In America” onto the blacktop and said, “Go, indie rock!” This doesn’t mean that The Walkmen weren’t fantastic. They were absolutely phenomenal, delivering a great performance and several jabs to the seemingly lobotomized audience.