Musicfest NW

Many cities across the United States have annual music festivals. Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bumbershoot, South By Southwest (SXSW), Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, Cornerstone Festival, and Bamboozle, just to name a few. Well those are a lot of the main ones.

Another festival that happens in the United States is Musicfest NW (MFNW). It happens every year in September in Portland, Ore. As Portland's largest and most successful festival, it happens at eighteen different venues in Portland including downtown at Pioneer Courthouse Square, occurring over four days. It has become the third largest indoor music festival in the United States attracting over 150 bands each year. It was rated one of the "50 Authentic American Experiences of 2009" by Time Magazine.

“The Northwest has always been on the cutting edge when it comes to music, and here’s your chance to find out why.”—Time.com

The festival is put on by the Willamette Week, Portland's alt-weekly newspaper. It started in 1995 as a joint venture between Willamette Week and Mark Zusman and Richard Meekek, who both own Willamette Week. Up until 2001 it was called North by Northwest but was renamed MFNW when Willamette Week took it over.

In it's tenth year as MusicFest NW, Pioneer Courthouse Square became the festival's first outdoor venue. In 2010 the two main acts to play at Pioneer Courthouse Square were The Decemberists and The National. In 2009, one of the acts I saw was The Get Up Kids who played with Portugal The Man at Roseland Theater.

Currently MFNW is accepting applications at their website for musicians and bands to play at this year's festival.

Here are the eighteen venues of MFNW.


View Musicfest NW Concert Venues in a larger map

Update: Satryicon LLC closed down in October of 2010.

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