I just returned from the big 5 day Treefort music festival, in Boise. 100s of bands. Similar model to SxSW: comedy, tech, movies, kids area, storytelling, but mostly music. This was the lineup:
Treefort Music Fest 9: Japanese Breakfast, The Marías, Andy Shauf & more!
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Anyhoots! A few faves, I saw dozens of bands (and 2 nites of standup comedy).
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- Mdou Moctar. Midnite show (I'm not that young, oy), I saw him a few years back also. He's like seeing Jimi Hendrix shredding African trance jams for an hour with pounding drums (left handed, white guitar). Very loud, tight bass. He whipped crowd into frenzy. His band is astounding. Transcendent live. Check out these pics:
Mdou Moctar — zenruption. He's on west coast swing now, a must see.
- Christian Scott. He's like a reincarnated Miles Davis: futuristic jazz, trumpeter. Heavy band, big meaty jams. I own 2 hirez dl's for a few years now so was thrilled to finally see him.
- Delvon Lamarr organ trio. Funky, soul, instrumental. Way fun. Another midnite show, oy. It was in a packed noisy bar though, late nite also, we split early. I wish was held in another venue.
- Arooj Aftab. Pakistani singer, with harp and guitar on stage, only. Quiet, ambient, ethereal.
- Yasmin Williams. Self taught guitar prodigy. Learned from guitar hero video game!
- Wend. 9 piece proggy rock w/string section. Ya don't see that every day.
- Pr!sm Bitch. Saw at the skateboard park(!) on a whim and they rocked w/fun hooks. They had played main stage night before.
- Several folkies played the coffee shop, all good. I thought of that venue as 'auditory sorbet.'
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I bought my tix in Sept of 2019! Normally occurs in March. Was tabled to Sept last year, then pushed back another full year to last week. Everyone was pretty thrilled to be playing or hearing live music again, that's for sure!
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Oh and something all of us can appreciate: my nonstop pet peeve were people yapping loudly through the show. It just takes a few chowderheads blabbing to distract from the show. I forget about that in the comfort of my home rig. So irritating. But, live shows involve an audience, sadly, ha!
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Anyhoots! Check out Treefort next go around, it's worth the trip! Laid back vibe all around, everyone happy. There's barely any security it seems like, as everyone is so mellow.
