Home to Starbucks, JCrew, and a soon-to-be Apple store in just one year, Williamsburg is far from what you’d expect. The new condo high rises may be growing by the day, but the same can be said about its cutting-edge music scene. No example proves this more than Northside Music Festival.
What started as a magazine out of a bedroom apartment eventually evolved into one of the summer’s greatest Brooklyn festivals. Northside Festival offers an incredible combination of all things art, film, innovation, and music, so you may as well save the airfare to Austin and celebrate everything Brooklyn has to offer, set beside the breathtaking Williamsburg waterfront. What seems like South by Southwest is actually North by Northeast.
Whether it’s the future of automatic bike technology or a push for pizza app, the ingenuity of hipsters never ceases to amaze. Better yet, the music is as diverse as the range of startups slowly emerging from the gentrified neighborhoods. With headliners such as Run the Jewels, Sleigh Bells, Best Coast, Rhye, and Neko Case, it’s no wonder Northside rules. Over the course of four days, more than 400 bands play at over a dozen venues spread across the streets of Williamsburg.
Thursday, June 11th gave everyone a taste of what’s to come with local bands taking the lead. McCaren Park supplied locals with the delicious new flavors of local craft beer. From IPA to Pilsner, the conversations were flowing with buzz over an exciting week of incredible acts.
Friday was a peaceful night starting with the electric art pop melodies of Magical Clouds. Their lo-fi lullabies awakened a love for chill wave synth. The duo put on quite a show only to be preceded by Danish group Rhye.
Milosh’s trance inducing voice further provided the crowd with beautiful beats and hypnotic hit after hit. It’s hard not to fall in love with Rhye’s soothing songs when they distinctly stand out from the rest of mainstream music.
The mood quickly shifted when Neko Case took the stage. Since leaving the New Pornographers, this country/alternative hybrid has developed quite a popular cult following. Whether it’s her smoky and sophisticated vocals or her smooth and sultry lyrics, Neko Case turned quite the crowd.
Against Me! stole the show on Saturday at McCaren Park by blasting their punk playlist hits and giving viewers a new taste of what’s to come. Sporting a “GENDER IS OVER!” T-Shirt, lead singer Laura Jane Grace belted songs from her Transgender Dysphoria Blues album.
The scene took quite the turn around nighttime when the indie pop band Alvvays took to the stage at 50 Kent. The Nova Scotia natives peacefully played post-punk tunes that sounded reminiscent of Peter Bjorn.
A crowd favorite, Built to Spill, not only played out their 90’s postmodern pop that brought them their claim to fame, but also jammed to new tunes from their 2015 album, Untethered Moon.
Finally, Best Coast closed the night with their newest album: California Nights. Although hardcore fans chanted for some of the classics, the crowd danced to their newly evolved beach ballads. At first inspired by 60’s surf rock, the band now seems to stand tall next to some 90’s nostalgia.
The final night of Northside was met with unmatched anticipation. Boasting the largest crowd of the week and what felt like nearly endless lines, Vince Staples took to the stage. Noted as one of Hip-hop’s most underrated rappers, Vince clowned with raps that were too real and called out some hipsters in the crowd.
Next up was Sleigh Bells, an experimental pop duo that never fails to pump up the crowd, and their high-flying hits amped just about everyone in attendance.
Alls well that ends well, and no finale could compare closing out Northside than with legendary hip-hop duo, Run the Jewels. Killer Mike, a Brooklyn native brought the thunder. Literally. The evening ended with an epic performance, and a lot of rain. To top it all off Nas even made an appearance.
The years may be changing, but the incredible music scene of Williamsburg only appears to improve. Northside Festival 2015 was a wonderful example of the forward progress of the music movement.