It’s official. We survived Solid Sound Festival weekend. Not only did we survive, but we succeeded in putting on a music festival that made a big impression on everyone who attended. Over the past few days we have been inundated with positive feedback from the festival so we thought we’d share a few of our favorite comments here.

Photo Credit: Rick Levinson

From the Twitter Feed:

MusicGeekSvcs: #solidsound 3 cheers to the MassMoCA and Wilco crew for a flawless day 1 at Solid Sound. Pronto was a pleasant surprise. Mike’s got soul!

anniesezso: #solidsound This decade’s Woodstock for the Hipsters

beaucolburn: Been here 20mins and I can already tell coming was one of the best calls I’ve made in ages. Incredible.

theRSL: Love the fact that there’s a live comedy stage @MASS_MoCA – just a brilliant idea #SolidSound

marcc212: I mean, seriously perfect on every front:music, comedy, the grounds, exhibitions, food/drink…& tweedy in the dunk tank. #wilco #solidsound

JaminDime: Mavis Staples has one of those gorgeously booming voices. I got the chills.ahhhh #solidsound is where its at

paulcalypse: Might have been the best Wilco show I’ve ever seen. Lots of rare tunes for the hardcore fans. #solidsound

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12. The Perseid Meteor shower peaks tomorrow night (Thursday) and continues Friday and Saturday. To really see it, you have to get away from the city lights.

11. There’s a sales tax holiday in Massachusetts this weekend (14/15), so you can shop and rock for less.

10. Two words: Jacket Weather. Escape the dog days in the city and head for the mountains: fantastic forecast for North Adams this weekend (sunny, highs in the upper 70s, lows around 60)

9. Admit it, you’re itching for one last road trip before summer ends and reality beckons. Check promotions with Zip Car for rentals and ZimRide for sharing.

8. Speaking of road trips; the journey can be just as fun as the destination. There are 3 drive-in movie theaters en route to North Adams — (Hyde Park Drive-in (NY), Pleasant Valley Drive-in (CT), and Northfield Drive-in (NH/MA/VT border). Or for a different slice of Americana, local minor league baseball teams at home this weekend include the Tri-City Valleycats (Troy, NY), Lowell Spinners (MA) and Pittsfield Colonials (MA).

7. If you’re the outdoorsy type, there is great hiking, kayaking, camping etc. all over the area. Mass., VT, and NY state recreation websites can direct you or check this out here.

6. Plus, there’s excellent dining from one extreme to the other.

5. Once you’re in the festival, you can come and go as you please. Want to go the the Clark or Norman Rockwell Museum, the ropes course at Jiminy Peak or get all spiritual at the Hancock Shaker Museum? No problem… split for a while and come back.

4. When you’re at MASS MoCA you’ll join people from at least 40 states and 10 countries at the festival, making it both an international and cross-country scene (new friends, perhaps?) There, in addition to the festival, you’ll have full run of the museum… including Time Magazine’s #1 museum installation of the year, the Sol Lewitt Retrospective.

3. How about the festival programming? The great music, from Wilco to the band members individual projects to Mavis Staples, Sir Richard Bishop and a ton more cool stuff, plus the comedy and performance spaces where you can see Todd Barry, Kristen Schaal, John Mulaney and Hannibal Buress and multiple performances by the Bread and Puppet Theatre Co. and Story Pirates. Not to mention exhib its including Glenn Kotche’s “prepared drums” (which you can play), Nels Cline’s Stompbox Station… (again you can play), Polaroid photos from Patrick Sansone, Cassandra C. Jones’s video installation, a pair of Luthiers explaining their work, live poster screen-printing, a dunk tank, a record store where you can listen to lots of vinyl (etc.) on a Solid Sound system, plus… A veritable world of fun. Oh and if you get weary, we’ve got some of North America’s best coffee from the Intelligentsia Coffee bar/lab., plenty of local food/drink vendors and a bar.

2. Mavis Staples performance at Lollapalooza last weekend (inc. a guest appearance by “Tweedy”, as Mavis refers to him) was, according to all reports, one of the highlights of the festival. Just sayin’….

1. And, lucky you, it’s not too late. Tickets are still available and will be at the box office all weekend. Be there.

It’s always surprising how fast the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival flies by. It seems like just yesterday we were sitting in the Bang on a Can/ MASS MoCA staff meet and greet. Over the past three weeks we have made a plethora of new friends, been stunned by the talent these musicians have to offer the world, and have throughly enjoyed every concert, recital, and community event we have had the chance to attend. Help us send these amazingly wonderful musicians off in style at the six hour Bang on a Can Marathon this Saturday.

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As always we are so delighted to have the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival faculty and staff on campus sharing their music, passion, and talent with the MASS MoCA staff and patrons. Below is a pictorial diary of a variety of events from the first week of Bang on a Can. We are also capturing the whole Festival on video so expect a week 1 video to follow soon! If you haven’t made it to a Bang on a Can event yet you still have two more weeks to experience the wonderful, crazy, and contemporary with these amazing musicians.

Gallery Recitals

Welcome Dinner

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Look familiar?

Cheers
Brittany