Written by Dave McCallum
It’s September and a cool breeze is blowing through the crowds gathering to see their favorite artist perform. Sheltered from the bustling city sounds around them they huddle together to get closer to the stage cresting over the view of a historic park that has hosted presidents and world’s fairs alike; but, for tonight some of the greatest bands in the recent memory will grace their eager fans with great jams and good vibes in this magnificent venue. Broken Social Scene, Surfer Blood, Built to Spill, Wilco, Trampled by Turtles, The National, Cake, Arctic Monkeys, LCD Soundsystem and dozens of other headliners have been gracing the stage at St. Louis’ biggest music festival. That’s right, St. Louis, not Austin, not Chicago, not LA.
LouFest is a story of startling success in the music festival world. Having started a mere 7 years ago it has attracted fans with its star studded lineups and its attractive location. The creation of documentary filmmaker Brian Cohen, LouFest has been bringing stand up Alt, Indie, Folk, Bluegrass and Hip-Hop artists together for the last 7 years and the 2017 lineup is no exception.
This year’s 2-day lineup is loaded with big names and growing stars. Headlining the first night is Snoop Dogg, Cage the Elephant, and Spoon. This power trio rings true to the blend of genres that makes LouFest a must for any true music fan. But the excitement continues into the next day with bands such as The Record Company, Lizzo and a many others opening up Sunday’s schedule. Plenty of great bands to kick back and drink a few beers to while you wait for the power lineup scheduled to rock your socks off to close out Sunday night. With bands such as Weezer the angsty, double guitarist touting super band taunting attendees with the prospects of screaming every word of every song from Pinkerton & Blue album for the duration of their set. Or Hip-Hop super stars Run the Jewels, still touring their newest album Run the Jewels 3 which delivers track after track of unique and cutting edge sounds.
For those who consider themselves into the indie and hip-hop scenes LouFest is a must. Between its start studded lineups, its excellent venue, and its very reasonably priced admission, it offers more bang for your buck than many of its more popular (and more crowded) counterparts. So if you want to avoid Chicago where Lollapalooza’s crowd sizes are legendary or Coachella where the price of admission leaves you too broke to buy a beer or a 7 dollar water bottle then do yourself, and your wallet a favor; take September 9-10th and check out LouFest.