After selling out all four nights of performances at three independent venues last year, Philly Music Fest—the city's only music festival to feature exclusively local bands—will return for its third year September 25-28, 2019, featuring headliners Man Man, Vacationer, Speedy Ortiz, and Ceramic Animal.
The festival kicks off at Milkboy on September 25, then continues at Johnny Brenda’s on September 26 and at World Cafe Live on September 27 and 28, with performances on both stages. Philly Music Fest is a nonprofit organization that donates proceeds to local music education charities. This year’s festival features nearly two dozen Philadelphia artists from a range of genres, including rock, hip hop, jazz, punk, and bluegrass. See the complete lineup below.
“Building on last year's success, we're excited to continue to grow the community and reach of Philly Music Fest,” said festival founder and curator Greg Seltzer. “In keeping with our core mission—to assist and promote local musicians and to benefit music education programs—our goal for 2019 is to exceed the $25,000 donated to charities last year.”
The festival will again feature a Tech Tour, and this year will debut InSide Hustle, an informational panel about the city’s music scene. On the afternoon of September 27, Tech Tour brings music performances into the offices of local tech firms and features panel discussions on business and technology, women empowerment, and entrepreneurship. The following afternoon, InSide Hustle will explore Philadelphia’s thriving music industry. With the support of WXPN, InSide Hustle will feature speakers from local recording studios, record labels, venues, radio stations, media, and management agencies. The goal is to bring together the disparate parts of Philadelphia’s music scene in order to build community and help emerging bands and budding music professionals. Admission to both Tech Tour and InSide Hustle is free.
“We’re hoping the panel discussions raise awareness of Philly’s music industry and help support Philly’s music and startup economies. Of course, the byproduct of Philly Music Fest is four days of incredible music,” Seltzer said.
The Philadelphia region has a notorious craft brewing culture, both established and emerging. As with music, Philly Music Fest will feature ONLY local craft breweries. Some of our premiere local craft breweries will take over all 20 taps at World Cafe Live’s three bars. Across all three venues of Philly Music Fest, they will strive to pour only local beer.
When not running Philly Music Fest, Greg Seltzer is a partner at Ballard Spahr, where he divides his practice between merger-and-acquisition transactions and work involving emerging companies and venture capital. Seltzer co-founded and leads the firm's widely recognized pro bono accelerator program for student startups, Ballard Academy for Student Entrepreneurs (BASE).
About Philly Music Fest:
The Philadelphia Music & Arts Festival is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization – founded, produced, and curated by Greg Seltzer. Its mission is to support Philadelphia's local music and arts ecosystem—comprised of local musicians, independent performance venues, artists, brewers and distillers—and to share music and art with Philadelphia's children by donating the proceeds of Philly Music Fest to local music education programs. In 2017, the festival raised approximately $15,000 for various music education programs, including Settlement Music School, Rock to the Future, Musicopia, Live Connections and Play On Philly. In 2018, the festival donated $25,000.
2019 Philly Music Fest Lineup (in alphabetical order):
Ali Awan
Arnetta Johnson
Ceramic Animal
Chestnut Grove
Foxtrot and the Get Down
ILL DOOTS
iLL Fated Natives
Jeremiah Tall
Man Man
RFA
Remember Sports
Restorations
Rosali
Sammus
Secret American
Sixteen Jackies
Speedy Ortiz
Spirit of the Beehive
Sun Ra Arkestra
Tate
Thin Lips
Vacationer
2019 Philly Music Fest Craft Breweries and Distilleries will include
(in alphabetical order):
Conshohocken Brewing Company
Crowded Castle Brewing Company
Flying Fish Brewing Company
Levante
The Revivalist Botanical Gin
Stateside UrbanCraft Vodka
Tonewood Brewing
Victory Brewing Company
Weyerbacher
Work Horse Brewing Company
Who: Philadelphia Music Festival
What: Philly’s only festival featuring an all-local bill
Where: MilkBoy, Johnny Brenda’s and World Café Live
When: September 25th-28th, 2019
Tickets: Available at phlmusicfest.com. Tickets are $15 for the Milkboy show and $13 for Johnny Brenda’s. A single-day ticket at World Cafe Live is $25 for Friday and $35 for Saturday. A two-day pass for World Cafe Live shows is available for $50.
