Photo by Bailey Greenwood
NOISE POP FESTIVAL 2016 AMONG HIGHEST ATTENDANCE TO DATE, 21,000+ ATTENDEES AND 90 PERCENT OF SHOWS SOLD OUT
The 24th annual Noise Pop Festival announced their 2016 festival, experienced some of their highest attendance numbers of any year to date with over 90 percent of the shows over the ten-day multi-venue Festival seeing sold-out crowds. Over 21,000 badge holders and ticket buyers attended the festival, catching 150+ artists over 17 venues, including clubs and theaters. Noise Pop would like for you to join them next year to celebrate the Festival’s 25th anniversary February 17-26, 2017.
Photo by John Margaretten
Noise Pop Festival also saw an increase in traffic between venues this year. In previous years, the average number of shows per night badge holders attended held steady at around 2.3 shows. This year, the average number of venues badge holders attended rose to 3.1 per night. This rise was largely due to the Festival’s collaboration with Lyft (which gave credit to badge holders and discounts at venues) as well as the Noise Pop app on DoStuff, which pushed out set times to attendees, making for more efficient venue-hopping to fill their nights with more music than ever before.
Noise Pop HQ returned to Swedish American Hall with some intimate events and acoustic performances. Carly Rae Jepsen sat down with the Song Exploder podcast, where she took apart her song “When I needed You” piece by piece, telling the story of how it was made. Jazz Saxophonist Kamasi Washington sat for an illuminating conversation with record producer David Katznelson. Crowds of music fans packed in to watch memorable performances from The Mountain Goats (solo), Hamilton Leithauser and Paul Maroon, Bill Callahan, Mitski, and more.
Photo by Paige K Parsons
The lineup this year also expanded to include more genres than ever before with multiple jazz, hip-hop, and pop acts joining the Festival roster. Among the numerous sold out performances were Kamasi Washington, Parquet Courts, Kneedelus, The Cave Singers, Vince Staples, Drive Like Jehu, Neon Indian, DIIV, and Andrew Jackson Jihad. Additional musical highlights included American Football, Metric, Joywave, iLoveMakonnen, Heartwatch, La Sera, Ringo Deathstarr, Day Wave, and Her Space Holiday, which was their first show since 2011.
The film program included a variety of music-focused screenings with several California and West Coast premieres that featured some amazing guests. Director Penelope Spheeris was present for a Q&A following a double feature of her films Suburbia and The Decline of Western Civilization Part III, and singer Syl Johnson conducted a post-screening Q&A following the film Syl Johnson: Any Way The Wind Blows. The Festival also held a David Bowie Tribute Party with a screening of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars with a live performance from Everyone Is Bowie and visuals by White Light Prism. Screenings of classic films like Tokyo Drifter and Adventures of Prince Achmed were presented with a live score.
The 2016 Festival also welcomed the debut of the Noise Pop After Hours events at Café du Nord, where the celebration continued multiple nights of the festival with short surprise sets from Cathedrals, Geographer, and Hamilton Leithauser and Paul Maroon playing to a packed venue.
