Midpoint Music Festival

MidPoint Music Fest was fun this year. I'm happy they moved all of the stages to one area of OTR, that way you can just walk to the different bands, and still manage to see all of the sets you want. I think they do a GREAT job of creating a good lineup with lots of musical variety. This year they had Band of Horses, Into It. Over It., Tokyo Police Club, Wolf Parade, Frank Turner, Aloha, and lots of cool indie and local bands. 3 day passes were $100, which felt a little pricey considering that the facilities weren't the best (it was just in a parking lot) and one of the stages was free. My biggest gripe is the free stage, which was outside of the barriers so that anyone could walk up and watch the bands. The audience had quite a few homeless people (some begging for money), and not a whole lot of actual people there to watch the concert. It was pretty distracting if you were trying to watch the show.The sound quality was hit or miss. There were several points where bands had to stop their show because you could hear another band warming up at the next stage over (a problem with having the stages so close together), or their mics stopped working. Food truck selection was great (Eli's, Mazunte, Revolution Rotisserie, etc. etc.), but the area to get to the food trucks was so tight. I wish they had more space to work with because it was hard to wait in line for food or beer without being jostled by fellow concert goers.I'm not sure if I will purchase tickets for next year, I think that depends on the lineup and if there's a free stage again. If it's free, maybe I will just do that instead of buying a wristband.

MidPoint Music festival in late September is the best time of the year in Cincinnati. Close to 300 bands play all over the OTR and select Downtown locations (CAC, Arnolds, Blue Wisp, Main Event) from Thursday to Sunday, I love being able to walk to venue to venue discovering new music. If you don't like a band, just walk next door or around the corner to the another venue. Last year the MidPoint Midway 12th & Jackson was added featuring Artworks Art trucks, food trucks and beer truck this is a great meeting space to catch up with friends during the festival.

I finally got a chance to attend Midpoint as part of working a booth in the Midway area. I was very impressed with the set up, ease of obtaining info, venue layout, people and sense of community, and of course the artists. I'm pretty clueless when it comes to non-mainstream music but MPMF makes it pretty easy to find some kind of music you'll like, instead of making you feel out of the loop.Washington Park makes for the perfect main stage location. Having all the restaurants and bars in close proximity is great for taking mini-breaks or for stopping in before or after heading to a venue. I thought the bike valet was a nice touch too. It's always encouraging to see how bike-friendlier the city is getting.There are ways to enjoy the festival at any price range, whether it be checking out the free Midway, a one or three day pass, VIP ticket, or ticket to a specific venue. Great way to wind down summertime.

Midpoint is absolutely amazing, and is made even better when spending it alongside your favorite people.We saw three bands Thursday night: Seedy Seeds, Mates of State, and The Dodos. The first two bands were fantastic: I'm a big fan of the Seeds, but Mates of State were new to my ears. I loved their stage decor of flowers and forestry. The Dodos were a bit loud for my liking, although that might have been the sound system needing the bass adjusted.I enjoyed seeing the bands in SCPA and experiencing their new auditorium. It was also great seeing the Hanke Building in use again. In addition to the hundreds of bands that come to town for Midpoint, there are a plethora of food vendors and activities on the midway. Vendors set up shop inside of U-Haul trucks, which is quite clever. No packing up needed! I also liked all the food trucks congregating in the theatre parking lot, which made it easy for everyone in our group to find a bite to eat. Mr. Hanton's was the winner, along with the Bonbonnerie serving up their tasty treats. They even had opera cream cake at the festival!In addition, the midway featured games, like human-sized pick up sticks and Connect Four. It's pretty stellar seeing the community come together for this event, plus having all the performances take place in venues in Over The Rhine. Midpoint, you've won me over. I can't wait until next year!

Midpoint's new set-up was better than last year. It was kind of fun to traipse around the Taft Theatre and the mysterious Masonic Temple, and nice to not be sweaty. The food truck line was kind of crowded and small, and there wasn't much space to eat. On the upside, you could easily leave to eat and come back. The bands were good and the venue was pretty neat. I still miss Midpoint in its original form, but this year surely beat the parking lot.

This was by far the best MPMF I've been to. Why? Well here are some reasons:- The Midway was great- The variety of bands was fantastic- The weather couldn't have been better- 3 day wrist band paid off at least twice its face value- FREE VITAMIN WATER- SCPA was a fantastic venue addition this year- Parking lot full of food trucks- Having too many shows I want to attend the same time is the kind of problems I like to have!

Let me assure you, I take this city to task for a lot of things. It's got a lousy literary scene, crappy sports franchises, and some really naive notions about race. You could get through both its art museums in a couple hours. It thinks public transportation is a waste of funds. It ain't no NYC. But by God, they know their music. They are all up in music's grill. There are tons of great new local bands making their debut all the time, tons of great shows to attend (many for free, somehow). And nowhere is this expertise clearer than at Midpoint.For years my friend and I had wanted to make it to Midpoint, but travel plans and other obligations had always kept us from it. Finally, this year, we each dropped the fifty bucks for a weekend pass, and boy did we use it. We went all three days, to some fifteen or twenty shows. We bought four albums between us. We walked several miles in an area only a few blocks big. We dug it, man.The Festival features dozens and dozens of bands across several venues, from outdoor stages to cramped bar corners to school auditoriums. At any one time on any of the days, between three and, oh, five or six bands are playing simultaneously. There's so much music you literally can't get to all of it. But you don't need to, because pretty much everywhere you go you'll find something to love--well, as long as you love indie music, because frankly, it's all different flavors of that one dish. The sounds vary wildly, from ska to folk to techno to experimental wacko shit, but if you're looking for hip-hop or something you're out of luck, as far as I know. I didn't see anything like that, but then, to be fair, I only saw a fraction of what was available. This year, which I'm told is the festival's best to date, also included food trucks, beer booths, games (giant Connect Four, anybody?), merchandise, and sights of a kind I've rarely if ever seen before. There was a truck outfitted with two holes of mini golf, meant to serve as an advertisement for an art expo coming up in Northside. Another truck had a tiny movie theater. Another had a giant lights display, not really for anything except to look pretty. There's more to do than you'd believe. Certainly more to do than Cincinnati can normally boast. If only it could feature this sort of entertainment more often, we could be the kind of cultural hub we've dreamed of being. But at least once a year, we've got it goin' on, which means if you're not there for those three days, your twelve months in this city have pretty much been a waste.

I'm glad this festival exists. This city has such great musical talent and Midpoint is a great showcase of that. Also, compared to other music festivals of similar size, Midpoint is very affordable. Midpoint has great variety. Last September I attended all three days and saw folk, bluegrass, hard rock, electronic and tons of other kinds of genres. So mark your calendar and make sure you attend next year.

Yet another great year for MPMF, however I am going to knock one star off because of the schedule snafu at the Hanke Building. Now I understand that things happen, and I understand that building code issues prevented the venue from being used - that's something that couldn't be prevented - but I think that the communication about the venue being out and the concerts being rescheduled (often delayed) at the midway could have been communicated more clearly.Yes this is a festival full of young people with smartphones - I understand that, but having smartphones being the only way to understand what was going on with the schedule is not the way to run an event. There needed to be at least a sign (let me know if there was one that I missed) with information regarding the changes so that people who weren't checking twitter/the website on their phone every 5 mins could determine what was going on and adjust their schedules accordingly.Another critique stands, there needs to be better outreach to Internet Bloggers and non-cincy media regarding the festival. Hopefully this will start happening naturally as more and more non-Cincy media gets wind of OTR being revitalized. However, a little push couldn't hurt - even a guerrilla marketing campaign in Chicago and Nashville (the two closest major music cultural centers wouldn't hurt ;-) ).Now to the good this year. Washington Park was an amazing place to see headlining bands. A very smart decision was made to not use the original stage (which was kind of small) but instead build one right in front of Music Hall, giving the venue a beautiful backdrop. Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear even made a comment noting just how beautiful the venue was - and the amount of restoration in the area is significant - now you can easily get a meal over at Anchor while listening to the music at the park, then walk a few 100 feet and be inside watching the actual event take place. Very nice.Another wonderful venue was the Emery theater, which is a theater that has such nice acoustics that even a band who would sing off key would sound good there. When you get the haunting voice of legendary singer Ralph Stanley or the echoy chambere sound of Lower Dens - your in for a real treat. I hope this venue continues to be used - and I really hope that some of the profits from this went towards restoring that theater to its former glory.Also significant for me this year was the number of local residents performing on the street - I saw guys with saxophones, guitars and even middle school aged kids with drums and bugles walking down the street. The big city vibe is getting stronger and stronger every year, and is really something that distinguishes MPMF from a lot of similar festivals. OTR is an amazing place and MPMF shows it off at its finest.On top of that the side shows were better this year - a classic video arcade was a highlight for me and getting to bond with fellow concert goers over a nostalgic game of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a great addition.On top of that more and more side events are coming online - most notable was the Night Owl Market, which provided music well after all other venues closed and was a great place to grab a late night snack. There was also even a film festival, though I think they need a bit of work - all films were late- they seemed a tad disorganized. I hope that they continue to enhance the experience - Cincinnati is in sore need of good film cultural events and hopefully as it grows it will get better.As to the event itself, while I was disappointed that they didn't seem to have as many international guests as in years past (I only noted Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab as one) but all and all the lineup was still excellent. Everything from Jazz fusion to folk rock from Andrew Bird to the indie pop of popular musicians Grizzly Bear was featured. New music was discovered and lots of fun was had. This is totally worth taking a 5 hour trip from Chicago to go to - lets hope for an even better next year!

Oh you know...Midpoint is just MY FAVORITE EVENT IN CINCINNATI ALL YEAR!!! And this year was absolutely no exception. For those who have been living under a rock Midpoint is a 3-day long music festival held yearly in Over-the-Rhine. It literally takes over the area for 3 glorious days. This year even more was involved from yarn bombing to giant pick-up-stix. They really took it to a whole new level this year. It showcases Cincinnati's thriving music community the way it truly deserves and you will no doubt leave with a new favorite band (or 7).I unfortunately had to work late on Thursday and thus missed the first night of the festival, but made it out the next two nights. By far one of the best shows of the festival was the new Cincinnati band Young Heirlooms. They played the Know Theatre on Thursday and blew everyone away. Think of them as a cross between Arcade Fire, Ryan Adams and Grizzly Bear. They are a six piece band with guitar, sax, trumpet, drums and bass. Every single member is ridiculously talented and their rocking tunes got the crowd moving. The Know Theatre was at capacity for this set and people were actually being turned away at the door. If you missed them be sure to check them out every Monday in October for their Artist in Residency at MOTR Pub.I caught two headliners on Saturday as well as a pleasant surprise. I started out the evening at Grammer's for Washed Out...which was an okay show. I was neither impressed nor disappointed. A couple of their tunes were fun to dance to. After a short break the real gems came out though. Cut Copy absolutely rocked the crowd. From their insane dance tunes to a killer light show these guys were worth the wait of their lengthy set-up (and they had pretty dreaming Australian accents). I don't think I stopped moving the entire time and by the end I was covered in sweat and grinning from ear to ear. I didn't think anything could top it until we stumbled upon Chicago's The Right Now at the Blue Whisp. Holy cow can their lead singer belt out a tune! Their jazzy rifts and insane brass section were absolutely amazing. Not only that, but they are all super nice and hung out with the crowd after their set. I will for sure be checking them out the next time I visit Chi-town. The only problem with MPMF? Now I have to wait another year for it to happen again. The wait will no doubt be worth it though!