The Road Back to Solid Sound

Mass MoCA - North Adams, MA

WILCO's Jeff Tweedy @ Solid Sound 2010

Wilco - Is that the Thanks I Get (live on Conan O'Brien)

YES to SECOND HELPINGS - Nearly a year later, the SOLID SOUND MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL returns to Western Massachusetts this weekend. The WILCO-curated spectacle of arts, music and culture was a smashing success last year - funneling visitors and their dollars to North Adams, serving up big-time entertainment without stress and toil. It was a win-win for pretty much everybody and as it turned out - one of the best memories I had from a busy calendar year in 2010. The fact that the festival went off without so much as a visible hitch - despite the event's infancy spoke to how well it was planned. The music is really worth the journey...

Having moved the festival up from August to June - grabbing Summer by the throat, the planners for Solid Sound 2011 have a number of big acts (do not miss The Handsome Family, Levon Helm or The Autumn Defense - the wicked side project for Wilco's John Stirratt and Patrick Sansone, amongst many others;) comedy performances, art displays and great pop-up offerings in store for attendees (watching Tweedy get plunged into a dunk tank for charity was wild last year!) this weekend on the 200,000 square foot grounds of the magical property. We're sold.

RSL STREAMING PHOTO ALBUM
Solid Sound Festival 2010 - North Adams, MA

Nels Cline