T
he MidPoint Music Festival returned to venues in Over-the-Rhine and downtown Sept. 25-27 for its 14th-annual event, once again offering open-minded music fans a buffet of stimulating sounds by mostly newer artists both known and up-and-coming.
While there was still a great MPMF-related energy swirling around the area, there was a more laidback feel to the fest this year, which might have had something to do with the programming. There seemed to be a lot more acts performing music that was pretty chilled out, from duo Purity Ring’s hypnotic ElectroPop to even certain Rock bands, like San Diego Indie Pop/Rock crew The Donkeys. But when those artists took to the stage, their music transformed into something more vigorous and directly engaging. Purity Ring (at Washington Park) was one of Friday’s most anticipated acts, and the twosome’s stage-show (which looked like a light-up art installation) and pulsating sound were mesmerizing. And The Donkeys flat-out rocked the outdoor lot at the Christian Moerlein Brewing Co., their beachfront, bonfire Pop Rock excursions blossoming into fun, fuzzed-out powerhouse Rock jams.
With 10 venues hosting around 120 artists from all over the world, MidPoint 2015 was another banner year for the fest. Even though I had the usual regrets for missing a few acts (call it “MPMF envy” — when other people tell you how incredible the band you missed was), it was still one of my favorites out of the 14 fests I’ve attended so far.
Friday and Saturday seemed to attract the usual mass of fans to MidPoint, with the streets packed with roving gangs of music lovers navigating their ways to the next show. It was a slow build — some of the earlier Friday shows that might have been packed at a later time had relatively sparse turnouts at some venues, which was unfortunate, because acts like Brooklyn Indie Folk trio Howard deserved to be heard by a lot more people. Howard is the kind of group that seems destined to return to town in a few months and play to a couple hundred people, and the few dozen people that caught them at MPMF can sniff “Yeah, I saw them months ago.”
The earlier shows on Saturday and Sunday seemed to fare better attendance-wise — the amazing, psychedelic Indie band Besnard Lakes (which is even better live than on record, a tough feat) and tremendous local Indie Dream Pop foursome Prim had respectable crowds, despite playing before 7 p.m. Influential British shoegazers Ride also drew a fairly decent crowd at Washington Park at 6:30 p.m., attracting a pretty diverse (age-wise) audience and rewarding them with an impressive set.
Most of the later shows on Friday and Saturday were packed — an understatement in the cases of smaller venues like MOTR Pub and Maudie’s. MOTR was so full Friday for stunning Rock foursome Bully’s midnight set, people were only being let in as others left. Meanwhile, across the street at new MPMF venue Woodward Theater around the same time, All Them Witches also had the joint stuffed to the gills. The often-packed Maudie’s gets the award for being the most elbow-to-elbow venue; for many shows there, entering the small, narrow room was like squeezing onto a crowded New York subway at rush hour.
Cincinnati bands more than held their own at the festival; it seems like locals always give a little extra during MPMF. Entertaining Indie Pop locals Multimagic once again proved why they could easily be the “next big thing” to come out of Cincinnati’s music scene. And it was a blast seeing Rock & Soul juggernaut DAAP Girls play Arnold’s courtyard, which leaves its dinner seating up even during MPMF. The stage is essentially an elongated, porch-like riser about 20 feet long, and maybe 6 feet deep, but the seven-piece smoked, laying down an insistent groove and guitar-driven swagger while singer/guitarist Stuart MacKenzie climbed all over the “porch” in search (mostly in vain) of more things to crawl up on. Former Cincinnati band Heartless Bastards gave one of the fest’s best performances to a large crowd at the Moerlein space, showing off their increasing finesse and remarkable stage presence.
The spirit of MidPoint was the same as in years past, but there were some structural changes this year. The MidPoint Midway, something of a bridge between Washington Park and Main Street, couldn’t be used due to streetcar construction, so the southern end of Washington Park took its place. The Indie Craft Village served as a nice place to eat, drink, people-watch, check out craft vendors and brewers and generally just take a breather.
The more significant change was the shift from the longtime Thursday-Saturday setup to a Friday-Sunday format. Though it improved over the years, MidPoint Thursdays were always the fest’s “slow day,” and even though there was a nice turnout for some of Sunday’s shows, it felt like Sunday took over Thursday’s old role. Which is perplexing — yes, a lot of people have to work/go to school Monday, but a little next-day grogginess seems a small price to pay for one more great night of music.
MPMF’s artistic director Dan McCabe felt the Sunday addition was a success, citing Indie Folk giants Iron & Wine’s well-attended Washington Park show as an example. Sam Beam and his band drew a sizeable crowd, and Iron & Wine’s set coinciding with a full lunar eclipse added a neat mystique to the concert.
Some Sunday shows also drew OK. Despite playing at 5 p.m., Philly’s superb Beach Slang rocked a fair turnout at the Lightborne Lot, as did the rest of that venue’s Sunday lineup. Still, it felt like the group deserved a better slot. Likewise, I was surprised at the low attendance at Taft Theatre’s Ballroom for K.Flay, who put one of my favorite sets of the whole festival. The Pop/Hip Hop/Electronic performer (who played with a more Rock-oriented band) has a uniquely captivating sound and an engaging, no-gimmicks live pressence, but the Ballroom was only about a quarter full (those who were there were at least very into the show). And I’m still trying to understand how there were only a dozen people watching Cleveland Electro/Pop/Soul/Rock artist Marcus Alan Ward at The Drinkery Sunday; he gave a fantastic performance of seamlessly blended Electro Pop with tasty Soul and Rock additives. And despite the small audience, Ward performed like he was in a packed club.
Visit our MidPoint Music Fest page and CityBeat’s Facebook page for photos and more from MPMF 2015.
This article appears in Sep 30 – Oct 6, 2015.