REVIEW: Northside Festival 2017
Imagine every Portlandia sketch that mentions Brooklyn, NY. That’s Northside, a music and “innovation” festival that brings together everything that people who still use the word hipster would roll their eyes at. From panels pitting Soundcloud, Spotify, and Apple Music marketing execs against each other, to Dirty Projectors headlining in Prospect Park, it’s almost too good (or awful, depending on the person) to be true.
This year’s Northside took place in early June, right at the start of the summer. For an event clearly trying to brand itself as a taste-making festival, this is perfect timing. It’s the beginning of the party season, the concert season, and the entertainment season. Everyone is looking to find what they should be watching, listening to, or creating this summer. And honestly, from my short time at this festival, I found a wealth of information in a minimal amount of time.
Most of Northside’s attendees are general concert go-ers who came to see the music acts, drawn by other big names such as Kamasi Washington or even Miguel. However, for those lucky enough to get an innovation badge, there was access to a series of talks and panel discussions by industry leaders across a variety of subjects. Most of these industry leaders are in fields like the music, marketing, and the heavy-hitter this year: social media. Most of the attendees are in their late 20’s and are early thirtysomethings who got a comp’d badge from their company. Some of the spotlighted talks this year were VICE in conversation with senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Buzzfeed in conversation with mayor Bill DeBlasio. These talks began with activism, then leaning into well-lead discussions about how the media affects our perception of the political climate. Star-studded talks like these were packed and very well attended. With three days of innovation spread at various venues across Williamsburg, there was much, much more to see, including discussions lead by hipster companies such as The Fader, Vox, The New York Times, NPR, and SNL. Seeing all these names and cool haircuts together could get exhausting, but their is no denying the advantage to see so many leading names gathering together in the same spaces to share their trade secrets.
The music portion of the festival gave off a similar effect. So many indie heroes were invited and chose to participate in Northside, it had you wondering why you’ve never heard of this event before. And when they did get together, the effect seeing a Pitchfork Showcase one day and a Bush Tetras set the next, was more magical than it was annoying. The venues chosen were some of the best in all of New York as well. Brooklyn Bazaar, Our Wicked Lady, Baby’s All Right, Music Hall of Williamsburg, Union Pool, Baby’s All Right and many more all showcased music at their renowned venues. Additionally, local favorite bars such as Pete’s Candy Store, The Well, and Gold Sounds all participated. Northside even found another way to blend sponsorship and entertainment in their brochure, which featured an interview with a bartender from each location.
Even though Northside might seem like an event that would leave you annoyed, exhausted and stressing about your wardrobe, overall I left grateful. I’m glad I got to hear talks, performances, and meet people that know and care about all the things I do. Northside 2017 seems to have really pinned down the competitive media landscape that exists nowadays and how we can engage with it: there really is a lot out to learn about now, but it’s great to be taken along for the ride.
-Allie Miller