I meant to blog about this year's 80/35 festival a lot sooner but never got around to it.

For those that don't know - Des Moines started a music festival last year called 80/35. It showcases both big names and local groups in an effort to listen to awesome music, party, and promote music culture in the Des Moines area.

Last year I was super impressed with the festival - We had the Flaming Lips, The Roots, and an amazing effort put on by the organizers. I don't want to discount the organizers this year, because it is obvious that they worked crazy hard again... but the festival seemed to progress far less than I expected.

The things I was disappointed in...

• The Weather - obviously out of everyone's hands, but rain definitely puts a downer on an outdoor fest.
• The paid area - I really think that the concept of free stages is wrong. I understand that the free stages are there to promote local artists... but when most of the festival is given away for free - how do you expect to sell tickets? How do you expect to grow? This year, there was only 1 paid stage - with only 10 shows. The other 34 shows were on free stages - 34! 77% of the festival is given away for free!
  
  My opinion is that none of the festival should be given away for free. Festival goers should have to buy a ticket to see any show. I feel like a lot of people don't check out the local acts because "eh, it's a free show anyway... I'm not losing anything if I miss it." If the entire festival is paid, people are more likely to hang out and check out the local bands - because they paid to see those bands. You don't even have to raise the ticket price; just wrap a fence around the entire fest. I really think this is the way to do it.
• Public Enemy - Don't get me wrong, they were awesome once they finally started. But wtf was that mic check band from KC? And why were they on for an hour? And where was flavor flav!? So many people in that audience knew nothing about public enemy - they only wanted to see flavor flav and a giant clock. A lot of people around me actually thought the KC mic checkers were Public Enemy, haha. It was frustrating. I could've been dancing at DJ Diverse's set while that KC band was horsing around.

The things that were awesome...

• The fact that we have an outdoor music fest that brings in big names.
• The effort - Des Moines is trying and it's obvious they are trying hard. I really hope this thing works.
• The concessions - Great local vendors. I love how into promoting Des Moines this fest is. On top of music, Des Moines has some great food and drinks to offer.
• The wristbands this year were actually plastic instead of paper... it was comfy.

The bands I saw

• Matisyahu - awesome. I was pretty excited to check him out - he was great live. Plus, I think this was the first time I've ever seen a hasidic jew stage dive, haha.
• Public Property - some Iowa City reggae group. I hadn't heard them before, but it was definitely some good stuff.
• Public Enemy - despite no flavor flav and the hour of waiting, they were awesome. The new DJ was really solid too.
• Cleo's Apartment - always awesome live. It sucks that Jeff and the drummer are gone. But Flash and their new drummer did a real good job. Plus it was nice to see Aeon Grey make an appearance.
• Broken Social Scene - I hadn't heard them before, but they were really good. Definitely gonna have to pick some of this up.
• Mr Baber's Neighbors - Pretty hilarious. Sometimes I love bluegrass.
• Brother Ali - I love how he was portrayed as "local" and got thrown onto a free stage, haha. I guess Minneapolis is somewhere along I-35. Regardless, he was awesome and had one of the biggest turnouts of the fest. I think he had bigger turnouts than some of the main stage acts. Sooo awesome.

Next year...

My only real hope is to see the entire fest be in a "paid area." And I hope there are more bands I like. I wasn't really into most of the headliners this year.

Des Moines is a very artistic city, there's no reason that 80/35 cannot grow to be amazing. I want this fest to growwww!
here are the rest of my pics