# Portland’s MusicfestNW 2010 Opens with Panda Bear, The Thermals, Ra Ra Riot, A.A. Bondy; Some 200 Artists and Bands in Five Days - Link: https://indierockcafe.com/2010/09/musicfestnw-opens-panda-bear-show-preview-upcoming-shows/ - Published: 2010-09-10T15:29:45-04:00 - Author: Max Hammer [[ Thursday night was the big kick-off for the 10th annual **Musicfest NW** festival in **Portland**, Oregon. Indie bands and artists like The Thermals, Ra Ra Riot, Red Fang, Rocky Votolato, A. A Bondy, Justin Townes Earle, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Phantogram, and dozens more artists opened the little-known, five-day music festival. Officially, the fest opened Wednesday night with a sold out crowd at **Crystal Ballroom** to see **Panda Bear**. The set included some new material from the upcoming LP, _Tomboy_, from the musician otherwise known as Noah Lennox of **Animal Collective**. Lennox operated his keys and boxes in the dark with a guitar strapped on while a modern day version of psychedelic images flashed and oozed on a large screen behind the stage. “Slow Motion”_ _ – **Panda Bear** After a near sleep-inducing few opening songs, Lennox fired things up, and the packed crowd finally got going with “Comfy in Nautica” and his new single, “Slow Motion”. But we heard many people in attendance, especially the youngest among them, complain that the show was “slow” and “boring”; perhaps they were expecting more Animal Collective than Lennox wanted to give. The line outside Portland's Wonder Ballroom for Ra Ra Riot On Thursday, the real first full day of the fest, there were shows at nearly a dozen venues across the city. Some venues were too far from the center of downtown to make it worth the round trip, but, nonetheless, the official schedule sports an extensive, and diverse (but definitely indie heavy), line-up to fill up five days of shows at nearly two-dozen venues throughout the downtown Portland area. The venues range from schools to theaters, saloons to clubs, recording studios to coffee houses, and city squares to ballrooms. Related Post:  Best New Releases from Beach Fossils, Damien Jurado, Tobacco, Peter Wolf Crier, Junip, Kurt Vile, Ducktails, Elephant Stone We were a little surprised that _The Portland Tribune_ didn’t mention that Georgia’s one man band and synth pop student, Ernest Greene, aka **Washed Out**, and Saratoga Springs, New York electronica, shoegaze duo** Phantogram** were opening for Ra Ra Riot’s show ;ast night at **The Wonder Ballroom**. The venue is quite a far distance from the downtown area, but worth the trip for some shows.  For example, on Friday, Male Bonding, Surfer Blood and Black Lips will perform at The Wonder Ballroom. The Thermals got the floor shaking at the Crystal Ballroom After **Ra Ra Riot** – the Syracuse, New York indie band who have had the number one song on IRC for the past two weeks (“Boy”)- we headed back to downtown proper, and returned to the Crystal Ballroom to catch **Ted Leo and the Pharmacists** who will be opening for Portland’s hometown post-punk/alternative rockers, **The Thermals**. We predict the show will be sold out. “Boy”_ _– **Ra Ra Riot** “I Don’t Believe You” – **The Thermals** The buzz band of 2010, Surfer Blood, will rock the Wonder Ballroom Friday ** **Friday evening brings yet another maze of choices of bands and venues; we plan on catching as many shows as possible, including Male Bonding, Surfer Blood, Black Lips – all at The Wonder Ballroom, plus, Candy Claws, Astrology, Dan Mangan, Magic Kids, Okkervil River (or Man Man – hmmm, decisions…) Thee Oh Sees, and the late night/early morning show by The Builders & The Butchers at **Berbati’s Pan**, right up to 2.a.m. “Swim”_ _ – **Surfer Blood** “Sunbeam Show” _ _– **Candy Claws** “Superball”_ _ – **Magic Kids** “Road Regrets” _ _– **Dan Mangan** On Saturday, September 11th, Portland’s famous **Pioneer Courthouse Square** will transform into one of the best venues of MusicfestNW’s five-day run. From 4pm to 9pm, the scheduled line up in order:  Weinland, Blue Giant, and Laura Veirs.   Closing out the night’s performances in the square will be Portland’s acclaimed native sons,** The Decemberists**. Related Post:  Five Anticipated Summer Releases, Vol. III: Washed Out, Sparklehorse& Danger Mouse, Chief, Jaill, and Menomena “Wide Eyed, Legless”_ _ – **Laura Veirs** “Oceanside” _ _– **The Decemberists** Afterwards, for the evening shows, we plan to catch The Globes, Unnatural Helpers, Akron/Family, Menomena, The Dodos and whatever else comes up; for example, there was a last-minute show last night from Japanther. “Five Little Rooms” – **Menomena** [“Sunshine/Pretty Girls”](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/02%20Sunshine%20_%20Pretty%20Girls1.mp3)–** Unnatural Helpers** “Fables” – **The Dodos** Shows we won’t be able to see because we’re staying in the downtown area (we’ve seen all these bands before, anyways) include The Smashing Pumpkins (what’s left of them), Free Energy, Titus Andronicus, Suckers, Japandroids and so on. With the exception of the Smashing Pumpkins, we caught all of those bands at **[South by Southwest](https://indierockcafe.com/2010/03/music-month-in-review-march-2010-top-20-sxsw-best-releases-rip-alex-chilton-mark-linkous-special-playlists/)**( lots of free MP3s)** **last March. The Walkmen will open for The National at Pioneer Courthouse Square on Sunday On Sunday, the last day of the fest, there are only four shows in Pioneer Square– Talkdemonic, The Helio Sequence, The Walkmen and The National. We’re hoping this weekend will bring some sunny, blue skies, but so far, Portland has been typically Pacific Northwest – overcast and mild. “In The New Year” – **The Walkmen** [“Bloodbuzz Ohio” ](http://www.regnsky.dk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/The-National-Bloodbuzz-Ohio.mp3)–** The National** From the ‘blogger’ perspective, MusicfestNW has a charm that is all it’s own, and part of that is because MFNW is not besieged by mainstream press people and hundreds of bloggers, local press, TV, and so on, like the big time festivals. It’s not entirely clear why MFNW goes largely unnoticed, but it’s safe to say that part of it must be due to the fact that the music press focuses on covering the bigger fests, and after a summer of  blockbuster festivals, and with even more festivals coming during the next seven weeks, including the amazing **Austin City Limits**( Oct. 8 -10); **Voodoo Festival **(Oct. 29 – 31), MFNW just doesn’t fit into most music press outlets’ schedules and budgets. Related Post:  The Drums Picked By Readers as "Break-Out Band" of 2010 (So Far), followed by Freelance Whales and 8 Others You can[ follow us on Twitter](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/indierockcafe27) for lil’ msgs while we’re at the events themselves. Than back to regular programming next week.