Pygmalion Music Festival

Last weekend, Champaign-Urbana was home to the annual Pygmalion Music Festival organized by Seth Fein. People from all over gathered around to see bands both local and national.

The festival kicked off on Thursday at the Canopy Club, the Krannert Art Museum and the Channing-Murray Foundation, where an array of local bands performed.

Bands such as That’s No Moon, Psychic Twin, Santah and Hum performed that night. Hum were a last minute replacement as headliners after Sleigh Bells were forced to cancel their performance due to injury.

On Friday night, more shows took place at the Channing-Murray Foundation, in downtown Urbana and again at the Canopy Club. Some of the bands that performed that night were Best Coast, An Evening With Your Mother and Dirty Projectors.

Performances by Withershins, Zeus and Lord Huron impressed the audience.

On Saturday, the festival kicked into full speed, expanding to several new venues throughout the downtown Champaign area in locations such as the Highdive, Exile on Main, Indi Go Gallery, Cowboy Monkey and the Sodo Theater.

Some bands that had played previous nights were on hand to perform free acoustic sets at Exile on Main.

Throughout the day, bands like Grandkids, Elsinore, The Henry Clay People and Common Loon performed at the various venues throughout the area.

The main event on Saturday took place at the Highdive outdoor annex where two stages were set to feature a number of bands including the headliners for the night- Dinosaur Jr., and Grizzly Bear.

For those unfamiliar with Dinosaur Jr., the band was a welcome surprise. The audience showed their enthusiasm as people of all ages danced and jumped around with smiles on their faces.

Grizzly Bear put on a truly professional performance. Their skill level blew many away and their virtuosity put them in a class of their own.

The amount of energy the band imparted on the crowd was absolutely electric and there wasn’t a single person in the packed crowd who wasn’t feeling it.

Mischa Follmer, Communication major, was at the event on Saturday and had this to say about the energy of the show, “I believe a lot of people were pumped to be there. I saw a lot of fun looking people doing crazy dances and having a good time.”

Rianna Elsberry, 88.7 WPCD DJ and Parkland staff member, explained the history of the event, saying, “WPCD has been a presenting sponsor of Pygmalion for the past two years.”

She continued, “We co-sponsored the big outdoor show with Smile politely this year and did so much more. We did live remotes from the festival, and we had a booth for fans to visit. So many people came up to the booth to get 88.7 pins and let us know how much they love the station.”

Although the festival just ended, plans for next year are already underway. When asked if next years show would be bigger and better than this year’s, Seth Fein the creator of Pygmalion had this to say, “We’re always planning. And thanks to people like Eleni at WPCD, yeah that's the plan. Maybe not bigger, but always better.”

Fein elaborated, saying, “I think I still need to pare down the number of shows and number of performers. I like the idea that less is more, and so I think there is still room for some improvements.”

For now the festival seems to have been a success with the fans. Fein explained, “I think everyone walked away feeling good about it. It wasn't without flaws, but certainly, on the whole, there were no major instances of real problems, and I think that's the best you can ask for.”

“Having Lou Barlow of Dinosaur Jr. tell the crowd of 2000 that this was the best music festival he's ever played was a big deal for us, hyperbole or not.”

For more information on Pygmalion Music Festival, visit pygmalionmusicfestival.com.