Pygmalion Music Festival 2012 preview

From Sept. 27-29, Champaign-Urbana will host the concert series known as the Pygmalion Music Festival. This is a festival in which local indie bands and other well-known artists perform at music venues throughout the area.

Some of the genres one can expect to hear are indie rock, indie folk, electronic and indie dance. The choices are vast and there will be something for everyone.

Bands one can expect to see at this event are national touring bands such as Grizzly Bear, Dinosaur Junior, Sleigh Bells and Dirty Projectors, among many others.

You can also expect to see local bands like That’s No Moon, Year of the Bobcat, Grandkids, Elsinore and many others. For a full lineup of bands, both local and national, visit the official Pygmalion music festival website at pygmalionmusicfestival.com.

Kyle Prillaman, the drummer of That’s No Moon, had this to say about the festival, “We played at the Pygmalion festival last year. Our favorite part about the festival is the opportunity to play in front of people who have never heard us before.” Prillaman continued, “We also enjoy being able to share the stage with national touring acts.”

During previous festivals, Pygmalion has hosted bands such as Explosions In the Sky, Of Montreal, Janelle Monae, Iron and Wine, Ra Ra Riot, Maps and Atlases and many other higher profile bands. The creator and promoter of Pygmalion, Seth Fein, believes that this year's festival will be the best yet.

“I think this year is stronger,” Fein said. “The budget is higher, so we took the chance to get a stronger line up. I have an extensive history with other promoters, so I had an easy time getting ahold of some bigger bands. Champaign is just a welcoming community for such a music festival.”

The venues on Thursday and Friday include the Canopy Club, the Channing-Murray Foundation, the Krannert Art Museum and Champaign’s downtown section.

On Thursday, the first shows start around 7:30 p.m. at the Krannert Art Museum and the last show ends around 1:15 a.m. at the Canopy Club. On Friday, the first show begins at 6:15 p.m. in downtown Urbana and the last show ends around 3 a.m. at the Channing-Murray Foundation.

On Saturday, there is an extensive amount of venues where bands will be performing. The venues include the High Dive, the High Dive Outdoor Annex Stages one and two, Exile on Main Street, Boltini Lounge, Mike ‘N’ Molly’s, Indi Go Gallery, Cowboy Monkey and the Sodo Theater.

Saturday, the earliest concert set begins at 12:15 p.m. at Exile on Main Street and the latest show ends at 2:15 p.m. at the Sodo Theater.

If you plan on getting a concert pass for all of the days, you should make a schedule of who you want to see, what time they’re playing and where they’re playing so you can make sure you see the most bands you want to see.

The wide-ranging list of venues allows individuals to choose what kind of environment they want to be in. Whether that is a bar or café, an outside concert venue or a clubs, there are many different atmospheres.

There are multiple types of tickets that can be bought for the event. The current price for a ticket for the entire event is currently $100, and if you aren’t able to go all three days, the Pygmalion website also offers individual show tickets, as well.

For ticket info, show dates, times, band info or anything else one would want to know about the Pygmalion music festival, visit pygmalionmusicfestival.com.