For the first time since 2019, the Chicago institution that is Wilco is bringing back their Solid Sound Festival to… Massachusetts. OK, it’s not as random as that, because the festival — loaded with indie talent and more from top to bottom — doesn’t just go down anywhere in Massachusetts: It’s at North Adams’ 250,000 square foot Massachusetts Museum Of Contemporary Art (MoCA), the largest center for contemporary arts in the country, where previous iterations of the event have taken place. It’s quite the setting for a music festival and it’s scheduled to occur on Memorial Day Weekend, from May 27th to 29th, 2022.
The inventive and loaded lineup sees Sylvan Esso, Japanese Breakfast, and Bonnie “Prince” Billy riding the top of the lineup card alongside a performance by Wilco, of course. There are other prominent performances on the bill that you likely won’t see at any other festivals, like the free jazz mastery of Sun Ra Arkestra conducted by Marshall Allen, and Josh Hodgman’s Comedy Cabaret co-hosted with hip-hop renaissance woman Jean Grae and featuring comedians Nick Offerman, River Butcher, and Negin Farsad. There’s also a Jeff Tweedy & Friends performance, which could easily make this a Wilco superfest on its own. But there’s more…
The rest of the lineup is an eclectic mishmash of indie’s best. It includes Terry Allen and The Panhandle Mystery Band, Mike Watt + The Missingmen, Hand Habits, Wiki, Angel Bat Dawid, Iceage, Sam Evian, Nnämdi, Cut Worms, Le Ren, Nels Cline: Consentrik Quartet, Autumn Defense, On Fillmore with Jonna Tervomaa, Eleventh Dream Day, Mess Esque, Mikael Jorgensen, Liam Kazar, Tuomo & Markus, and Story Pirates.
Tickets are on now sale here and also include access to the Mass MoCA museum.
