The Scene

MusicDetour.com’s commentary on music, performances, and the DC metro area music scene

Shamrock Fest keeps getting bigger because not only is it at RFK Stadium, but it now also has a first class line-up. It’s gone from a drunken fest in Arlington to a great festival that kicks off the festival season. This year The Roots are even playing the show. The show is Saturday March 13th from 1-9pm. Tickets are selling out fast and they have variable pricing. Click here for tickets. Full line-up after the jump. (more…)

Even though we are still surrounded by the material evidence of winter, Amanda MacKaye and the crew organizing the Fort Reno summer concert series are already accepting applications for the 2010 edition.  Send them your demos!  Contact info is here.

The Fort Reno series is a highlight of the summer for many DCists.  It is in everyone’s interest that the eclectic lineup be as strong as possible.  For bands, these shows offer great exposure to potential fans who might not happen to ever stumble across a given act at a club or on their MySpace.

Photo credit:  Ron Akins

If you can’t make it to Mardi Gras and you live in the DC area, don’t worry, head to Fat Tuesday’s in Fairfax, VA. In DC, there is no better place to celebrate Fat Tuesday than Fat Tuesday’s. Located across the street from George Mason University, it’s sure to have its fair-share of wannabe Mardi Gras revelers. While there’s no replacement for New Orleans in mid-February, Fat Tuesday’s will have ten bands playing all day (starting at 3pm!) including:  (more…)

Ethnic Detour is an instrumental trio that got started as a Quartet in the Spring of 2003 at the Virginia Tech International Street Fair. While the group’s three core musicians (Gjergji Theka, Cameron McLaughlin and David Arditi) focused on other projects, they continually came back to play the VT International Street Fair each Spring. This is a video of Nato Jenkins at the International Street Fair in 2005 when Ethnic Detour began to focus on original music. Browse the videos from that show that are also posted on YouTube, also check-out more of Gjergji’s videos while you are there.

There are two festivals this weekend in the DC Area: Celebrate Fairfax and Capital Jazz Festival. Now, I’m not sure why Fairfax is worth celebrating, but this festival ends up being a good time every year. This year not only is the most populous county in VA bringing Blues Traveler to town, but their also bring in Tone Loc, Naughty by Nature and Sugar Hill Gang for some old school hip-hop jams. Across the river in MD, the Capital Jazz Festival should be good fun for all even if you aren’t a big jazz fan. Also, don’t forget about the Louisiana Swamp Romp on Sunday at Wolf Trap.

There are a lot of wine festivals going on this summer in the DC area and many of them have music. This weekend is the 28th Annual Vintage Virginia, May 30th and May 31st. This year’s performers include Big Sam’s Funky Nation, On the One, Robert Jospe Sextet, DJ Williams Projekt and Beleza Brasil. Follow these links for the scheduels for Saturday and Sunday.

Every summer there are a lot of concerts that happen outside in communities. One of the places where there is one of these outside concert series is at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware a place that happens to be a very popular DC vacation spot. The Rehoboth Beach Bandstand will be holding concerts on the beach (FOR FREE!!!) on weekends throughout the summer. If you are visiting Rehoboth for the weekend, this is a must-go destination. Maybe you should check-out the schedule now and figure-out when you want to go to the beach based on when you there is a band playing that you want to see. Check-out the schedule after the jump. (more…)

After first getting started with Folk music and Jazz music, Festivals have long been the domain of Jam Bands. However, over the past few years there’s been an increasing tendency towards hip-hop festivals. Rock the Bells started back in 2004 as a one time – one place festival, but has expanded over the past five years to a touring festival that will land in 10 cities across the US and Canada this summer. It’s coming to the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD on Sunday, July 12th. The shows kick-off at Noon. It’s the second consecutive year that the show will hit Merriweather. This year’s festival is going to have about 30 acts on 2 stages. Tickets go on sale May 2nd at 10am. Full list of artists after the jump. (more…)

With the Cherry Blossoms here, a pair of beautiful days this weekend and a coating of pollen on your car, it is clear that Spring and April are here. All of this means that one of the year’s biggest festivals on the mall is upon us. The Green Apple Festival will take place from April 17-19 on throughout Washington, DC with a huge free festival on the National Mall on April 19th. This year the Green Apple Music Festival will take place in 10 cities across the United States, but the largest bar far is right here in Washington, DC. While the performers have been announced for the other nine cities, we are still waiting to hear who will be playing in DC that weekend. Check back for more information – we will update this post as the artists are announced. JUST IN – LINE-UP after the jump (more…)

As I’ve mentioned before, Wolf Trap’s Filene Center is one of the best venues to catch a show (partly because of its BYOB policy). Every year in addition to the great line-up of shows, there is a Louisiana Swamp Romp to celebrate cajun music/zydeco on a beautiful summer afternoon. In its 20th year, the Swamp Romp looks like it will be going better than ever.  This year it will be on Sunday, June 7th at 2pm in the afternoon. Tickets are general admission, so get your favorite New Orleans beverage and head to Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA. Check out the line-up after the jump. (more…)