Three years after its inception, The Downtown Festival has now spread to five U.S. cities — Cleveland, Minneapolis, New York, Los Angeles and Houston.
Created in 2011 to celebrate the five-year anniversary of Downtown Records in New York, the fest took over seven Lower East Side venues last year to showcase music from more than 70 artists.
Needless to say, Downtown Festival is stepping up its game this fall. Here are the current lineups (check in here for updates).
Cleveland (Sept. 19-20)
- The War On Drugs
- Justin Townes Earle
- RJD2
- Pomplamoose
- Freeman
- American Aquarium
- Califone
- Smoke Screen
- P. Stoops
- Teen
- Extra Spooky
- Danielle Ate the Sandwich
- John Schroeder
Minneapolis (Sept. 26-27)
- Future Islands
- Deafhaven
- Nosaj Thing
- Moon Boots
- Bear Hands
- Russian Circles
- Turquoise Jeep
- Hippo Campus
- The Atlas Moth
- Cakes Da Killa
- Stu Larsen
New York City (Oct. 2-4)
- Kiesza
- Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks
- Tobacco
- Jungle
- Vacationer
- Iamsu!
- Zebra Katz
- Mas Ysa
- Tink
- Saint Pepsi
- Computer Magic
Los Angeles (Oct. 17-18)
- Lineup TBA
Houston (Nov. 14-15)
- Lineup TBA
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Last year, the New York-only fest received mostly positive reviews.
"Overall, the weekend was a hit, with the few misses coming from absences more than failures," wrote Consequence of Sound. "So, in many ways, it was actually a home run."
Downtown Records is a label founded by Josh Deutsch and Terence Lam in 2006. It features several prominent artists, including Gnarls Barkley, Cold War Kids, Eagles of Death Metal, Marilyn Manson, Santigold, Chet Faker, Cyndi Lauper and several others.
Kendrick Lamar headlined last year's festival. Here's video of him performing "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe" at the show:
