80/35 headliner Spoon performs at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC. Photo by rishi989 via Flickr.
Next month will mark the third iteration of Des Moines’ premier musical festival: 80/35 (Twitter: @8035). Produced annually by the Greater Des Moines Music Coalition (DMMC), a non-profit startup promoting live music in Des Moines, this year’s festival recently announced the final lineup. The headliners are Modest Mouse and Spoon with primary supporting acts Slightly Stoopid, Yo La Tengo, Particle, The Cool Kids, Railroad Earth, and The Walkmen.
For the last several weeks, DMMC has been releasing part of the lineup through online teaser videos. According to Amedeo Rossi, 80/35 project manager, the staggered release helped to build interest in the event. We had to hold off on some acts because of other booking conflicts,” Rossi said. “Some of the bands are playing in the area this summer. Given that we thought it would be good to capitalize on the situation and build the buzz around the festival. Some people hated it and said so. Others enjoyed getting the weekly announcements and looked forward to it, even saying it was their favorite way to start the week.”
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The move is proving to be a good one. According to Amedeo, “Social media interest in the festival is exploding. General buzz is increasing. Pre-sales have been much stronger. In every sense the festival is growing.”
80/35 has traditionally been a mix of both local and national acts, and the 2010 event is no different. “This year we have about eight Iowa/local acts of about 30 in total. We also have a DJ / hip hop stage which is over half local acts. One of the main priorities of the festivals is to expose more people to quality local acts and give those acts which are producing new music, CDs and exciting performances a hand up.”
The 80/35 Music Festival takes place July 3-4 in downtown Des Moines’ Western Gateway Park.
