It seems like every city is trying to have 'the next SXSW' (QRO recap) - an indie music industry festival spread across venues to promote local acts & rope in out-of-town ones, like Austin's famed one: Cincinnatti's Midpoint, San Francisco's Noise Pop, Las Vegas' immediately preceding Neon Reverb, Toronto's honestly imitating North-by-Northeast, Brooklyn's small sophomore Northside (QRO recap), or Los Angeles' current Sunset Strip (QRO recap) & upcoming new Culture Collide (QRO Festival Guide).  But, other than New York's almost-as-old CMJ (QRO recap), the best out there has to be from 'the next Austin' - Portland, Oregon's Music Fest NW.  Like the getting-bigger-every-year Sasquatch! Music Festival (QRO recap) just to the north at the start of the summer, MFNW has been building every year, with a great line-up of Pacific Northwest locals & those from farther afield, to close out the summer of 2010: 

Los Angeles' famed Sunset Strip played host to a three-day music festival, August 26th-28th.  Days One & Two had concerts taking place at venues along the Strip, with Day Three shutting down the iconic piece of pavement for an epic end.

Say hello to the first-ever Neon Marshmallow Fest, a brand new four-day festival in Chicago at the Viaduct Theater, August 19th-22nd.  Two stages, more than 90 bands, and $2.50 PBRs: a veritable bloodbath of electronica, digital grind-core, and uncategorizable noise.  If you've heard of more than half of these bands, than you're probably playing in the festival.  If you've heard of them all, you're probably organizing the festival.  QRO jumps into the melee with eyes wide shut!

The act of the soft spoken elegance of Montreal's Parc Jean Drapeau all but fading, to make way for the shredding, punk rock stylings of Shane Murphy, was only the first in a weekend-long series of entirely ironic, mostly enjoyable surprises.  Thankfully for music fans, the sheer magnitude of Osheaga's line-up, Saturday, July 31st & Sunday, August 1st, ensured that nothing put a damper on the city's biggest celebration of indie, although there were a few interesting moments along the way. 

HARD Summer finally happened Saturday, August 7th in L.A.'s State Historic Park.  After the HARD LA date on July 17th was cancelled, many disappointed fans had to wait to get their HARD fix, and they had to be content with a new lineup of headliners.  Official reasons for the cancellation and rescheduling are unknown, but some suspect that it was partly due to poor ticket sales and LA County's recent establishment of a rave safety task force in response to the most recent Electric Daisy Carnival, where many were hospitalized and one fifteen year old girl died.  HARD LA's promoter, Gary Richards, a.k.a. Destructo, spoke to the L.A. Times saying, "We do not allow raves.  Raves have a stigma attached to them."  The definition of ‘rave' is, of course, totally unclear, and even at this concert, the onstage LED screen at a certain time asked, "Is this a rave?"

The fifth annual Pitchfork Festival, held in Union Park, Chicago, turned into a three-day heat-fest, testing the resolve and endurance of indie rock fans who had been driven there by the promise of seeing and hearing quite a few of indie's top acts, with some rap thrown in for seasoning.  Some fans decided not to attend all day but instead half a day of Saturday and Sunday because of the heat.  Three-day tickets sold out in about a week, and all three days of single tickets sold out as well.  At times the stage choices offered a battle of options that ranged between pop, rap, chill and alternative/fusion.  The heat made water and shade become valuable properties, as were cigarettes by Sunday.  However, food and water were reasonably priced, so no one was going around really deprived of necessities.

The Village Voice's Siren Music Festival somehow celebrated its tenth anniversary.  "Somehow" because ever since redevelopment plans were announced for its home of Coney Island at the southern side of Brooklyn, every year has been ‘the last Siren ever’, going back to at least 2007 (QRO Siren 2007 recap), but also 2008 (QRO Siren 2008 recap) & last year (QRO Siren 2009 recap).  Yet it's come back every year, and by 2010, the cloud seemed to have been lifted.

In celebration of its continued longevity, Siren did something new: look back to the past, by booking acts with connections to Sirens gone by.  Still, the festival is about new music, and while the line-up was a little headliner-light & Brooklyn-heavy, it was one of the better line-ups of the past few years (okay, no ‘Broken Social Scene/Stephen Malkmus/Ra Ra Riot/Annuals & more’ of 2008, but beat the tar out of 2009's sub-par performers), for another wild Siren on Saturday, July 17th:

Thousands came out to Governors Island (QRO venue review) for HARD NYC, an eight-hour festival showcasing some of the most talked about up and comers and biggest names in dance.  With several events and festivals under their belt on the west coast, HARD NYC is one of the first major forays in bringing dance and techno to the east coast by organizers HARD.