Bloglander

There's been quite a bit of regional music festival news as of late. First, Sasquatch!, in a bold move, opted to not only offer early-bird tickets for the holidays, as per usual, but also announced that Frank Ocean would headline the 2017 Memorial Day event. Then, it was revealed that Spokane would have it's own large, three-day riverfront music festival called Tinnabulation. Boise's own downtown Treefort Music Fest's (March 22-26) first wave of band announcements also landed last week with this seriously on-point preview video.

Now Boise and Spokane, about a six-hour car ride from one another, are similarly sized cities, and the Lilac City can benefit greatly from Treefort Music Festival, especially with high-end indie artists like Mac DeMarco, The Growlers, The Bouncing Souls, STRFKR, Deafheaven, WHY?, JMSN, The Album Leaf, Rituals of Mine, Open Mike Eagle, Carpenter Brut, Eilen Jewell, Jonathan Richman, Grouper, Lower Dens and Meat Puppets coming through their festival. Here's how:

1) Tinnabulation organizers can learn from Boise's music festival setup and build upon that. Treefort, now in its sixth year, has expanded overtime to include five days and a multitude of stages that feature everything from music to yoga. Spokane's Tinnabulation, which runs in September, will start out as three days of mostly music. Organizers say they plan to bring in large national touring acts (perhaps more well-known than what Boise's fest enjoys), but bands like these already booked for Treefort can serve as a starting point.

2) As in the past, let's hope that many of these artists will stop at Spokane before and after their Treefort sets (musicians like Mac DeMarco would be perfect in a Knitting Factory setting— hint, hint). Already Meat Puppets are scheduled to hit the Bartlett March 20 and Strand of Oaks will be there March 23, so that's a start. Any other city — Coeur d'Alene, Moscow, Pullman or Sandpoint — that these bands grace during that time, would only continue to build excitement for the Inland Northwest music scene.

Expect two more waves of Treefort music acts to be announced soon. A five-day general admission wristband is $89 for fans under 21, and $165 for those 21 and over.