Tenth MidPoint Music Festival

The MidPoint Music Festival will be celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. It is an independent music festival that was inaugurated in 2002. Two musicians from Cincinnati, namely Sean Rhiney (Clappergirl) and Bill Donabedian (Crosley), founded the festival which was later acquired by an alternative newspaper called the Cincinnati CityBeat in 2008. The first festival drew ten thousand spectators, and as the years went by, the numbers of fans in attendance grew dramatically. The festival takes place over three days, and is hosted annually in the month of September in the downtown district of Cincinnati, as well as in Over-the-Rhine.

This year the Midpoint Music Festival will be held from 22 to 24 September 2011, and on the 24th of May, a star studded line-up of artist were announced for the festival. Over a hundred and eighty bands and artists will be performing over the three days at various venues. Some of the acts to look forward to include Booker T. Jones (Hall of Fame Artist), Kaki King, Cut Copy, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Bear Hands, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Conspiracy of Owls, Gang Gang Dance, Xiu Xiu, Viva Voce, Mansions of the Moon, Low Anthem, The Bright Light Social, Ava Luna, The Giving Tree Band, The Dodos, Deerhoof, Ivan and Alyosha, Those Darlins, Toro Y Moi, Mates of State and many more. Some of the performances will include local bands such as Josh Eagle, The Lions Rampant, Jake Speed and the Harvest City.

Eighteen venues have been secured for the festival, including ArtWorks (Over-the-Rhine), Cincinnati Club (Downtown), Dewey’s Pizza Main Stage at Grammer’s (Over-the-Rhine), Blue Wisp Jazz Club (Downtown), Main Event (Downtown) and Mr Pitfuls (Over-the-Rhine). There are going to be fourteen venues in Over-the-Rhine, and MPMF Executive Producer, Dan McCabe, said that growth in this area, especially the development of youth related activities, such as the School for Creative and Performing Arts, has revived the area. The MidPoint Music Festival is gearing up to be an event not to be missed, and festival organizers are anticipating that this year’s festival will be even bigger than last year.