MusicfestNW in Portland, Oregon looks fantastic this year. Featuring acts from around the Pacific Northwest and the United States, the festival lasts for five days and has shows at 19 of the city’s best concert venues.

The festival was created 11 years ago by Portland’s alternative weekly newspaper Willamette Week and has been a success ever since that first year. Today the festival is the third largest indoor music festival and Time magazine called it one of the 50 Authentic American Experiences of 2009--high praise coming from such a widely read magazine. MusicfestNW is unique in that it doesn’t focus on a single kind of music. Instead, it features hip hop, punk and indie acts. Last year, the show included 170 bands.

 

Tickets are $115 for all club shows and three tickets to the big shows at the city Pioneer Courthouse Square show. The big shows include Iron & Wine, Explosions in the Sky and Band of Horses. The cheapest ticket is $70 and includes admission to all the club shows and a ticket to one of the Pioneer Courthouse Square shows. The most expensive ticket is $250 and includes admission to everything.

 

Here are some of the don’t-miss shows if you go to the festival:

 

Blind Pilot. The band is from Portland and the positive energy at a hometown show is really hard to beat. Lead singer Israel Nebeker has a beautifully sweet voice that can convey more depths of emotion than any other lead singer I can name. Although it’s September, Blind Pilot is the perfect band to mourn the end of summer with their simply lyrical music and low-key instrumentations.

 

Iron & Wine. Samuel Beam aka Iron & Wine is what I’m most excited about seeing at the festival. His intricate and deceptively simple lyrics make his work seem out of a specific year or decade, but so geared towards summer. The Austin, Texas-based singer is one of the big shows, so you’ll need to get your tickets to see him sooner rather than later.

 

Marketa Irglova. Marketa Irglova was the female half of the duo (along with her former romantic and current music writing partner, Mark Hansard) behind the musical film Once and the band Swell Season. The Czech singer now lives in the United States and judging from her former musical creations, her solo music is certainly worth a listen.

 

The Kills. This duo makes sexy music that you are likely to hear in a club or elsewhere. “U.R.A. Fever” is a song that you probably know and already like.

 

Blitzen Trapper. This is another Portland-based band so you know they are going to be good. Their popular song “Furr” is written from the perspective of a dog and features night sounds, mandolin and harmonica. Perfectly Portland.

 

Portland Cello Project. This is maybe one of the most unusual indie musical ensembles making the rounds of the music scene today. All classical-trained cellists, the group arranges popular songs, like Justin Timberlake’s “My Love” and OutKast’s “Hey Ya”. It’s pretty weird but you can’t help be taken in by it.