By Madison Pearson
The best way to describe Boise’s Treefort Music Fest is by calling it a „choose your own adventure“ festival.
For the past 13 years, Treefort Music Fest has been taking over downtown Boise for five days packed full of local music, big name bands, art events, comedy, industry talks and much more all taking place over 40+ stages and venues. Despite not being particularly near, the festival casts a shadow over the Spokane music scene with local acts often citing playing Treefort as a goal and many promoters holding it up as something Spokane should aspire to create. But despite being a live music fiend, I’d somehow never made the trek south for the festival until this past week.
After seeing this year’s lineup full of stellar artists, I made the trek and began a five-day adventure of my own creation. The moment I stepped out of my car after the six-and-a-half hour car ride to Boise from Spokane, I knew it was the last time I would feel well-rested all week.
After snagging my press pass, I made my way to Treefort Music Hall to catch the venue’s first set of the festival, which just so happened to be TIMEWORM, a wildly energetic indie rock band out of Spokane. Featuring songs off their upcoming album and a cover of „Staying Alive“ by the Bee Gees that randomly changed time signatures, their set definitely started Treefort off on the right foot.
I soon realized Treefort, while mostly about the music, is also about what you do between sets.
While I’m assuming most people wandered from venue to venue or had a detailed plan of where they were going each hour of the night, I hadn’t really prepared a schedule for myself going into the festival. There were a few bands I was dead set on seeing, but other than that I hardly had a plan. Thankfully, downtown Boise is walkable and easy to navigate, so meandering often led to new discoveries or running into friends.
I often found myself at Humpin‘ Hannah’s, a bar in Boise that has bras hanging from the ceiling and one singular foosball table on the top floor. Between sets, some friends who also make the trek to Boise and I spent a good amount of time at the bar yelling over the noise and exchanging bills for quarters, determined to become the best foosballers in the city.
The first two days of the fest (Wednesday and Thursday) were spent getting my bearings and trying to understand how it all worked. But, there’s not really a right or wrong way to go about it, which is the beauty of Treefort.
A host of Spokane bands showed out for this year’s Treefort, many of them performing at the festival for the first time. The aforementioned Timeworm, folk rockers THE BED HEADS, blues-infused VIKA & THE VELVETS, the always punktastic ITCHY KITTY, the folk flavored MATT MITCHELL MUSIC CO., the vibey PRIESTESS, and local hip-hop staples JANG THE GOON and CHUCK VIBES.
I know some may argue that music fests are about seeing acts you can’t see anywhere else, but as a loyal devotee of the Spokane scene, I couldn’t stay away for long. It’s amazing to see Spokane bands in their element in another city, interacting with audiences they rarely get to entertain.
So, yeah, I saw a lot of sets from acts that I see all the time at home, but I also stumbled across bands I’d never heard of that completely wowed me.
At the recommendation of a friend, I stopped by HUMBIRD‚s magical set at the Bandshell stage and was absolutely blown away by the songwriting, tight harmonies and musicality of the Minneapolis alt-folk band. I teared up at least five times in the span of 20 minutes just from how overwhelmingly beautiful it was.
The Treefort lineup is overloaded with Boise artists, and a few friends and I came across the Gem State gem SOVE THE SECOND in the District Coffee House while making our way to the Shriner’s Ballroom for another set. We entered during a jazzy duo-performance and stayed for the full band’s set packed with experimental sounds, killer dance moves and all around fun vibes.
We got to Shriner’s Ballroom with intentions of catching the buzzy experimental New York rock act YHWH NAILGUN, but the group’s set ended early so instead we stuck around for NAKED GIANTS, an energetic three-piece garage rock band from Seattle who dominated the venue with their grungy sonic prowess.
Nearly every night was capped with pizza from Pie Hole in downtown Boise. It’s the cheapest, most delicious slice of pizza I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. Plus, there’s plenty to look at in the form of stickers and oddities while waiting in the usually long line that forms after 10 pm.
The music is the best part of Treefort, don’t get me wrong, but the other best part is how much more there is to do than just listen to music: comedy, podcasts, yoga, drag, panels, food, film and more. On Friday afternoon, I popped into a music talk called „Navigating the Modern Music Landscape“ where a panel of music writers, agents and musicians discussed how they came into their roles and answered questions.
It was a great moment of respite from the all-consuming noise outside, but I got right back to it with a day full of main stage shenanigans.The main hub of the festival takes place in Julia B. Davis Park, a large green space in the middle of downtown Boise. Beyond the gates are three stages — main stage, The Hideout and The Bandshell — as well as food trucks, plenty of merch and space to sit down and enjoy the music.
Although the band is legendary in Idaho, I’d never caught a BUILT TO SPILL set, so I stood in the back of the crowd and checked Doug Martsch and co. off my indie rock must-see list.
I had tickets to see Paramore nearly two years ago in Seattle with THE LINDA LINDAS opening up, but the show was postponed and I couldn’t make the new date. Seeing The Linda Lindas at Treefort made up for my heartache completely. The young LA punk band’s set was as high energy as they come, and screaming songs about cats is therapeutic to me, so it was everything I could’ve wanted.
And, of course, I stuck around for Friday’s headlining set from pop singer-songwriter REMI WOLF, who absolutely brought the house down with incredible visuals and some really stellar vocals. Her set reminded me of the beauty of screaming along to your favorite lyrics among a crowd of strangers doing the same thing.
After last year’s Volume Music Festival, I was pumped to see Seattle hip-hop artist OBLÉ REED on the Treefort lineup. He’s got a bubbly personality that makes for incredible audience interaction. Plus, you can’t help but jump around to every song from LINDENAVE!, his phenomenal 2023 debut album.
After a packed Friday, I geared up for a late Saturday night that began with a rainy Vika & The Velvets set. Though I’m sure the band didn’t enjoy the cold temps and misty air, the rain gave the set a great vibe from the audience’s perspective.
The next few hours were spent riding the Treeline — a bus that takes festivalgoers on a loop around the downtown core, making it easy to hit venue after venue — and listening to the cache of rotating bands that popped in to perform before then seeing an additional Bed Heads set at Camp Modern and heading to Humpin‘ Hannah’s for some final rounds of foosball with friends.
Capping off my Treefort experience was a 1 am Jang the Goon set at The Shredder. And though I was well and truly beat from the week’s festivities, there was no better way to end the festival than seeing a Spokane artist absolutely wow a crowd of rowdy festivalgoers in another state.
The successes of Spokane’s Volume Music Festival and Boomjam last year make me hopeful that one day we will have our own version of Treefort. But, for now, I’ll make the six-hour drive south for a slice of sonic paradise once a year. ♦
The original print version of this article was headlined „Fortin‘ Around“
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