It was no surprise that Matt & Kim would be a highlight (if you haven’t seen them, . . . → Read More: KahBang Festival Photos!]]> We had a great time at the first KahBang Music & Art Festival up in Bangor, Maine this weekend (Saturday, August 15, 2009). Check out the full photo gallery (it’s a big one, 90 photos strong) here.

It was no surprise that Matt & Kim would be a highlight (if you haven’t seen them, they put on a fun, highly energized show, always full of crowd-pleasing interaction and mile-wide-smiles), but they weren’t the only memorable act of the day. I was personally very impressed by The Gay Blades (all promotional associations aside, I was already a fan of their music and had high hopes for their performance), as they took a mostly indifferent crowd and turned them into fans hungry for more, bringing some onstage during their set to play percussion. The fact that their friend April Smith (who’d already played earlier on the main stage) joined them a few times certainly added to their set. Ra Ra Riot and Royal Bangs brought really enjoyable, tight sets to the main stage, but the real standout was clearly Ida Maria, whose caustic (drunk) set inspired a lot of shrieking and chearing from the crowd, most of whom lined up for autographs at the merch tent afterwards.

The local bands who played earlier in the day all did a great job, bringing the energy up despite a slow build to the crowd. It would have been great to see some more bands from Maine play, or maybe an additional small/acoustic stage to get even more great local artists involved, but all in all KahBang got off to a great start this year, and everyone involved deserves congratulations (and your attendance next year!)

Check out the KahBang Music Fest ’09 photo gallery.

I’m not sure how it happened exactly, but a really great music festival has been brewing (and selling out of presale tickets) up in Bangor, Maine, and news about it seems to just be drifting down here to Portland today. On Saturday, August 15th, KahBang ’09 will take place in Downtown Bangor and the . . . → Read More: Bangor Steps It Up With KahBang!]]>

I’m not sure how it happened exactly, but a really great music festival has been brewing (and selling out of presale tickets) up in Bangor, Maine, and news about it seems to just be drifting down here to Portland today. On Saturday, August 15th, KahBang ’09 will take place in Downtown Bangor and the Bangor Waterfront. It sounds like more bands may still be added, but the lineup so far is full of strong national acts: Matt & Kim, Ida Maria, the Gay Blades, Ra Ra Riot, April Smith, and more. There are supposed to be a total of 15 bands playing, so there are definitely more to be announced – hopefully some of those are locals who can get a chance at some great exposure by sharing the stage with these higher profile national acts!

Since it doesn’t seem to say it anywhere on the site, I should mentioned that tickets are $27.50 each (presale saved you $5, too bad I didn’t hear about this festival existing before presale was over), but I had to create an account and login to buy tickets before being able to find that out. Not too high of a price to pay for the festival, but it would probably make sense to make that info a little easier to find! Let’s hope this endeavor is able to be successful and grow to be as big as some of their inspiration (Bonnaroo, Coachella, etc.). It would definitely be great to have something that big right here in Maine every year.