Starting July 23 over 60 bands will be performing in Seattle at the Capitol Hill Block Party, a renowned music festival of mostly local bands. In the 14 years since its inception the Block Party has traditionally taken place over two days; however this year the line-up is growing in size and a third day has been added.

Despite appearing as an odd merger of a small town clothed in a big city, Seattle still does have its lively areas. The Block Party takes place at one of the most vibrant nightlife vicinities in Seattle and consumes over two blocks of E. Pine Street. As a result of its location many bars and eateries become a part of the festival itself and thrive on the extra customer attraction.

There are three stages throughout the Block Party, the main stage, Vera stage and Neumos stage. Neumos is a well known club located on Capitol Hill and will be providing its actual building for performances (and as a result will be the only music stage that is 21+). The Vera Project is an interesting conglomeration of a gallery, educational facility and music venue located near the Space Needle in downtown Seattle and will be hosting an outdoor stage.

Among some of the more noticeable performances are MGMT, Macklemore, Champagne Champagne, The Redwood Plan, Atmosphere, the Blue Scholars, and Mad Rad. The overall line-up over all contains interesting mixes of speeds and sounds, moving from the classically influenced and serious sounds of Grand Hallway to the crunchy club, tongue-in-check beats of Truckasauras.

The Block Party is a great example of a music festival that gives bands looking to make a name for themselves wide exposure. The magnitude and varied nature of the (hopefully) sunburned mob grant a new experience to many of the performers. While bands won’t necessarily shoot to stardom after a performance there, the event is still widely covered and celebrated.

Adding the extra day could draw over 20,000 people to the festival over its duration, an increase of over 6,000 attendees from last year’s Block Party. Concerns over the noise that might occur on Sunday night have been voiced by local residents, yet without any real conviction (mostly since noise is a major feature of Capitol Hill already).

In preparation for the Block Party I will be covering feature bands over the coming weeks, so check back often!