Photo by Tojo AndrianarivoPickathon has announced its full lineup for the return of the beloved, bucolic, sustainably minded festival situated within the stunning confines of Pendarvis Farm. As ever, Pickathon’s thoughtful curation has produced a diverse array of artists, spanning genres of all kinds, as well as adding live podcast sets and a revamped stage-site design for more weather-friendly viewing.
Boasting familiar faces (Frank Fairfield with Meredith Axelrod, Valerie June, Cedric Burnside) and buzzworthy newcomers (Goth Babe, Faye Webster, Sampa the Great, Quantic), Pickathon cast a wide net to include international acts like British jazz ensemble Sons of Kemet and saxophonist Nubya Garcia, mainstage vets like Hurray for the Riff Raff and Built to Spill, Portland’s own Kassi Valazza, Eastern Oregon's Margo Cilker, and many, many more.
For the new stage setups, per this morning’s announcement, “Pickathon will use the topography and natural setting of the site to design and build a series of neighborhoods that nestle deeper into the grounds of Pendarvis Farm. When the sun is high in the sky, festival goers will discover new forested music stages set under the natural shade of the evergreen trees of the Pacific Northwest. As the sun sets, they’ll move to meadows with sweeping vistas of Mt. Hood to enjoy open air programming on stages that come alive at night.”
The downtime during the pandemic was not left under-utilized, as festival organizers found themselves with the space to recalibrate Pickathon’s logistics in a way they hadn’t been able to in year’s past. Per the announcement, Pickathon founder and director Zale Schoenborn imparted, “It’s amazing to feel the energy of the community coming together. This is going to be the best Pickathon ever, between the new design, the lineup, and everything we’ve got planned! We’ve always dreamed about bringing together a decentralized, deep cut, genre-agnostic lineup like this. It took us a while to build all these connections to these different worlds, but it’s paying off now. The two years off because of COVID gave us the space to dream up the Pickathon we always imagined, and the outpouring of support from the community was the energy we needed to make it possible.”
Pickathon has always represented what an ethical, sustainable and cutting-edge music festival should look and feel like; anyone who’s made the trek to Pendarvis Farm in the past maintains a special place in their hearts for this sorely missed weekend. So without further ado, here is the full lineup for this year’s fest:
