New American Music Union, Pittsburgh, PA

July 2nd, 2008 - by Che Steadman

Festivals, Pittsburgh

Summer is the time for music festivals. Bonnaroo, Coachella, SXSW and others have earned reputations as the places to be for summer music. They collect quality live music into one place and have rightfully gained huge popularity.

The new kid on the block is the New American Music Union festival. The festival just happens to be in my hometown, Pittsburgh, PA. It’s sponsored by American Eagle Outfitters, a Pittsburgh-based clothing company, and “curated” by Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

NAMU will be held over two days, August 8 and 9, at Pittsburgh’s SouthSide Works. The lineup features Bob Dylan, The Raconteurs, Gnarls Barkley, The Roots, Spoon, The Black Keys, Black Mountain, The Duke Spirit, NASA and Tiny Masters of Today on the main stage.

If someone asked me to put together my dream festival lineup, it would have looked almost exactly like this. Add to this the fact that tickets for both days of the festival plus a t-shirt are $25 for students ($49.50 for general admission) and I’m left wondering if I’m in Heaven.

The legendary Bob Dylan is worth $25 by himself, and even the $50 general admission tickets are a bargain with so many great acts on the bill. The Duke Spirit (Great Britain), Black Mountain (Canada) and NASA (Sweden) aren’t technically from the United States, calling the festival’s name into question, but I’m not complaining.

(Buy tickets here)

The festival will also feature a second stage where the country’s top college bands will be competing for a chance to record in a Los Angeles studio. Those bands are Bears (Kent State University), Flying Machines (The New School), Gospel Gossip (Carleton College), Magic Bullets (College of San Mateo), Math the Band (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth), My Dear Disco (University of Michigan), Nothing Unexpected (Robert Morris University), The Black Fortys (University of Southern Illinois), The Company Kang (Whitman College), The Delicious (Indiana University), The Depreciation Guild (New York University), The Elizabethan Report (Brigham Young University), The French Horn Rebellion (Northwestern University), The Royal Bangs (University of Tennessee) and The Steps (University of Texas Austin).

Pittsburgh has recently been passed over by quite a few major tours, so this festival is a good change of pace. Several huge names are coming to the city for a one-shot concert and putting Pittsburgh back on the musical map.