Philly Music Fest Is the Best Way to Learn About Our Music Scene
Here's the just-announced lineup.
The 2025 Philly Music Fest lineup includes, from left to right: Daniel Villareal, Katie Hackett and the Lunar Year, and Chioke. (Photos courtesy Philly Music Fest)
I’ll never forget the first time I heard about Philly Music Fest. A publicist wrote me a note in 2017 saying that some local lawyer who is really into music was creating a music festival featuring Philadelphia bands.
The cynic in me rolled my eyes a bit, the idea that some lawyer could just snap his fingers and bring a music festival into existence. The title of my piece back then was “Could a Music Festival Produced By a Philly Attorney Actually Be Cool?”
Well, here it is 2025, and the Philly Music Fest has grown and grown and returns later this year. And, yes, it’s cool.
Billed as “The Best Week of Philly Music in Philly”, the fest runs October 13th through 19th and features 22 bands over seven nights at nine shows. And this isn’t a rock show or a hip hop show or a jazz show. This is a Philly music show and includes those genres as well as punk and Americana.
Here’s the just-announced 2025 Philly Music Fest lineup:
October 13th and 14th at Ardmore Music Hall
TBD. The website for the festival tells us to simply “stay tuned” for the lineup for the opening show. They bill this as a “surprise guest,” which I’m guessing means they don’t actually know who is playing yet. But given that previous surprise guests included Mt. Joy and Waxahatchee, I have a feeling the surprise guest will be an act capable of selling out a much larger venue than Ardmore Music Hall.
October 15th at Johnny Brenda’s
22-Degree Halo
Greg MendezSoup Dreams
October 16th at World Cafe Live
Matt Quinn
Grace Gardner
Black Buttafly
Archawah
October 17th at Underground Arts
The Wonder Years
Dryjacket
Public Works
Golden Apples
October 18th at Underground Arts
Kulfigirls
Caracara
The Wonder Years
October 18th at the Fallser Club
Catie Turner
Chioke
The Lunar Year
October 19th at Solar Myth
October 19th at Milkboy
If you’re wondering what the Philly music scene is all about these days, this festival is one of your best opportunities to find out. Bonus: profits from the festival go to fund music education in Philadelphia.
The Philly Music Fest poster
“I want the Philly Music Fest to annually be the best week of music in Philly,” says aforementioned lawyer and founder Greg Seltzer. “Philly Music Fest is a chance to not only see headliners treat the local audience to unimaginable underplays at small venues, but we annually feature a curated lineup of emerging bands that are poised to break-out.”
Tickets, which vary from $20 to $50, go on sale this Friday at 10am.
