Northside came to a close on Sunday. The music portion of the multi-day fête had its big shows, its small shows, its free shows and its outdoor shows. Last year’s big acts of Chvrches, Titus Andronicus, Thee Oh Sees, Beirut, Sharon van Etten, Mac DeMarco, Courtney Barnett and The War on Drugs were replaced by Run the Jewels, Neko Case, Built To Spill, Best Coast, Sleigh Bells, Pusha T, The Very Best, Against Me! and Luna, giving the festivities a slightly different vibe. The venue make up was different too. With Glasslands, Brooklyn Night Bazaar and longtime Bedford Avenue staple Spike Hill gone, spots like Alphaville, The Living Room, Palisades and Aviv stepped up.

Williamsburg Walks, a project that was once driven by Neighbors Allied for Good Growth, became a Northside Festival initiative in 2014. This year it expanded to two-festival days, turning Bedford Avenue between Metropolitan and N12th into a pedestrian plaza for both Saturday and Sunday. Chrysler, Pepsi and a few other companies turned up for the occasion. It was also the site of the Urban Outfitters stage, a few art making stations and hosted some dance performances. The scene outside Sweet Chick was quite festive on Saturday with picnic tables set up, but Sunday was more subdued. This may have had to do with what went down at the Charleston.

We caught a bunch of shows at the festival. Jacco Gardner’s Thursday night gig at Rough Trade was pretty low key. He played a few tunes off his new record Hyphnophobia, which is out now via Polyvinyl. On Friday, we witnessed the amazing shredfest at Music Hall of Williamsburg (MHOW) featuring Spider Bags and Ex Hex. Saturday we came out for Tampa’s Merchandise who played an excellent set at Urban Outfitter’s stage before they had to hop in a car to drive back to Florida. We then moseyed over to 50 Kent for Nashville band-on-the-rise Bully and Canadian indie pop group Alvvays. Later that night, after being denied entry to Blonde Redhead, we ended up catching Viet Cong’s epic performance at MHOW followed by Doomsquad and PINS at Rough Trade. Then Sunday we returned to the UO stage to catch the secret guest act, Dublin’s Girl Band. The lead singer had a fierce roar and sported a Backstreet Boys t-shirt. Unfortunately, they cut their set short due to a broken guitar string. Light Asylum played next. Our day ended with Sleigh Bells, who mentioned they have a new album in the works, and another round of Girl Band. If you missed the Irish four-piece this time around, they return June 25 to headline Rough Trade. You can check out our Northside photo recap below.

All photos by Mindy Bond