Fall Festivals Feature Impressive Lineups

Mid-summer may be the biggest season for music festivals, but it has some major competition. There are four fine fests happening in September and October that revealed their lineups this week, and two of them are in Montreal.

The new kid on the block is the Osheaga Festival, which will be held at Montreal's Parc Jean-Drapeau on September 2 and 3. Some 50 acts will be featured on five stages, among them Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, Sonic Youth, The Flaming Lips, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Dinosaur Jr., K-OS, Metric, Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, G. Love & Special Sauce, Wolf Parade, Bedouin Soundclash, The Stills, Brazilian Girls, Joseph Arthur, Malajube, The Magic Numbers, Lady Sovereign, Kid Koala, Starsailor, Islands, World Party, Amon Tobin, Bell Orchestre, Bush Tetras, Final Fantasy, James Chance, The Hidden Cameras, Think About Life and We Are Wolves.

Pop Montreal will return for a fifth year and run from October 4-8. The Future Of Music Coalition will hold its sixth annual policy summit as part of the event, and there will be a film festival and an arts and crafts fair as well. And, of course, there will be lots of music. Among the acts who've been confirmed to play clubs around the city so far are Joanna Newsom (who will make her Canadian debut), Gonzales, The Mighty Sparrow, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Akron/Family, Tapes N' Tapes, Vashti Bunyan, Dr. Octagon, Cat Empire, Regina Spektor, Cadence Weapon, The Russian Futurists, Portastatic, Damien Jurado, Harvey Danger, Sunset Rubdown, The Lovely Feathers, Memphis, Islands, Tokyo Police Club, Hylozoists, Bionic and 3 Inches Of Blood.

The Austin City Limits Festival may not rival the size of the Texas capital's South By Southwest Music Festival that takes place every March, but it can certainly come close in quality and eclecticism. The event runs from September 15-17 at Zilker Park and will feature the likes of Okkervil River, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, David Ford, Cat Power, Sparklehorse, Ted Leo And The Pharmacists, Gomez, Ray Lamontagne, Los Lonely Boys, John Mayer, Gnarls Barkley, Thievery Corporation, Van Morrison, The Long Winters, The Blue Van, TV On The Radio, Marah, Phoenix, Nada Surf, Calexico, Kings Of Leon, The Secret Machines, Aimee Mann, Iron & Wine, Los Lobos, Willie Nelson, Centro-matic, Ben Kweller, The Shins, The Raconteurs, Massive Attack, Buckwheat Zydeco, The Black Angels, BoDeans, Son Volt, Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, Ween, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, KT Tunstall, Matisyahu, The Flaming Lips and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. There will also be an impressive Canadian contingent comprised of The Tragically Hip, Wolf Parade, Stars, The New Pornographers, Sam Roberts, Kathleen Edwards and The Stills.

New York City's annual CMJ Music Marathon begins on Halloween and runs through November 4. While there's a daytime panel component to the event covering a wide variety of music industry topics and featuring such speakers as funkmaster George Clinton, The Smithereens' Pat DiNizio, actress Janeane Garofalo, former wrestler Chris Jericho, porn star Tera Patrick, Blondie's Chris Stein and a lot of other people who spend most of their time sitting at desks, it's the night-time shows in clubs across the metropolis that most people are interested in. Included in the partial performer lineup announced so far are The Knife, The Slits, Hot Chip, The Black Keys, Madlib, Ben Lee, Deerhoof, Blonde Redhead, The Boy Least Likely To, Blue Cheer, Joseph Arthur, Silversun Pickups, Califone, Oakley Hall, Micah P. Hinson, Portastatic, Strike Anywhere, Suzanne Vega and The Fever.