ComFest vs. Northfest: The tale of the tape

If you happen to see someone in ICP facepaint wandering lost somewhere in the vicinity of Ace of Cups this Saturday, kindly let them know that they’re at the wrong fest and direct them south to Goodale Park.

Any confusion is understandable, with Ace of Cups hosting Northfest on Saturday, June 28, the same weekend that ComFest takes place in the Short North, kicking off today (Friday, June 27) and running through Sunday. 

Here’s a brief rundown of what attendees to either event can expect, along with a couple of musical recommendations for each.

Number of bands performing:

NorthFest: 12

ComFest: More than 130 (I lost count but you can find a full, mobile-friendly schedule of performers here.)

Cost per band:

Northfest: $2.08 if purchased in advance and $2.50 the day of the show ($25 and $30, respectively)

ComFest: $0

Statement most likely to be overheard in the crowd:

ComFest: I wish you jazz.

Northfest: I wish the Ray Ray’s truck was still here.

Chances of rain on Saturday:

Northfest: 40 percent

ComFest: 100 percent

Random superlatives:

Best people watching: Comfest

Best curation: Northfest

Best chance to catch a stray from a hacky sacker: ComFest

Best place to hang with your dogs (pet edition): Neither

Best place to hang with your dogs (pal edition): Both

Best song to keep an ear out for (Northfest edition): “River Ain’t Safe” by Villagerrr, a slow-building earworm that I continue to return to more than a year after I first heard it.

Best song to keep an ear out for (ComFest edition): “digital_drive_by” by Cellar Dwellar, a pulsating, dark, electro-driven tune from the continually shapeshifting, endlessly inventive prog-art collective.

If you go, be sure not to miss:

ComFest: Golomb (Goodale Stage, 8:15 p.m. Friday, June 27)

The rock trio is gearing up for the late July release of its sophomore album, The Beat Goes On (No Quarter Records), and is already basking in laudatory press from outlets such as Stereogum, which earlier this week named it as a Band to Watch. The praise is deserved, with Golomb balancing the glorious guy-gal harmonies of husband-wife duo Mickey and Xenia Shuman with blistering webs of guitar on new single “Staring,” which Mickey described as “the most us-sounding song we’ve ever made” in the interview with Stereogum. There’s a timeless feel to the band’s music that belies their still-tender ages, with touchstones including the Rolling Stones and the Velvet Underground but the resultant tunes sounding entirely its own. “It’s so interesting how all that back catalog of what you were ripping off forever ago will sometimes seep through in interesting ways,” Mickey said in a June 2024 interview with Matter News, “and morph with whatever you’re totally zoning in on now.”

Honorable Mention: Austin & the Syd Experience (Bozo Stage, 7 p.m. Saturday, June 28)

This local soul-funk collective’s live presence could best be described in terms usually reserved for extreme weather systems – fitting considering the scattered thunderstorms projected for Saturday, which hopefully won’t impact the chance to see singer/force of nature Syd Alexis leave blood on the stage.

Northfest: DANA (8 p.m.)

For new album Clean Living, the avant-garage band challenged itself to write more accessible tunes, with guitarist Chris Lute recalling one friend who drunkenly said to them, “Your music is great, but you don’t have any songs.” “And at first, I think we were like, ‘You’re drunk, you’re an asshole, whatever,’ but I honestly think we really took it to heart,” Lute said in a June interview with Matter News.

That’s not to say the album isn’t filled with unanticipated left turns and burst of chaotic noise that hit like an unexpected rabbit punch to the ribs, but there is a more melodic core running through the songs, which ripple with a mistrust of technology, a desire to push back against the isolation our reliance on devices can inspire, and a weariness brought about by the relentless, numbing grind of all – an idea that frequently runs counter to the music, which maintains its aggressive, steely punch even in those moments when the lyrics might be looking for an escape hatch. “I thought this shit was supposed to be more fun?” singer and theremin player Madeline Jackson yowls on the ferocious “7 Years Bad Coke.” 

Honorable Mention: Big Fat Head Look for the weirdo-rock upstarts behind one of the best local albums of 2024 to debut new single “Kicking My Own Ass,” which it described in an email as “a tale of a struggle with a passion, or a quarrel with a lover, or whatever you need it to be.”