Japanese Breakfast, Arnetta Johnson, The Districts and more will play a virtual edition of Philly Music Fest

For the Philly Music Fest, the show must go on. The cross-genre celebration of local and locally-rooted musicians just announced that its fourth annual edition will take place as a virtual show on Thursday, September 24th and Friday, September 25th.

Highlights include emotive indie pop project Japanese Breakfast — the NYC / Philly band is finalizing the followup to 2017’s acclaimed Soft Sounds From Another Planet — as well as returning PMF headliners The Districts, who had their tour in support this year’s tremendous You Know I’m Not Going Anywhere LP cut short due to COVID-19; dazzling Camden, NJ trumpeter Arnetta Johnson, who performed at PMF 2019 (and has also played in Beyonce’s touring band), will return as well.

We’re also excited to see dynamic singer-songwriter Zeek Burse in the mix — his new song “The Room” slays — as well as Arthur Thomas and the Funkitorium, who won an opening slot at PMF 2019 when they took home top honors at World Cafe Live’s Beta Hi-Fi competition.

The festival also includes Nashville-based singer-songwriter Langhorne Slim, who took his stage name from his Bucks County hometown, as well as the Los Angeles folk rock band Mt. Joy, who also took their name from the Lancaster County town they grew up in. The bill is rounded out by perennial east coast indie rockers Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.

The festival will be performed at Ardmore Music Hall and livestreamed on Nugs.net, as well as broadcast on air on WXPN; the day breakdown and set times can be found below.

Set Times

Thursday
7 – 7:20 p.m. Arnetta Johnson
7:20 – 8:10 p.m. The Districts
8:10 – 8:50 p.m. Zeek Burse
8:50 – 10:00 p.m. Japanese Breakfast

Friday
7 – 7:30 p.m. Arthur Thomas and The Funkitorium
7:30 – 8:20 p.m. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
8:20 – 8:45 p.m. Arnetta Johnson (different set from night one)
8:45 – 9:45 p.m. Mt. Joy
9:45 – 10:45 p.m. Langhorne Slim

Earlier this year, Philly Music Fest was the first local organization to launch a micro-grant program to assist independent local artists who found themselves out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and their relief efforts are ongoing; more on that can be found here.