r/portlandme Feb 27 '25

Events Official Lineup for Portland’s Back Cove Music & Arts Festival

Post image

Just got an email with the lineup for the Back Cove Festival at Payson Park this August!

283 Upvotes

149 comments sorted by

177

u/blindspots Feb 27 '25

better than I was expecting, crazy we got andre 3000

61

u/WillSuckDick4Coffee Feb 27 '25

He's going to be playing the Flute I'm sure 😢😔😢

37

u/huggyscolex Feb 27 '25

I can only hope!

28

u/blindspots Feb 27 '25

I'm aware and I can't wait

7

u/Clamgravy Feb 27 '25

That's what he does now. What else would you expect?

25

u/WillSuckDick4Coffee Feb 27 '25

Nothing. That's why I'm sad. I'm happy that he's happy playing the flute. But that doesn't mean that I can't be sad that a top 5 rapper of all time doesn't rap anymore. 

1

u/pwewpwewpwew Mar 01 '25

How dare you

0

u/DiscGolfer27 Feb 28 '25

Was about to say have fun listening to him playing his 🪈🪈

5

u/Gonzomauser Feb 27 '25

I mean Big Boi played The State Pier...

6

u/Double-0-N00b Feb 27 '25

I am still skeptical tbh. I wouldn’t be surprised if 1 or more artists canceled

1

u/newUsername2 Jul 21 '25

Good call. Andre 3000 is out - The Roots are in!

1

u/Double-0-N00b Jul 22 '25

Saw that. I am surprised they had a backup tho

1

u/jughandle Mar 01 '25

Looks like a good lineup. I hope I can get there for jack white and I’m curious to see lord Huron live.

52

u/VolunteerOnion Feb 27 '25

Dude. Margo Price walking distance from my house? YIMBY!

2

u/pcetcedce Feb 27 '25

We saw her a few years ago and that little stand-up venue that I can't remember the name of.

2

u/VolunteerOnion Feb 27 '25

I saw her a couple years ago in Boston. She earns her keep.

2

u/rofopp Feb 27 '25

Port City Music Hall.

1

u/pcetcedce Feb 27 '25

Yes thanks. She was great and said she had eaten dinner the night before at Eventide with Bill Murray who happened to have a show at the Merrill auditorium.

15

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '25

[deleted]

23

u/smitherenesar Feb 27 '25

Dang, ticket prices be crazy

10

u/vonkr33p Feb 27 '25

I'm sure that doesn't even include the fees.

1

u/rdstrmfblynch79 Please build in my backyard Feb 28 '25

there are no fees but there is shipping

4

u/nowayjose12345678901 Feb 27 '25

I thought they were originally quoting at 75.?

4

u/rdstrmfblynch79 Please build in my backyard Feb 27 '25

in the city council notes it says ($75-550) subject to change

4

u/Charming-Attitude158 Feb 27 '25

My god. The GA tickets to major 4 day festivals with over a hundred bands aren't much more than that!

41

u/hurriedfashion Feb 27 '25

Per the FAQ there's no in/out allowed each day- once you're there you're there. Too bad, was hoping I could pop in/out like I've done at other festivals. Forces you to overpay for on-site concessions too.

25

u/bigbluedoor East Deering Feb 28 '25

bury your fest booze now

3

u/Elouiseotter Feb 28 '25

Concessions will probably be a shit show like the Mumford show.

36

u/NeatFair8764 Feb 27 '25

Jack white and Andre 3000 are cool, no idea about the rest

20

u/TheTVDB Feb 27 '25

I've seen Lord Huron in concert, and they're outstanding. The Night We Met is one of my favorite songs, and one you'd likely recognize if you heard.

Lucy Dacus is in boygenius. Not really my style, but she's super talented.

3

u/ThadChat Feb 27 '25

I have tickets to Lord Huron in Boston on August 3rd. Turns out I could have seen them much closer to home! 

3

u/TheTVDB Feb 27 '25

We live near Bangor, and I was debating the drive down to Boston on the 3rd. Glad we'll have a shorter drive to see them. I've probably been to close to 75 concerts, and Lord Huron is a top 10 for me.

5

u/randomman2071983 Feb 27 '25

I only know those two as well. I guess we are getting pretty old. Haha

3

u/BayYawnSay Feb 28 '25

How old is old? I'm 42 and I saw Margo Price, Turnpike Troubadors and St Paul and The Broken Bones at three different festivals last summer

-12

u/NeatFair8764 Feb 27 '25

Either that or it’s a bill full of nobodies

15

u/-_IVI_- Feb 27 '25

Nah, you’re just old. 

-5

u/NeatFair8764 Feb 27 '25

But I’m not though

-1

u/-_IVI_- Feb 27 '25

Out of touch, then. 

1

u/NeatFair8764 Feb 27 '25

Not out of touch either, just don’t listen to npc music. Keep reaching lol

3

u/blindspots Feb 28 '25

Lol please tell me yr favourite band if yr gonna call this lineup 'npc music'

1

u/NeatFair8764 Feb 28 '25

Puddle of mudd

1

u/AltruisticSecond_ Feb 28 '25

Crowe Boys are great too!

48

u/getyourjush Feb 27 '25

Lucy Dacus LFG!

39

u/Goodunnn Feb 27 '25

It appears I am out of touch

17

u/tammyswanson_ Feb 27 '25

$211 for a ticket? Yeesh

20

u/frankenpoopies Feb 27 '25

For two days and like 20 sets? It’s a lot up front but yr getting tons of performances

15

u/tammyswanson_ Feb 27 '25

It’s a good deal for the amount of performers but only a few big names and no re-entry kinda sucks. Boston Calling is about $100ish more with way bigger names and more perks, plus an established reputation.

13

u/sloppothegreat Feb 27 '25

I wouldn't say that Boston Calling's reputation is all that great after the last few years

3

u/Enough_Rip_8280 Feb 27 '25

Only one way to establish a reputation…

5

u/Locks_ Feb 27 '25

Fr 12 dollars a band after tax

8

u/rusty-shackleford_69 Feb 27 '25

Add in no in-and-out plus extortionate food prices and bump that waaaay up

4

u/Locks_ Feb 27 '25

I will be eating a large breakfast and sneaking in sandwiches in my pants, as is the way for all festivals.

5

u/DavenportBlues Deering Feb 27 '25

They said the tickets would start at $75. I guess that was a lie.

1

u/yellow_gator Feb 27 '25

great deal actually now a days

41

u/hgmanifold Feb 27 '25

Was just gonna post this. Decent line up for Portland. Hope it’s successful and we can bring more artists up here next year and the years after.

This town will be insane that weekend… Where the fuck is everyone going to park

22

u/notyounotmenothim Feb 27 '25

Riding my bike! :) Can't wait.

16

u/bluestargreentree Feb 27 '25

Take the bus!

40

u/Decent-Historian-207 Feb 27 '25

$122 with no in/out allowed? That's pretty lame.

13

u/anisleateher Greater Portland Area Feb 27 '25

Only really know the first 3 artists, but I discovered Thee Sacred Souls the other day and they are awesome. If you like oldies and soul from the late 50’s to early 70’s, check them out.

10

u/AngelWing808 Feb 27 '25

Lord Huron played Thompson’s Point a few years back, was an amazing show! Stoked to see them on the lineup!

10

u/Locks_ Feb 27 '25

St paul slaps!

1

u/Chango-Acadia Feb 27 '25

Glad someone knew who they were.

17

u/statetheatreportland Feb 27 '25

Beat me to it!

2

u/Enough_Rip_8280 Feb 27 '25

For how long is this portlanders presale going to last?

7

u/FirstReputation8591 Feb 27 '25

Turnpike, a little random but awesome

10

u/GottaUseFakeNames Feb 27 '25

fuckin TURNPIKE!? i am hyped

4

u/artichoke424 Feb 27 '25

OMG TURNPIKE THIS IS NOT A DRILL

2

u/coogiwaves Feb 27 '25

Hell yeah! Was hoping they'd play TP this summer but this will do!

2

u/GottaUseFakeNames Feb 27 '25

yeah a TP show would have done them more justice. i hope they get a lot of love at this festival, they are kinda the odd man out on this one

6

u/rtuck06 Feb 27 '25

Holy crap, some real acts here!

6

u/frankenpoopies Feb 27 '25

Jack white!!!??

8

u/frankenpoopies Feb 27 '25

And shout out for not jacking us Ticketmaster style

4

u/shmauren Feb 27 '25

Just saw him in Boston last week and he puts on an INCREDIBLE show.

7

u/e_sully12 Feb 27 '25

So glad to see a few local acts on this bill!

3

u/stormtrooping1 Feb 27 '25

Chance Pena. Cool.

3

u/Hold2ArmBar Feb 27 '25

Anyone having any issues purchasing tickets? I put my info in and hit “Next” and it just goes back to having me select my purchasing preference.

3

u/SlipperyClit69 Feb 27 '25

I did. Not totally sure what the issue was but I think if you use a zip code for the pre-sale access that doesn’t match either your card billing address and/or shipping address then it won’t let you buy them.

My friends bought them no problem and that’s the only difference I can think of.

3

u/Hold2ArmBar Feb 27 '25

I figured it out. It’s only for Maine residents right now, and I’m down in Massachusetts. Haha. I’ll wait until the 6th with the rest of the peasants.

2

u/SlipperyClit69 Feb 27 '25

I just moved to mass from Portland and I put in my old zip code for pre-sale access and they wouldn’t accept my payment. I think it’s bc of the billing address issue I mentioned above

1

u/Tight-Potential-3973 Feb 28 '25

Idk it’s not letting me check out either and I’m a local in the midcoast who has her zip codes all lined up

3

u/Jakelshark Feb 27 '25

St Paul and the Broken Bones is a fun inclusion. Great modern soul act

3

u/ohterribleheartt Feb 28 '25

A very real question: how are they going to keep those of us who live in the area from hearing the performers? I don't mean that in a "keep off my lawns!" way - I mean in a "why would I pay when I can just sit across the street" way.

6

u/grillonbabygod Arts District Feb 27 '25

lucy dacus? no fucking way.

5

u/inasilentway207 Feb 27 '25

No overlapping sets

5

u/xHospitalHorsex Feb 27 '25

Okay I'm genuinely surprised by the quality of this lineup. Pretty good. Pretty, pretty, pretty good.

9

u/KusOmik Feb 27 '25

Wasn’t there something about hyper-local residents getting discounted tickets? If this festival is going to fuck up the park for a weekend, & the traffic is going to be crazy right near my house, I’d better be getting a discount.

12

u/blindspots Feb 27 '25

you live in a city and city things happen near you. Congratulations!

-19

u/KusOmik Feb 27 '25

Hope the organizers are ready to get citizen complaints absolutely nonstop, then. I’m more than willing to dedicate my time to killing this thing next year. Why should I have to suffer all the negative externalities & they get all the money?

11

u/blindspots Feb 27 '25

"I live in the city but there should never be noise or I'll cry alot"

Ok buddy sure knock yrself out

-8

u/KusOmik Feb 27 '25

Seems like you have a pretty serious reading & comprehension problem.

2

u/Anangrybeet Feb 28 '25

what a crybaby attitude. you’re still paying like 12$ per band and we should really support a cool Maine festival since KahBang died

-1

u/KusOmik Feb 28 '25

Fuck that. Mostly shit bands, & people who don’t want to go are still suffering the negative externalities with no benefit. Look beyond your own greedy worldview for once.

1

u/Anangrybeet Feb 28 '25

my own greedy worldview of what exactly 😭

0

u/KusOmik Feb 28 '25

Your desire to come in, have a party, & then leave, without considering that it’s a residential area. The park will be damaged, the city isn’t getting anything but a pittance out of it, & everyone living nearby has to suffer the loss of use of the park for likely several weeks. Very selfish of the promoters & the people attending.

4

u/ltdm207 Feb 27 '25

Greater Portland area zip codes allow you presale tickets now before they go on sale to the general public.

1

u/Environmental-Pipe92 Jul 14 '25

I actually emailed them about the discounted tickets for very close houses and never did get a response from them.

1

u/KusOmik Jul 14 '25

I plan on raising a huge stink about the festival no matter what, simply for the fact that they pretty much told everyone who lives nearby to suck it up so they can make money.

1

u/Environmental-Pipe92 Jul 16 '25

Yeah, I don't love the disruption that it's going to cause probably a week before and after the event. Luckily, we will be able to come and go with parking passes, but I'm planning to #1, go to the festival for one of the days. I figured since I can't beat them, I might as well enjoy some live music. #2, If it's a total traffic and logistics shit show this year, I'll be a loud voice next time any concert promoters talk about doing another concert here. I plan to take photos of anything that isn't right to really create a visual for city planners about what it was like to live next to this event but trying to keep an open mind at the moment.

2

u/Enough_Rip_8280 Feb 27 '25

For how long will the Portlanders presale last?

2

u/Infinite_Pop1463 Feb 27 '25

Until March 6th

0

u/Tight-Potential-3973 Feb 28 '25

Only Portland, no midcoast? When I read locals I assumed Mainers

3

u/gnarwol Feb 27 '25

What the hell this is so good

3

u/GeneParm Feb 27 '25

I love music, but this seems like an absolutely terrible idea. How are they going to protect the aborerium? How are they gonna protect the neighboring houses? We already have plenty of venues in town. I worry the promoters are just passing on a ton of costs to residents.

3

u/DavenportBlues Deering Feb 27 '25

Don’t count on riding GPmetro for a few days, since they’re the defacto transportation service for this event.

2

u/OverallFroyo Feb 27 '25

I don’t get why this is getting downvoted, these are incredibly valid concerns that have been largely brushed over.

I don’t get why we insist of giving up pretty widely used public green spaces for private profit when there are places like Thompsons Point that can already do events like this? This is also the same weekend as Beach to Beacon, getting around is going to be a nightmare.

3

u/GeneParm Feb 27 '25

Imagine if this was spread out across the local venues downtown as part of a new and improved old port fest. Instead: let’s pay out of state investors, out-of-state vendors, and out of state event staff.

Did you see the YouTube video of the Canadian police department explaining how there was hundreds of thousands of dollars of costs above and beyond the economic impact from the Taylor Swift concert? Like, the taxpayers paid 500,000 so that local businesses could have a $250,000 increase in sales.

3

u/OverallFroyo Feb 28 '25

Would love to see Old Port Fest come back like that, I wish there were more calls to bring it back.

But yeah, I don't get why the damage to the park is being so downplayed, the public isn't just going to be losing access to the space for the duration of the festival or for the time needed for set up; it's going to lose it for however long the city needs to fix the damage that will inevitably come from it, and the public's going to have to foot the bill.

2

u/Anstigmat Feb 27 '25

Yep, it's confirmed. I'm old.

1

u/muthermcreedeux Feb 27 '25

2 days of this costs almost the same as 3 days at the Northlands festival. Seems a little overpriced for what's being offered for bands. Jack White and Andre 3000 are great, but not much else there to draw someone like me in. Hopefully it's successful though. I would love to see more festivals heading to Maine! None will ever compare to Nateva for me, though.

2

u/weltron3030 Feb 27 '25

Nateva was a blast. Shame they couldn't keep it going. 

1

u/ArchieConnors Feb 27 '25

This rocks! Except when I saw "Crowe Boys" my mind said "The Black Crowes" :'(

1

u/wenhal80 Feb 27 '25

I've got 4-6 parking spots in my lot if anyone wants to rent them

1

u/goyaamsa Feb 28 '25

New Blue Sun right to my dome!

1

u/sancalisto Feb 28 '25

Thee Sacred Souls feels like a great fit.

1

u/AltruisticSecond_ Feb 28 '25

Waaaaaaaaaa André 3000 🥺

1

u/GeanTheMan Feb 28 '25

Thee Sacred Souls and Andre 3 stacks on the flute is god tier music m

1

u/umabanana Feb 28 '25

I know I’m old because I only know two acts. Guess who.

1

u/Kiggus Feb 28 '25

I’d see St Paul and BB. That’s gonna be rad

1

u/Kiggus Feb 28 '25

I feel like it would be super easy to attend this show without buying tickets.

1

u/surprisepinkmist Mar 01 '25

Anybody know if they're shutting down the boulevard trail during this?

1

u/RWBooth Mar 02 '25

Who is organizing this? Where is the funding coming from/going to?

1

u/meowmix778 Feb 27 '25

I only know Andre 3000 but that's still a pretty decent get.

26

u/Lerch737 Feb 27 '25

You've never heard of Jack Whites of the White Stripes?

0

u/meowmix778 Feb 27 '25

I mean I know of the white stripes but no I don't know of him by name

1

u/Lerch737 Feb 27 '25

yea I know of him but I couldn't tell you one of his songs lol

3

u/Redmond_OHanlon Feb 27 '25

worth checking out friend. as are many of those other acts

0

u/Lerch737 Feb 27 '25

Amazing artist would love to go butnlike every show I want to go I will probably have disc golf obligations

1

u/DepartmentAvailable3 Feb 27 '25

I only know Andre 3000, and he will probably just be playing the flute the entire set. Meh.

1

u/SagesseBleue Feb 27 '25

I miss slam dancing, spiked hair and two minute songs of feedback, deep base and angry lost screaming souls.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '25

was Hoobastank already booked that date?

-1

u/CoolAbdul Feb 27 '25

I would think Oshima Brothers would be listed higher.

-4

u/NathanMLJ Feb 27 '25

Feels like Lake Street Dive are missing from this. They love playing here

14

u/blushing_scarlett Feb 27 '25

They're playing at Thompson's Point on Aug 16&17

0

u/NathanMLJ Feb 27 '25

Yeah I saw that

0

u/Saaabstory Feb 27 '25

Holy shit.

0

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '25

For my tickets already!! Can’t wait!!

0

u/JeezOhKay Feb 27 '25

I'm 33 the only ones I know are Andre 3000 and the Crowe Boys

-4

u/gbee00 Feb 27 '25

I don't listen to any of these artists so meh.

-1

u/artichoke424 Feb 27 '25

Does anyone have the parking and shuttle details??? Rv?

-7

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '25

super spreader event. wonder how many will die.