APPLETON – After cancellations in 2020 and COVID-related changes in 2021, this year’s Mile of Music will look more like a free original music festival in downtown Appleton that is usually seen.
But some experiences from last year have impacted Mile of Music 9, which starts on Thursday and runs through Sunday night.
The 2021 festival will have more outdoor venues, reduced capacity at some indoor venues, more local performers, and fewer shows overall due to a reduced number of touring musicians.
Now, there will be a return to full capacity indoor venues and musicians traveling from near and far. But the scope of the event will be similar to last year’s, said Mile of Music co-founder and executive producer Dave Willems.
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“While we had 900 plus sets at Mile 7, we had about … 600, 650 at Mile 8, we will have over 700 sets this year,” Willems said. “But it’s less about COVID and more about comfort zones related to budget, related to how much music people are interested in seeing.”
All told, Mile 9 will have 40 venues, indoors and outdoors, and about 210 performers, Willems said.
Here’s an overview of the expected changes:
Some Mile of Music stages are different
The location of the stage changed slightly this year, Willems said. While Washington Square, on the southeast corner of Oneida and Washington streets, was previously the main stage, no shows will be held there this year as the property has been sold for development.
But there will be main stages at Jones Park, Houdini Plaza, Emmett’s Bar and Grill and Lawrence University grounds, around the corner from College Avenue and Drew Street. Read also : Pachuquísmo | Performing Arts Series | The art school.
Houdini Plaza has become “scenes from some of Mile of Music’s most iconic shows,” Willems said, including impressive sets from artists like Dan Rodriguez and Wild Adriatic. Last year, the stage held exclusively acoustic performances in an effort to reduce crowds amid COVID-19 concerns, but the square will return this year as the main stage.
These Mile of Music performers could get extra attention
Some of the artists Willems hopes to appeal to include Austin-based R&B artist Jackie Venson; singer-songwriter Celisse, who recently performed with Joni Mitchell at the Newport Folk Festival and will be making her Mile of Music debut; and guitarist and rock singer Hannah Wicklund.
Mile 9 will also feature the festival’s first artists to travel from overseas — singer-songwriter Danni Nicholls and The Black Feathers, both from the UK. See the article : Scandinavia and South America take the world’s best restaurants awards.
The festival will also feature its first artists to sing entirely in Spanish with Dos Santos, a band from Chicago.
Information about when and where artists perform is available on the Mile of Music website and festival app.
In these Mile of Music spaces, a quiet audience is expected
This year, there will be increased emphasis on Mile of Music’s “listening room,” which is a place where attendees are asked to remain silent during artist performances, Willems said. See the article : Sports Illustrated sets out “reasonable expectations” for Trevor Lawrence.
“We were very clear about it ——if you come to this place you are expected to listen and be part of the experience, because there are a lot of our fans who want to go and see the artist, they want to hear their word, they want to hear the story. them in between songs,” Willems said.
No Mile of Music on a Valley Transit bus this year
The Mile of Music bus stand, which offers an intimate experience for listeners to watch musicians perform on a moving Valley Transit bus, will not return this year, Willems said, for reasons beyond the control of festival organizers.
However, he said participants can expect the bus to return for Mile 10.
COVID can still be a personal consideration at Mile of Music
Overall, Willems said Mile of Music will feel like it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. The organizers followed the CDC guidelines in accordance with the determination of Outagamie Regency as an area with low COVID-19 transmission. With many outdoor and indoor stages, this allows choice for guests with varying levels of health risk awareness.
Mile of Music organizers are expecting big crowds this year, as the trend across the country sees large numbers of people returning to live events in person.
“People just want to enjoy the outdoors, they want to get back to music and they want to experience it again,” Willems said. “But, we say with caution, do with your personal safety in mind, what you feel is appropriate for your own situation.”
Contact Kelli Arseneau at (920) 213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ArseneauKelli.
