Philly Music Fest is returning to the live, in-person festival format this year.

Celebrating its fifth year, Philly Music Fest is a yearly music festival known for exclusively booking Philly-based acts or acts with strong connections to the city. 

Philly Music Fest was founded by Jenn and Greg Seltzer in 2017. The festival’s mission is to “host a music festival celebrating and featuring Philadelphia musicians.”

As a nonprofit, Philly Music Fest donates profits to local music education for children — after performers are fairly compensated. 

The goal is to reinvest in the Philly music community and combat budget cuts that slash or remove music education programs in schools.

This year, the festival is expanding to five nights, putting on six shows across five independent venues. The festival will kick off on Wednesday, Oct. 6, and continue until Sunday, Oct. 10.

This year’s festival will showcase a lineup of 19 artists and/or solo acts from Philadelphia. 

Wednesday’s show at World Cafe Live will include groups Spirit of the Beehive, Irreversible Entanglements, and Moor Jewelry. 

Moor Jewelry member Moor Mother, indie songwriter Alex G, will each play solo sets.

Thursday’s show at Johnny Brenda's will showcase the bands Hop Along and Lunch, and solo artist AnnonXL. 

Friday will host an early and late show. The bands Stella Ruze, Kelsey Cork and The Swigs, will play the early show at MilkBoy along with solo artist, Son Little. 

Solo acts Ivy Sole, Moses Mosima and Barney Cortez will play the late show at REC Philly.

Same as Friday, Saturday will be divided by two shows both played at Ardmore Music Hall. The Menzingers, Control Top, and Highnoon are slated to perform.

The final show of Philly Music Fest will feature The Menzingers, Queen of Jeans, and the West Philadelphia Orchestra.

In 2020, Philly Music Fest opted to put on just two nights of shows, both of which were livestreamed and played in front of an audience of zero. 

Philly Music Fest will be putting in extra effort to protect attendees this year. Proof of vaccination is required, but venues are left to decide on mask mandates. 

In the scenario of mask requirements at venues, Philly Music Fest will be providing additional security personnel to enforce the requirements.

More information about Philly Music Fest and this year’s festival can be found here.