Philly Music Fest 2025: New venue, back-to-back performances, same local spirit

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In its ninth year, Philly Music Fest will bring a week’s worth of shows to the local scene, packing some of the region’s most intimate music venues with its best and upcoming artists.

From Oct. 13–19, the Philadelphia music scene will be presented with an all-star lineup of its most acclaimed artists, including The Wonder Years, Dr. Dog and Matt Quinn of the band Mt. Joy.

This year’s festival will also introduce a new venue to its lineup, The Fallser Club in East Falls, and will be the first year where multiple shows will take place on the same night.

“I think every single year we’ve done something different, either adding a venue, doing two nights at a venue,” festival co-founder Greg Seltzer said. “This year, adding a venue plus stacking two shows in one night — two different genres, two different parts of the city — so it’s actually super refreshing.”

Seltzer said he’s been trying to add Dr. Dog and The Wonder Years since he started booking the festival in 2018. For the Matt Quinn solo set, he said it’ll be one “no one’s ever seen” from the Mt. Joy frontman and will feature SNACKTIME acting as his horn section and “Philly Music Fest alum that are flying up from Nashville to sing.”

“It’s really kind of relaxing and it’s enlightening to kind of get out of the machine that is Mt. Joy and to kind of express himself in an individual capacity,” Seltzer said. “I think it’s really important to give a musician like that the space and the stage to say, ‘Hey, I’m a human. I’m Matt Quinn, and this is a bunch of songs that I’m into.’”

Saturday, Oct. 18, will feature Chioke, who will perform alongside a female-fronted lineup headlined by former “American Idol” contestant Catie Turner. After having rocked out stages at South by Southwest and the Roots Picnic, the Philly-based singer said she feels “very fortunate to do so much with my music career in a little amount of time.”

“Just highlighting women and what we bring to this city — what we’re doing, it’s super important,” she said. “Everyone that is on the bill is very unique, very in their own sound, in their own light, and I just honor that. I think that’s beautiful.”

PMF will also continue the tradition of benefitting multiple music-based organizations that serve children within the region, including Play On Philly, Musicopia and the Settlement Music School. In 2022, the festival raised roughly $100,000 for music education efforts within Philadelphia.

“Those organizations are front and center,” Seltzer said. “We have the charities introduce the band and tell the audience about their mission and what they do. We try to put them front and center, and all of the net profits go to those organizations.”

Below is the lineup for this year’s festival, as well as where to buy tickets.

• Oct. 13–14: Dr. Dog and Pat Finnerty and the Full Band, Ardmore Music Hall at 7:30 p.m. (sold out)
• Oct. 15: Greg Mendez, 22º Halo and Soup Dreams, Johnny Brenda’s at 8 p.m. ($25.65)
• Oct. 16: Matt Quinn, Grace Gardner, Archawah and Black Buttafly, Underground Arts at 8 p.m. ($45.54)
• Oct. 17: The Wonder Years, Dryjacket, Golden Apples and Public Works, Underground Arts at 7 p.m. (sold out)
• Oct. 18: The Wonder Years, Caracara and KulfiGirls, Underground Arts at 7:45 p.m. (sold out)
• Oct. 18: Catie Turner, Chioke, Planette Automatic and Sadie Gust, The Fallser Club at 7:15 p.m. ($22.07)
• Oct. 19: Horrendous, Lástima and ShyGodwin, MilkBoy at 8 p.m. ($34.41)
• Oct. 19: Nazir Ebo and Daniel Villarreal, Solar Myth at 8 p.m. ($42.23)