Philly Music Fest returns for its 10th year Oct. 12–18. Here’s who is performing

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For its 10th anniversary, Philly Music Fest looks to continue what built the annual event into a launchpad for the local scene and a welcoming party for the artists who have left an impact.

From Oct. 12–18, shows at independently owned venues across the metro area will provide intimate settings for acts used to playing bigger rooms, including The Dillinger Escape Plan, RJD2, Sweet Pill and a surprise headliner to be named in August.

How 2 nights turned into a decade

The first iteration of the festival took place in 2017 over two nights at what was then called World Cafe Live. Co-founder Greg Seltzer said he never considered that the festival would grow into a full week of shows.

“I did think it could be a weekend, a full weekend of Philly artists and at an independent venue or multiple venues,” he said. “I never thought it would outgrow a weekend or a long, long weekend.”

Seltzer attributed PMF’s success to staying true to the “three principal missions” of the festival.

“The first is to support Philly musicians. Musicians that have a connection to Philly, live here, work here, travel through here, made music,” Seltzer said. “The second is supporting independent venues, and the third is to donate profits to music education for kids.”

Over the last nine years, Philly Music Fest has donated over $600,000 to various local music organizations, Seltzer said, including Rock to the Future, Settlement Music School and the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra.

“Every time we’ve considered growth, which has been incremental, we’ve determined whether the growth maximizes or increases impact. And if it doesn’t, we don’t do it,” Seltzer said. “So the last four years, we’ve been at roughly a week of shows, and we feel pretty good about the impact that a week of shows has on the music community.”

Who’s playing this year?

A third of this year’s shows will take place at Underground Arts, the 650-person-capacity Callowhill venue known for hosting metal, punk and hip-hop acts.

The Dillinger Escape Plan will headline a show there on Oct. 15.

“When you think about metal bands in Philly … there’s a common thread that runs through all of them,” Seltzer said. “The North Star of those bands all seems to be The Dillinger Escape Plan.”

The band’s local roots run deep, already selling out Franklin Music Hall less than two years ago. Bassist Liam Wilson is from Philadelphia, and much of the band’s catalog was released through Upper Darby-based Relapse Records, a cornerstone of the region’s heavy music scene. Seltzer said it took some convincing to bring the band back for the festival, but “they hung in there with us.”

“As they asked more questions about the festival and probably did a little homework on what is this thing, ‘Is it true? Is it really a nonprofit? Does it really not take government funds? Are there really no corporate banners at this festival?’ We checked a lot of boxes and they came back and they said they want to do it,” Seltzer said.

Sweet Pill will headline another show at Underground Arts on Oct. 16.

The band released its sophomore album, “Still There’s a Glow,” just a few months ago. But a little more than a week into the supporting tour, the indie rock group canceled its remaining dates, saying it needed time to “regroup in order to give this record the tour it deserves.”

Seltzer said Sweet Pill was the first band he reached out to about playing Philly Music Fest, but admitted he had to go back to the drawing board when the band halted their run of shows.

“Fortunately, everyone healed up, and it seems like everyone’s doing well,” Seltzer said. “They said, ‘Hey, we want to do this Philly Music Fest show. We want this to be kind of our triumphant return to Philly.’ Fortunately, we still had the date and we said, ‘100%.’”

Another artist spanning the wide range of genres represented at the festival is RJD2, a hip-hop and electronic artist and producer performing a set at Milkboy in Center City on Oct. 15.

While RJD2 is not originally from the city, Seltzer said he represents acts similar to what the festival has booked in the past, like Waxahatchee, who produced some of their most significant work thus far while living in Philly.

‘“Hey, you’ve made great music here in Philly, and for a brief while you were one of us and you were connected to the city, and if you still feel that connection and you want to help us out with Philly Music Fest, we consider you a Philadelphian, and if you’ll have us, come play this festival,’” Seltzer said. “That was kind of the pitch to RJD2 and it landed.”

Tickets for Philly Music Fest shows are on sale now. The surprise headliner will be unveiled in August, and ticket sales for those shows will go live at a later date.