Boston-based Crash Line Productions made a habit of bringing locals on to round out the lineups of their bi-annual Boston Calling Music Festival. Now they’re turning to another local for their Midwest expansion.
Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon will co-curate Crash Line’s upcoming Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival, set to to go down July 17 and 18 at Foster Farm in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The fest is pronounced “o’clare,” and raises a glass to the original French spelling of the town of Eau Claire.
Though we reported on the festival several weeks ago, the whole thing just became official with the launch of eauxclaires.com, a special early-bird presale starting tomorrow, and a message from Vernon, which you can read below.
The lineup for Eaux Claires, which is co-curated by Aaron Dessner of the National, will be revealed early next year. Dessner, of course, has had a hand in Boston Calling, and his band has played the two-year-old City Hall festival twice already.
This spring’s Boston Calling is set for May 22 to 25.
A MESSAGE FROM JUSTIN VERNON
Eau Claire—December 15, 2014After several years of touring and playing music festivals of all different types around the world, I wanted to put together an event that would honor what we love about this place—including an independent attitude and blaze orange caps—but also shine a light on less familiar and surprising elements that are already weaving themselves into our future.
Having this festival right in my backyard gives me and the guest artists a chance to share familiar work and new creations in a setting close to my heart and different than any other stage in the world. To create this event within view of the Chippewa River—the very river that defines this place—makes it all the more meaningful.
We’re fortunate, because the Chippewa Valley already has a history of great music festivals. Everyone—the city, the county, and the Country Jam folks—has been very supportive. They’re helping us take it beyond music into a celebration of film, art, and things still in the works … just walking around the place is going to be an experience.