With its intimate venues, local charm, and nary a flower crown in sight, Waking Windows is possibly the ultimate festival for live music fans who don’t go for the typical festival scene. But as its seventh installment preps to take over the downtown of Vermont city Winooski this weekend (May 5 to 7), one classic festival dilemma still plagues us: What to do about all of these overlapping sets? And over a three-day slate that features a lot of performances, overlapping is inevitable. But in an effort to simplify, we’ve picked five acts whose live performances promise to be especially mind-blowing. Scan through our “can’t miss” selections below, and if you need more convincing that Waking Windows is the place to be this weekend, check out Ben Stas’ massive photo gallery from last year’s edition.
[Note: All set times are estimates; see the full schedule after the band spotlights and get ticket info here]
