Listen to music on your neighbors’ porches throughout the City

Have you ever sat on your porch and enjoyed hearing a neighbor strumming a guitar on a nearby porch? PorchFest takes this idea and multiplies it to create a citywide event where Somervillians share their love of playing and listening to music by holding porch concerts across the city. PorchFest returns this year on Saturday, May 13, from noon to 6 p.m. (see below for the schedule in your area).

Somerville PorchFest began in 2011 and has been growing rapidly ever since. This year over 200 musical acts will be performing on porches (and sometimes spilling into front yards and gardens) all over town. Genres range from gypsy punk, cosmic Americana and killer blues to Afrobeat, acid folk, and American space rock.  There’s even Porch-ioke where passersby can step up and belt out a tune with a band backing them up!

 Acts in East Somerville perform from 12 to 2 p.m., central Somerville bands (between Central and Willow St.) perform from 2 to 4 p.m., and West Somerville musicians perform from 4 to 6 p.m. This allows music to sweep like a giant wave from east to west and festival goers can plan out their routes to hear as much music as possible. To see the current lineup and map go to www.somervilleartscouncil.org/porchfest. Listen to band’s music samples and plan out your day.

PorchFest originated in Ithaca, NY, in 2007. When Somerville resident Nancy Goodman learned about this event she thought: Why not Somerville? She contacted the Somerville Arts Council and things were quickly set in motion. From the get-go, responses from musicians and music-loving residents was resounding.  There were 35 people at the initial planning meeting and 75 acts registered to perform for our first edition in 2011.