North Carolina is on point with fall music festivals – in September, Raleigh hosted Hopscotch Music Festival. This weekend, Pittsboro will have Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival. At the end of the month, Moogfest will reign in Asheville.

Moogfest, named for Bob Moog, the inventor of the Moog synthesizer who was a research professor at UNC-Asheville, is back for its annual music festival during the weekend of October 28 – 30.  Different venues across Asheville’s downtown will host The Flaming Lips, STS9, Passion Pit, TV on the Radio and many more.  In addition to a packed lineup, there will also be artists in panel discussions, question and answer sessions, and workshops.  One thing I’m particularly excited about is the opportunity, in honor of Moog himself, to try out a variety of Moog instruments. There will also be visual art exhibitions, installations, and film screenings.

WKNC has two pairs of weekend passes to give away for this event – but it will take a little luck! Each day until October 21, one WKNC DJ will do a giveaway to get a listener put into a drawing the tickets. During Local Lunch on October 21, DJ Kligz will do the drawing live on-air and announce the recipients of the weekend passes.

Go ahead and put our studio lines on speed dial so when the WKNC DJ asks for it, you’ll be ready to win!

(919) 860-0881 or (919) 515-2400

This past weekend, October 16, marked the longest drive to see a single concert for a large amount of people, including myself. Some fans journeyed over 5 1/2 hours, if not more, all to see a few bands—Local Natives, The Ruby Suns, and The Union Line—at The Grey Eagle in Asheville, NC. Once the show began, I understood why.

The Union Line, a five-piece from California, started off the night. Creative drum beats were a staple in each song laced with pretty guitar and Natives-esque vocals. While most shows’ opener band encourages a crowd to linger at best, The Union Line had the crowd engaged and dancing within the first song.

The Union Line at The Grey Eagle

The Ruby Suns followed with a poppier set; think Toro Y Moi if they ate too much sugar. Regardless of the slight genre change, it kept everyone energetic.

Following was the headliner for the night, Local Natives. With only one LP out, Gorilla Manor, I was surprised to see a sold-out show. The fanbase was incredible, especially for such a new band. It was shoulder-to-shoulder and impossible to move as far front as I would have liked. The set started off strong and hit every song on the album. Another pleasant surprise was Local Natives actually sounds better live, in my opinion. Everything—vocals, drums, guitar, etc.—was on point, in addition to crowd interaction. Another very unique aspect of this band is each member alternated instruments every song or so.

Local Natives perform in Asheville

One of my (many) favorite parts of this show particularly was how eager the bands were to meet the fans. Every member from the three bands took time to hold a conversation with fans, sign autographs, joke around, and take pictures with the best college radio station in NC.

Local Natives with WKNC & Friends