Young festival to host 3rd installment Oct. 11
The Jam Room Music Festival, a signature event for Columbia’s music scene, has announced that its third installment will take hold of Main Street on Oct. 11 this year.
The festival will feature 12 bands performing on two stages on Main Street from noon to 10 p.m., and as with last year, the show will be free. This year’s lineup will be announced over the summer.
Despite weather difficulties last year, the festival continued its winning streak for Columbia.
“We learned that people are going to come out even if it rains if you have a good band lineup,” said Linda Toro, festival coordinator. “We’re very pleased with the turnout last year.”
That being said, the festival wasn’t without technical hiccups, which the coordinators will work to prevent this time.
“One of the unfortunate things that happened was the smaller stage didn’t have lights on it,” Toro said. “So by the time ‘The Great Book of John’ played, it was already dark … and they were kind of playing in the dark.”
The Jam Room Music Festival has been striving to fill a needed role in Columbia’s artistic affairs: a genuine musical event.
“We’re trying to fill a hole in the music scene here in Columbia; we want to start bringing bands through that won’t normally stop here. … We’re just trying to reignite the music scene,” Toro said. “That’s the biggest thing. We want to get people excited about the music scene again. We want to let bands know that there’s an audience here and that Columbia’s a cool place to stop and do a show.”
In addition to making Jam Room Music Festival a signature musical event, its coordinators have a specific vision of what kind of music the festival will feature.
“We’re trying to bring in bands that would go under the indie-alternative umbrella,” Toro said. “We’re not trying to cater to every demographic. … We have a certain demographic in mind, like a younger, socially-conscious, environmentally-aware music fan.”