Good music comes in all kinds of numbers, but this weekend hooks up three very special festivals that celebrate solo artists, duos, and three-piece bands. 2 Piece Fest has been a success for 3 years now, and last years memorable lineup at The Ox touted amazing sets by the likes of Reading Rainbow, Hulk Smash, and Best Friends. In honor of its fourth year the fest organizers decided to branch out and deliver a 1 Piece Fest and a 3 Piece Fest at equally DIY minded venues. Tonight PhilaMOCA (formerly Mad Decent Mausoleum) plays hosts to solo artists such as legendary Dead Milkmen frontman Joe Jack Talcum, the especially talented Hop Along a.k.a. Frances Quinlan, and New York folk crooner Jeffery Lewis. On Saturday, 2 Piece Fest returns full force at The Ox with some familiar faces in Hulk Smash, Best Friends, Peter and Craig, and The Joint Chiefs of Math. But the stacked lineup also has plenty of our favorites like Sunny Ali & The Kid, Omar, Slutever, Erode and Disappear, and Heavy Medical. The weekend’s festivities wrap up Sunday at Danger Danger and the impressively rocked out 3 Piece Fest. Bands like Dry Feet, Band Name, and one of the top performers in our poll this year and recently reformed three-piece, Party Photographers, will be ready to melt faces. And headliner Algernon Cadwallader will be packing the gallery with their legions of fans. 1 Piece Fest – PhilaMOCA, 531 N. 12th St., 7:30pm, $8, All Ages; 2 Piece Fest – The Ox, (you should know by now or just ask a friend), 2 – 11pm, $8, All Ages, 3 Piece Fest – Danger Danger Gallery, 5013 Baltimore Ave., 8pm, $5 – $10 donation, All Ages (Photo by John Vettese)
More things to do if all these fests weren’t enough…
The Ox (you should know by now or ask a friend) FRI The Armchairs and Arrah & the Ferns
Johnny Brenda’s (1201 N. Frankford Ave.) FRI When I Was 12, SAT Do You Need Service? and Univox, SUN Folkadelphia w/Meg Baird
Kung Fu Necktie (1250 N. Front St.) SUN Blood Feathers and The Cobbs
North Star Bar (2639 Poplar St.) FRI Cannons and Mater Mathu
The Fire (412 W. Girard Ave.) FRI Old Rival Hope, SAT The Codes and Hunters Cannon
M Room (15 W. Girard Ave.) FRI Coppertonic and Lokatone, SUN Spirit & Dust and The Tressels
Tritone (1508 South St.) FRI Creepoid and Lux Perpetua, SAT Sugartown w/Thee Nosebleeds
Millcreek Tavern (4200 Chester Ave.) FRI Lost Coves
Highwire Gallery (2040 Frankford Ave.) FRI Dan Blacksberg Trio, SAT Eric Carbonara
JR’s Bar (2327 S. Croskey St.) SUN Leiana
World Café Live (3025 Walnut St.) FRI Kuf Knotz and Mutlu, SUN Sonni Shine and the Underwater Sounds
The Blockley (3801 Chestnut St.) FRI Steppin Razor
Fergie’s (1214 Sansom St.) FRI (Early) John Train, (Late) Dan Collins, SAT Consenting Adults
Connie’s Ric Rac (1132 S. 9th St.) FRI Giant Mind and Cozy Galaxies
Greenline Café (4239 Locust St.) SAT Snow Caps Album Release Show w/ Lux Perpetua
The Rotunda (4014 Walnut St.) SAT AMP It Up! East Coast All-ages Music Summit w/Slutever and SGNLS
Triumph Brewing (117 Chestnut St.) SAT West Philadelphia Orchestra
The Legendary Dobbs (304 South St.) FRI DeSoto Rust, Avi Wisnia, Stolen Rhodes, SAT Lamagier, La Violencia, The Elctric Boa, Liat
The Trocadero (1003 Arch St.) SAT Yeah Clementine