Planning for Landmark Music Festival

This weekend is the Landmark Music Festival in DC, featuring 40+ artists on five stages on Saturday and Sunday. This is the festival‘s first year, created to raise funds for the National Mall, which hasn’t been renovated in 39 years. Acts like Drake, the Strokes and Alt-J along with hundreds of D.C. residents and out-of-towners will turn out over the course of two days to support our beloved landmarks.

I will be in attendance hoping for the festival’s success. None of the bands are my particular favorites, but there are several I’m looking forward to seeing. I’m also looking forward to getting my grub on with a specially curated selection of DC eats, chosen by José Andres.

Pick Your Shows

The schedule is pretty stacked, so depending on what you’re into you could watch ten straight hours of shows back-to-back. I won’t be doing that, because my dog will need to go to the bathroom at some point. But I do plan to see several shows, with varying levels of excitement.
On Saturday, I’m looking forward to Twin Shadow and The War on Drugs the most. I’m also pretty excited about Drake, even though I probably won’t feel cool enough to be there. I’ve seen Band of Horses before, but if it works out schedule-wise I wouldn’t mind watching them again one bit, because I love me some sad tunes.
I’ll be lining up for Manchester Orchestra and Lord Huron on Sunday. I saw Lord Huron open for Alt-J a couple years ago and it was a great show. Can’t wait for that. The Strokes are probably the biggest show of the festival, so hopefully I’ll feel youthful enough to stay up past my Sunday bedtime to catch it.
Other than that, I’ll probably listen to the siren calls of the different stages and go where the music speaks to me. I love a festival for just that reason, I always end up finding new music to love.

Wear Stretchy Pants

The food lineup is on point at this festival. Forget about lukewarm hamburgers and grilled cheese or greasy pizza, you’ll dine like a celebrity at Landmark Music Festival.
The list of attending restaurants includes DC staples like Ben’s Chili Bowl, Old Ebbitt Grill, Amsterdam Falafelshop and Shake Shack alongside some of José Andres’ own creations including PEPE, Oyamel and Beefsteak.
However, the eats that I am drooling over the most are going to be coming from the dream menu at Duke’s Grocery (Proper Burger Sliders, Chicken Tikka Masala and Chocolate Belgian Waffle), a Maketto/Toki Underground combo (Landmark Ramen and Bao) and the Proof/Estadio/Doi Moi team (Pork Belly Bocadillo, Bánh Mì and more). Hopefully the festival has some couches or a napping area so I can recover from all of this deliciousness or at least lie down while watching a few of the bands.

After Parties

The headliners on both nights are slated to finish up around 10pm so there will still be time to check out a bar or restaurant to unwind and discuss why CHVRCHES were “so last year”. Some of my recommendations for less-crowded places to go after the Landmark Festival include:

Close(ish) to the Festival

District Commons (Foggy Bottom) for beer and good grub (if you have superhuman stomach capacity)
The Partisan for wine and snacks or Boss Sheperd’s for cocktails and bourbon (Penn Quarter)

Denson Liquor Bar for classy cocktails and dim lighting to hide your food baby (Chinatown)
Poste for al fresco boozing, if the weather holds up (Penn Quarter)