Violent Femmes taking to Festival stage

The platinum-selling folk-punk group Violent Femmes will take to the Festival at Sandpoint stage Friday, July 26.

The seminal alt-rockers will be giving fans a one-two punch when they perform both their eponymous debut album as well as their sophomore release, "Hallowed Ground,"  cover to cover during a limited run of shows.

Festival at Sandpoint member presale opens today and tickets go on sale to the public Friday, April 19, at https://vfemmes.com/tour.

During these unprecedented performances, the Femmes will start the show by playing their second album, "Hallowed Ground, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2024, in its entirety. Following a brief intermission, the band will retake the stage and play their debut record, "Violent Femmes," from cover to cover, as well as a few fan- and band-favorites to finish the show. Serving as a sonic time capsule for the soul, these special shows will capture a pivotal moment in music as Femmes’ lead vocalist and guitarist, Gordon Gano wrote the songs for both albums while he was still in high school. In fact, the tracks for "Hallowed Ground" were penned long before the release of "Violent Femmes," but the band wanted to focus on upbeat songs for the debut album and wanted to “confuse people” with the more experimental songs that ended up as "Hallowed Ground."

The result was two unique releases that showcased very different sides of the Violent Femmes. Their debut record, once hailed as the “soundtrack to male puberty,” amplified teenage angst and alienation in the 1980s with such songs as “Kiss Off,” “Add It Up,” and “Gone Daddy Gone.” The album, which was mostly autobiographical, would later prove to embody some of the most relatable and enduring anthems of a disenchanted youth that the world has ever known.

While it took the album 10 years to go platinum and hit the Billboard Top 200, it has now sold three million copies worldwide and is still in rotation on today’s top rock stations, cementing it as more than a simple battle cry for misunderstood adolescence. Today, it stands as a pillar of an American underground movement and one of the best early examples of alternative rock.
Meanwhile, "Hallowed Ground", which incorporated elements of country, gospel, and blues, was a surprise to many critics and fans who were expecting another collection of teen-rage punk songs. Instead, what they received was an eclectic piece of art that not only fused different genres and sounds but also ideals and imagery that only a pubescent Gano could write. Songs like the bold and bluesy "Sweet Misery Blues" and the banjo-fueled "Country Death Song" proved that the Femmes are nothing if not true to themselves and stand as a tribute to their resilience, bravery, and unwavering indifference to the scrutiny of the industry. 40 years later, Hallowed Ground continues to mystify and excite listeners. Which was what the Femmes planned all along.

For the remainder of the ’90s, Violent Femmes continued to record new material, while their earliest songs remained in the zeitgeist, thanks to popular shows and films like “My So-Called Life,” Reality Bites, and Grosse Pointe Blank. Since that time, the band has released 10 studio albums, including their most recent, Hotel Last Resort (2019). Today, the band continues to resonate with audiences of all ages. Upon the band’s 40th anniversary, Pitchfork wrote that “The Femmes don’t signify an era so much as a time of life,” adding that “for young people growing up in the internet age,” their music “is part of a shared language.”

The Festival at Sandpoint is a non-profit organization that hosts an annual summer performance series that features a variety of genres, including rock, country, folk, indie, and more. The Festival at Sandpoint’s 41st annual 2024 concert series will take place July 25 through Aug. 4, at War Memorial Field, an intimate venue on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille.

By incorporating the surrounding natural beauty of North Idaho, the Festival at Sandpoint is devoted to enriching the local community by providing a wide array of diverse opportunities to engage with arts, music, and culture through performances, experiences, and education in an attempt to promote cultural diversity, community connection and engagement, and stimulate the economic vitality of the region.

An Evening With Violent Femmes on Friday, July 26, is a standard show, meaning the area in front of the stage is standing-room only. Tickets are general admission and are $59.95 before fees and taxes. The gates open at 6 p.m. and the music begins at 7:30 p.m.

Information: festivalatsandpoint.com