Stas Thee Boss at Freakout Festival 2017. She returns this year. Image: Courtesy Eric Tra and Courtesy Freakout Records

There are plenty of valid reasons to generally dislike music festivals. They’re generally expensive. There are generally more chest bumps between tanked bros in tank tops (I saw at least two at Capitol Hill Block Party) than in daily life. The stages are generally less than intimate and the sound generally less than pristine. So maybe—generally—you’d rather stick to small venue show and save $150.

Well, Freakout Fest, back this weekend for its sixth year, is the antidote to such generalities. It’s run by a local indie label (Freakout Records). It’s $35 a day, or $60 for Friday and Saturday. It’s in November (far fewer tank tops). It takes place in some actual music venues (Tractor Tavern, Sunset Tavern).

And its lineup is beyond reproach. All Them Witches headline on Friday. Saturday alone has one of the best local hip-hop tickets you could catch this year: Kung Foo Grip, Porter Ray, Stas Thee Boss, and Blimes and Gifted Gab. And the rest of the bill pulls in some live local favorites—Monsterwatch, SassyBlack, Lisa Prank, Acid Tongue. There's also a trio of bands from Mexico at the Sunset on Friday—Los Honey Rockets, Los Mundos, and Los Blenders—all of whom play versions of the loud-and-rowdy rock that this town loves, only, you know, in Spanish.

See the full lineup here.

Freakout Festival 2018

Nov 16 & 17, Ballard, $35–$60