From August 1st to 3rd, Hinterland held its 10th annual music festival in St. Charles, Iowa, transforming the midwestern countryside into a booming stage for musical artists of all genres. Many changes were made to this year’s Hinterland Music Festival, like an expansion of the festival grounds by over 250 acres, an increase in water stations and shade structures, and refunds offered to tickets sold on days that hit above 90 degrees. However, the biggest difference between this year’s festival and the ones prior was the big-name lineup that drew a record-setting crowd of 25,000 on each day, which was the maximum capacity for the event.
Tyler, The Creator, who averages over 50 million monthly listeners on Spotify, headlined the event on Friday and performed his newest album DON’T TAP THE GLASS for the second time in front of a sell-out crowd. Kacey Musgraves, who averages 17 million monthly listeners and is a seven-time Grammy Award winner, headlined the event on Saturday and performed songs from her fifth studio album Deeper Well that achieved #1 on the Top Album Sales chart. Lana Del Rey, who averages over 60 million monthly listeners, headlined the event on Sunday, selling out tickets for that day and bringing her huge fanbase from across the country to small town Iowa.
The headliners weren’t the only big names that showed up to Hinterland. Rebecca Black, the iconic voice of 2010’s hit “Friday,” performed it (ironically enough) on Friday. She was shortly followed by Royel Otis, the band behind the popular cover of “Linger” by The Cranberries. Remi Wolf, the musician behind hit song “Photo ID,” performed before Clairo, who has over 20 million monthly listeners and earned a Grammy nomination for her very new and successful album Charm. On Saturday, Gigi Perez’s fanbase of 25 million monthly listeners flocked to see her perform her hit singles “Sailor Song” and “Fable.” Fans also flocked to see Role Model perform songs like “Sally, When The Wine Runs Out” from his most recent album Kansas Anymore (The Longest Goodbye). The Marías, with their 34 million monthly listeners, performed songs from their albums Submarine and grammy-nominated debut album Cinema.
This was the first Hinterland Music Festival lineup that hosted multiple big-name artists with millions of monthly listeners and multiple different awards. This lineup even rivaled Lollapalooza, a festival that hosted 100,000 people on each day of the event and has been a popular attraction for festival-goers and music fans across the nation. Nine artists performed at both Lollapalooza and Hinterland: that’s 38% of Hinterland’s line up! Some theories for the drastic lineup change have been associated with Hinterland’s close proximity with Lollapalooza: the two music festivals are approximately a five and a half hours drive away from each other and approximately an hour an a half long flight. But, with Hinterland’s recent renovations, expansions, and improvements, all festival-goers and music lovers hope that big names continue to flood to Hinterland to allow people from the midwestern countryside to experience a big city concert.
