The Best Moments from Treefort 10

Thrillist took a trip to Treefort Music Fest in Boise, Idaho, where we saw a lot of great music and ate a lot of good food.

Treefort Music Fest is one of the cool festivalsin America right now . For the past 10 geezerhood , the sovereign community - runfestivalhas taken over downtownBoise , Idahofor a long weekend of live medicine and cultural experience . operate as a multi - venue festival with a series of additional events from the culinary , pull , celluloid , yoga , and other worlds and a prioritization of booking uprise and local talent , it ’s not only place Boise and its quickly grow artistry and culture scene on the map , but changing the festival secret plan .

Thrillist took a trip to Boise to see what the fete was all about and had a truly first-class clock time . With so many activity , shows , and tastings , though , a handful of experience stand out . Below , find our rank preferent artists and moments from Treefort 10 .

Seeing Boise’s coolest venues

A fete that relies on the already exist infrastructure of its city is only as respectable as its venues , and Treefort brought all of business district Boise into its embracing , utilise openings in bars and coffee shop , the convention center , and outdoor open spaces for its show and various events . But a few venue were peculiarly heavy : El Korah Shrine , the club for the local chapter of Shriners International , opened its ballroom for shows , providing a warm and quaint blank for euphony ( and one of the coziest bathrooms in the city ) . We also spend a bunch of clock time ascertain acts at the prevention / venueNeurolux , a 300 - someone mental ability mirrored room that , even when it was totally full , sense intimate and never overstuff . Perhaps the grooviest of all the locale was inside the Masonic Temple , call up the Sonic Temple for Treefort purposes , open for this year only before it ’s gutted and turned into condo . Split into a Blue and cerise room that contrive trippy visuals onto the rampart and ceiling , the Sonic Temple was like an art installation in itself that also just happened to host some very vibey shows . — Leanne Butkovic

Visiting The Record Exchange

Nearly every city has a dear main record book store , andThe Record Exchangeis Boise ’s . The 1977 - originated store is actually the big independent record workshop in all of Idaho , feature words upon row of new and used vinyl , CDs , and cassette tapes , a solicitation of VHS mag tape , a schmaltzy talent shop , and more . We were frankly overwhelmed and overstimulated in the best means possible chaffer the Boise staple . There was a Fabio T - shirtanda Spice Girls football tee ! There was an ancientAbs of SteelVHS ! And even heaps of Harry Styles posters ! What more could you want ? It ’s the form of memory board that helps give the city some of its character , and — being that it ’s in the meat of downtown and even hosted a fistful of good afternoon Treefort Fest sets in the afternoon — show how integral its music fit is . — Sadie Bell

Alefort’s wine, beer, and cocktails

Most festivals these days play in kegs from regional brewery to serve ( Pitchfork and Goose Island come in forthwith to mind ) but Treefort ’s beer , wine , and cocktail platform is specially creative . Its hub of all - things booze — Alefort , a monolithic collapsible shelter divided into different sofa region depending on your crapulence of option — operate on scarcity , circumvolve its wine and cocktail offerings , curated by local bartenders , by Clarence Day in specific windowpane of meter . signification , if they scat out of nursing bottle or ingredients , that ’s it , you missed your shot to try a brisk orange wine or engrossing - sound cocktail like the rum - based Purple Leopard with edda jelly or the otherworldlyCosmic Jellyfish , a pisco - and - Pop Rocks drink that might seem like it would be undrinkable but was in fact maybe one of the good cocktail we ’ve ever had . On the other script , there wastoo much beerto pick out from , with 70 brew selected by Boise beer bars Prefunk Nampa and Bittercreek Alehouse . It was well the freshest and most exciting carrying into action of a drinks program for a music - focussed fete we ’ve experienced . — LB

The chef dinners from Foodfort

First off , in general the intellectual nourishment in Boise was perfectly dope — tater and bacon pizza pie anyone ? But that ’s just another testament to Treefort — they do an incredible occupation of blending thing that are important to the Boise biotic community into the programming of the festival . We were favourable enough to be able to pay heed two of these issue — the Twisted Filipino dinner party and the Chef Collaboration Dinner . The Twisted Filipino dinner party was done bychef Carlo Lamagna , Food & Wine ’s Best New Chef of 2021 .

The owner of Magna in Portland , Oregon , Lamagna started the first day of the fest on an impossibly high Federal Reserve note , serving family line - manner cured salmon with cocoa palm vinaigrette and dead cooked Wagyu ribeye served with marrow ( ! ) butter ( ! ) . The three trend , plus a delicious snack of shrimp potato chip with spicy tamarind powder , left us nutrient drunk for the dessert class , which was biko , coconut sticky Elmer Rice with condense coconut palm milk topped with crumbled shortbread cookies . ( Yes , it was phenomenal . )

On Thursday Nox , we saw Lamagna and his wife atThe Lively , an ideal local spot to eat a special social occasion meal , for the Chef Collaboration Dinner served by the restaurant ’s chef and pastry dough chef , Edward Higgins and Samantha Hughes , Boise chef Sarah Kelly , andTop Chefregular Hugh Acheson . With canapés ( Kelly ’s chocolate rye whiskey gougeres with Salmon River rillette was a knockout ) , three courses , and a gorgeous panna cotta with compressed fruit and meringue spikes , the cheffy dinner party show off a side of Boise ’s overlooked ok dining fit . Both were just two more example of how Treefort managed to create residential district in its many iterations . — Kerensa Cadenas and pound

treefort music fest 2022

Photo by Conner Schumacher, courtesy of Treefort Music Fest

The most fun covers we saw

One noteworthy matter about Treefort ’s bill is that just about every act get the same amount of hr - long degree clock time . That means you may check even just a portion of somebody ’s set into your agenda , and artists do n’t have to entirely fiddle a hits parade . A duet of our Treefort faves who we were frantic to see and played the master stage were able to figure covers into their set . Toward the end of indie rock darlingSnail Mail ’s lot , the mathematical group fronted by Lindsay Jordan send the crowd into a tizzy with the euphoric curtain raising of The Smashing Pumpkins ' 1995 classic " Tonight , Tonight . " pass on their ' 90s alt stone - inspired strait , it sounded great ( as did the eternal rest of their set , which was their first major live gig since 2019 ) . The LA - found breakers - fused papa punk bandThe Regrettesalso got peopleveryexcited with their cover of " Girlfriend " by Avril Lavigne . With the resurgence of pop punk and being that the song is a collision from the Pop Punk Princess herself , it was a very fun choice , and made for some great call - and - reception . — SB

The best bands we discovered

Because Treefort is all about work attention to emerging creative person and emphasizes breakthrough , you ’re bound to leave with a handful of new favorite bands . Bands are constantly dally across Boise at traditional music locus and makeshift ones , like in deep brown shops or breweries — so whether you wander into a show or check out someone who seemed interesting on your schedule — you’re guaranteed to be usher in to heavy , new music . Some of the acts we were introduce to and are aroused to follow include Toronto power pop groupDucks Ltd. , Memphis - based indie four - pieceBlvck Hippie , Maya Bon ’s folky singer - songwriter projectBabehoven , andGhost Funk Orchestra , which is a NYC - based band that somehow meshes ' 60 girl group vocals with psychedelic psyche and is an absolute bang . I also got to finally beguile one of my preferent New York band aright now , the new moving ridge synth projectNation of Language , live for the first clock time , and they aim literally everybody in the room dance . earnestly , all of the artists and the push of the fete will get youverystoked for the next genesis of indie acts who all seem to be on the cusp of blowing up . — SB

Our favorite shows from bands we came to see

Of course , we also show up with lists of bands we ’ve envision before or have been await to see for age . Falling into the latter family wasDeafheaven , known for incredible live shows with their thrashing melodious metal , and true to shape , they absolutely crushed it . On the main microscope stage , Caroline Rose , Kari Faux , Indigo De Souza , andThe Regrettesall put on eminent energy stage set that had the crew uproarious , and in the external pit at cocktail bar / eating place KIN , The Ophelias ' softer , but heart - rive songs were ethereal against the set up Lord’s Day and light show . Indoors , Ryley Walkerand his full band gave a downright virtuosic performance , jamming like they were the goddamn Grateful Dead in between cracking 100 jokes about being back in the Gem State at Neurolux;SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE , this generation ’s Sonic Youth , blasted through a enlistment - tight solidification , include produced interlude to fill distance as they tune guitars and trade in legal document at El Korah Shrine ; and at the Linen Building , Field Medic ’s previous - nighttime set , one of the lo - fi player ’s last shows play to a tape track from a boombox , bust out older songs from his discography that felt like the Treefort iteration of a goodbye tour before growing to a full striation . — LB

The pristine festival grounds

Cleaning up after a medicine festival is a notoriously filthy effort , with overflow trash lav and litter spread out everywhere the 2nd a gang clears out . So when you go to one where that ’s all wanting , the want of trash feels like a minor miracle . Literally , I would not block talk about it . But godly intervention it is not — Treefort has a team of volunteers , the secret heroes of the event , constantly handling uncontaminating - up tariff to keep a spotless key strip and master stage area . Because Treefort is entrust to sustainability , someday transitioning to a full zero - dissipation fete , the move of reach out aluminum cup with every tag for alcoholic drink and piss , hold beer rear to a lower limit and eradicated plastic cup . Even in indoor venues , where you could get a tall can of the regional " shitty " lager Rainer ( which is delicious , FYI ) for THREE DOLLARS , the debris was restrain to a minimum — a testament to the attendees and hardworking workers behind the scenes . — pound

sonic temple boise, sonic temple treefort music fest