Last July, the first Northside Music Festival, with 75 bands, brought a wide variety of music to the Deutschtown neighborhood. Festival organizer Ben Soltesz was pleased with the outcome of that inaugural offering.

“It went really well,” he said.

He mentioned two aspects as particularly successful. The first was that the festival paid the bands a good price for their performance. The second was the proximity of the venues, which allowed attendees to visit more places and see more music.

This weekend, the Northside Music Festival is back with around 80 bands and artists. With a diverse musical list from Friday to Sunday, the festival is a great showcase for talented musicians and for the neighborhood.

“It worked for the bands and the musicians, and they appreciated it. The people who came to it appreciated it. You’re not worried about missing something. It’s a more compact footprint and a smaller schedule to look at,” Soltesz said of the initial the event.

“We’ve kind of picked a lot of the best bands out there and we’ve got everything you want to see within a short walking distance,” he said.

The festival will span a number of stages in public spaces, as well as local venues including The Government Center, Allegheny Elks Lodge #339 and Allegheny City Brewing. The music starts at 18.00 on Friday and will continue throughout Saturday.

“We have a big stage on the street on Friday, and then on Saturday it remains and we stretch into Allegheny Commons East Park.”

The music in the park will be held from

“I look at the lineup that we have and I’m just like, ‘I wish I could just sit and watch bands all weekend.’ It’s just really good music on all stages. We tailor some of them to places where they are, but it’s quite variable, says Soltesz.

Sunday’s schedule consists of a special gospel program presented by the Allegheny Center Alliance Church. From 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., family-friendly activities, as well as gospel music and worship, will be held at Allegheny Commons East Park. Then from 18-20 there will be an evening shift. Food trucks will be on site all day.

“Last year (Allegheny Center Alliance Church) had a great event … the weather was great for it and they had a great turnout among their congregation. This year they were like the hours we’re doing this, other churches that we would like involve have their services, so can we come back from 6 to 8 Sunday night and … have some more gospel music? So that’s what we’re going to do this year,” Soltesz said.

The festival is free all weekend, but $5 wristbands for those 21+ will be sold for access to alcoholic beverages. There will be outdoor bars. — sponsors Iron City Beer and Wigle Whiskey will have their products available.

Soltez also noted that the Northside Music Festival is a non-profit event organized and run by volunteers.

“Last year when we did it, we basically broke even. We were able to get good payouts to all the bands and it was appreciated by them. We hope to continue that tradition,” he says.

The festival will also host an artist market on Saturday afternoon – along with activities for children – in Allegheny Commons Park from 12.00 to 18.00

“Anything goes, whatever we can do to make it fun. I want the best bands to play it, I want everyone to have fun, good food, great art at the artist market, and then ending the Sunday with gospel music is a such a good package, says Soltesz.

An Indiana County native, Soltesz fell in love with live music while living in Austin for a year. After moving to the Northside, he found a thriving live music community there and wanted to celebrate it.

“By doing this, it’s been great because I’ve gotten to meet and befriend a lot of people who are in that scene, and by being someone who has absolutely no musical talent whatsoever, I’m able to contribute in some way. I serve no money doing it, I just do it because I love it and because I think it’s a cool thing to do, he says.

The full lineup for the weekend, as well as information about the bands and musicians who will be playing, can be found at northsidemusicfestival.com.