Wilco to curate their own summer festival

Wilco might not be touring this summer, but the celebrated art-rock band have decided to do one better, curating a new music festival. The Solid Sound festival will take place in North Adams, Massachusetts on the weekend of 13 to 15 August. This isn't Glastonbury – because there won't be any mud. It's not Meltdown – because it's in the middle of nowhere. And it's not All Tomorrow's Parties – because there aren't any chalets. Still, Solid Sound may have a little of each, from its curatorial focus to the mixture of music, art, comedy and "interactivity". The inaugural festival will be held at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, whose 150,000 sq ft of galleries will be filled with performances and installations. While many more musical acts are to be announced, Wilco's headlining gig is definitely on, as are concerts by each of tha band's side-projects: drummer Glenn Kotche's On Fillmore, bassist John Stirratt's the Autumn Defense, guitarist Nels Cline's Nels Cline Singers, and multi-instrumentalist Mikael Jorgensen's Pronto. Other highlights will include an interactive guitar-pedal exhibit managed by Cline, a workshop on poster silk-screening, and a percussion demonstration led by Kotche. Visitors will also have access to new art exhibitions by Sol LeWitt, Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, Petah Coyne, and even photographs by Leonard Nimoy. "The whole thing is designed to be multi-faceted, with the art being as much a part of it," Wilco spokesperson Deb Bernardini told Billboard. "The idea was to do something a little bit different, where being in the space would be a part of the whole event." Tickets begin at $86.50 (£56.74) for the weekend. They go on sale this Friday (9 April).