Four Chord Music Festival celebrates A Decade Under The Influence of DIY,: “Blood, sweat, and literal tears,” making its way back home

PITTSBURGH, Pa. (WTRF) – Putting on a festival no easy task. It takes “blood, sweat, and literal tears.” Try doing it for 10 years, but that’s exactly what Four Chord Musical Festival has been doing.

Four Chord Musical Festival, a two-day (June 22- June 23) indie punk, emo and hardcore music festival in Pittsburgh prides itself in being Do It Yourself (DIY)

“Ten years for anything is a really long time to be doing something. It’s amazing we made it this far. It started in a small club in Pittsburgh and it’s really grown, not only as an independent festival but a nationally-recognized festival where we are bringing people in from all 50 states and beyond. There’s no corporate backing. This is coming out of people’s pockets to make this happen.”

Adam Valen – Director of Marketing

Four Chord Musical Festival started in 2014  at the former Xtaza nightclub in the Strip District of Pittsburgh and has since grown into bigger and better venues such as Highmark Stadium and most recently Washington Wild Things Park. But for year ten, Four Chord Music Festival is moving to Carrie Furnace in in the Pittsburgh-area industrial town of Swissvale, Pennsylvania.

“We wanted to bring it back to Pittsburgh, it’s where the festival started, we really wanted to bring it back home. We’ve been trying to bring it in Carrie Furnace for a while now. Being one of the last remaining blast furnaces in Pittsburgh, it really speaks to the blue collar nature of the area we are in and really the boot strap mentality that we have where we are like an independent festival and a lot of hard work and labor that’s going into making this festival happen felt very emblematic to bring it back there.”

Adam Valen- Director of Marketing

Being a 10-year anniversary, Four Chord pulled no punches and created maybe their biggest and best lineup yet. Headliners include A Day to Remember on June 22 and The All American Rejects on June 23. Other acts include The Story So Far, State Champs, Senses Fair, Four Year Strong, Microwave, Eternal Boy, Motion City Soundtrack, Cliffdiver and the return of Something Corporate.

“It really is emblematic of the Warped Tour era. We always try to keep that in mind of bands that fit into that ethos that have lifted this entire pop punk scene that’s been making a resurgence in the last couple of years. We really try to work with the right partners to bring the right artist.”

Adam Valen- Director of Marketing

Single day tickets and deluxe VIP tickets for the festival are still on sale. You can purchase them here.

Part of the festival’s tradition as of late has been holding a kick off show the night before the festival. This year’s kick off show includes The Emo Band (Live Band Emo Karaoke), The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, 408 and Midnight Lights at Preserving Concerts on June 21. Tickets for the pre-show can be purchased here. You can also purchase fee-free tickets to Four Chord at the pre-show.

The Festival also announced their continued partnership with Dancing Gnome Beer with “Decade” IPA. Decade will first be released at the Dancing Gnome Takeover on Thursday May 30 from 4-10 p.m. The day will feature: emo & pop punk trivia, DJ sets from Old Neon, Mallory Run & Fortune Cove. Fortune Cove will also be doing an acoustic set.

10 years, can Four Chord continue for another 10? “As long as people coming to this thing, we’re going to keep rocking and rolling,” said Valen

Experience the pop punk scene and celebrate ten years of a homegrown music delight this June at the Four Chord Musical Festival.

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