Zootown Music Festival proves to be a easygoing sonic addition to the region in its first year | Music News | Spokane | The Pacific Northwest Inlander

Putting on music festivals isn’t easy. There are so many factors in play and one weak link in the chain can often make the whole thing feel like a mess. Even when the music is good, some of the biggest, most successful festivals around can end up feeling a bit like shit shows at times (coughcoughWhenWeWereYoungcoughcough).

So it says something that even though the weather tired its best to derail things, the inaugural two-day Zootown Music Festival in Missoula over the Fourth of July weekend — headlined by acts like Hozier, Kacey Musgraves, Modest Mouse, and Jason Isbell — seemed so seamless. While most festivals in their first year very much feel like learning experiences with a bunch of clear kinks that need to be worked out, Zootown managed to pretty instantly settle into an easygoing groove where most everything ran smoothly.

Considering the Inland Northwest isn’t exactly a music festival hotspot, Zootown proved to be a very welcome edition the the sonic summer landscape, one well worth the drive for Spokane music fans in the years to come.

Admittedly, things got off to a wet start on Independence Day. The opening hours of the festival took place during a pretty torrential downpour. But the festival being located in town at the Missoula Fairgrounds apparently made it easy for festivalgoers to come prepared. The vast majority of the crowd seemed to have ponchos or raincoats, and there were actually plenty of spots to take shelter for those who didn’t, including the huge covered beer garden and the rodeo grandstands by the secondary Lookout stage. Because of this, what could’ve been a disastrous beginning felt more like a dampened one. While clearly folks weren’t stoked, the atmosphere was pretty chill considering it was kind of a bummer.

The festival’s setup was streamlined in ideal ways. With just two stages — the main Trailhead stage in front of a vast grassy field and the aforementioned Lookout stage — were only a couple minutes walk away from one another but featured very little audio bleed. This allowed set times to overlap a bit so there was always music playing (apart from a briefer and much-less-wet rain delay for around 20 minutes on Sunday). There were also ample food, drink, and portable toilet options which meant patrons weren’t missing huge chunks of live music to stand in line. In addition to merch, there was also an indoor vendors market where makers peddled mostly Western-themed attire.

In terms of its sonic identity, Zootown is leaning into the sort of laid-back modern folk/country/Americana rock realm that fits with a college town like Missoula. The vibes are bound to be pretty chill when by far the hardest rocking band on the booking is Modest Mouse. But the combination of Big Sky State open air and the not-too-aggressive acts created a positively and friendly environment that few festivals I’ve ever attended can match.

It also helps that while apparently ticket sales were very strong (Montana Public Radio cites attendance at around 30,000 and the VIP and general admission+ tix sold out), the Fairground space is big enough to easily accommodate it. Oftentimes one of the least appealing aspects of music festivals is how they can feels oversold with people crammed in like sardines, making moving around or getting a good view of stages tough sledding. Zootown thankfully sidestepped this pitfall and hopefully will resist the urge to sell more tickets in favor of maintaining the non-stressful feel of things.

As for the music itself, Zootown was solid throughout the proceedings. Despite the lineup not exactly being in my personal wheelhouse, the artists booked had a high floor of quality.

On the folky side of things, refugee and former Montana resident Mon Rovîa warmed the souls of wet onlookers with his unique Afro-Application folk sound on Saturday, providing the best set of the weekend at the Lookout stage. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit ripped through a main stage set of the acclaimed singer-songwriter’s more rocking Americana sound later that evening. And after the weather delay on Sunday, Madi Diaz played a stripped-down set of gorgeous songs as the sun began to peek through the clouds on Sunday, including a very fun cover of Cher’s “Believe.”

Modest Mouse more than hold their own in a fest lineup comprised mostly of artists decades younger than the Northwest indie rock stalwarts. With only an hour-long set, the group kept things moving at a brisk pace, leaning heavily on songs from the cult classic album The Moon & Antarctica and the wildly underrated We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.

While in the past the quality of Modest Mouse shows often hinged on how grumpy frontman Isaac Brock seemed on a given day (saying that as someone who’s seen the band live around a dozen times), but he seems to have mellowed his gruff edge a tad with age, leading to more consistently great performances. His bark and bite remain sharp, but he no longer seems to have as many miserable nights on stage. Heck, the band even played it’s biggest hit — “Float On” — at Zootown, which was a tune that miffed Brock to the point of setlist removal for years.

Pop country queen Kacey Musgraves closed out the inaugural Zootown with a stellar Sunday night main stage set that centered around songs from her 2018 Grammy Album of the Year-winning marvel Golden Hour and her most recent album, 2024’s Deeper Well. Musgraves was in good spirts during her first ever set in Montana despite nursing a broken rib — which she jokingly complained about frequently — mixing playful banter with soaring melodies to end the fest on a high note.

The underlying question whenever I’m covering an event like Zootown — one that’s outside of our typical coverage zone — is this: Is it worth it for Spokanites to make the trip for this cultural regional offering?

Despite being in its infancy, Zootown’s first offering cleared that bar. There might be a handful of minor tweaks that could be made (having the Lookout stage cheat out to face the grandstands a bit more, perhaps bringing in the overly roomy main stage VIP area to give more GA viewing spots, etc.), but pretty much everything of that sort qualifies as a nitpick more than an issue.

Here’s hoping Zootown can stick around to help further bolster our extended region’s rich musical tapestry.