Night one of MidPoint is under our belts, and while there are two great nights ahead we at ENS wanted to take some time to look back on a great evening. With summer temperatures bleeding into the first nights of autumn, the weather could not have been better. After last year’s rain, the heat was welcomed with open arms by the masses.

The festival got kicked off with Louisville’s The Pass playing Fountain Square at 7pm and they put on a great show for the crowd with a great vibe and energy. The crowd was not huge, but it was early in the night and resolved a conflict for this MPMF’er because there was just too much to choose from during their Midnight slot at Jack Pott’s. I highly recommend checking out the lineup on the Square because it could help you do the same, and with things kicking off at 7pm it is the earliest of true MPMF venues to get going.

The next show during the Thursday lineup was Tristen at MOTR, which was chosen partially because of Main Street’s newest live music venue and partially because the band has drawn comparisons to She & Him. Tristen, who came in from Nashville, took to the stage by herself and played a set of sunny pop music that brought the comparisons to life, but the solo set was slightly disappointing given the full band sound on their most recent release “Deceivers are Achievers”.

Continuing the trek north, Los Angeles’ Best Coast was next on the itinerary at the northernmost venue, the Topic Design Tent at Grammer’s. The crowd came out for the headline show at MPMF’s biggest venue and Grammer’s was well stocked with beer, food, and multi colored Jell-O Shots. This was the same slot Jason Isbell played in 2009, and the crowd was easily three times as big this year. Joe will have a full review of this set post festival.

We next jumped the Metro shuttle for You, You’re Awesome at the Cincinnati Club. While I give bias towards out of town bands at MPMF, with the Justin Townes Earle cancellation it was time to catch one of the hometown favorites. They did not disappoint, and neither did the venue. If you are planning on catching MPMF, you absolutely must make it to the Cincinnati Club for a show, it was an incredible room and with YYA on the stage, there was a great crowd to take it all in. The YYA blend of elctro-pop was as good as ever and the crowd was right along with them for the entire set.

The final destination for the night was Mainstay for A Minor Bird who came in from Canton. With the crowd pouring in for Holy F*ck at Cincinnati Club, it was clear that Mainstay was not the venue of choice for the final slot of the night. (John will have a full review of Holy F*ck post festival) Mainstay was quiet from a crowd perspective, but A Minor Bid played a set of high energy melodic rock. They were very energetic and nice change of pace to end the evening.

Night one of MPMF reminded me why I love the festival so much. There were incredibly interesting venues and incredibly interesting bands in every nook and cranny of downtown Cincinnati. There were local musicians taking in the scene everywhere you looked including Ben and Sebastian of Bad Veins (at YYA), Jason Snell of Chocolate Horse (at Best Coast), and the entire No No Knots having dinner together at Taqueira Mercado (formerly Javier’s, an MPMF venue in 2009). We even stumbled across Canada’s Johnnie Ninety-Nine playing a set on the street at the corner of Seventh and Walnut even though they are not scheduled for MPMF until Saturday night. There were also music lovers and friends everywhere you looked. (I stumbled across the entire ENS team of writers over the course of the evening.) With the weather holding out and two great nights of music ahead, 2010 MPMF is on track for a legendary status both in terms of the bands that take the stage and the turnout of regional music fans. Enjoy the shows!

Images by Keith Klenowski, words by Dave Rolfes.

Clare & The Reasons cover Genesis.

The Pass open things up on Fountain Square.

Male Bonding rock Grammar’s

Lots more coming all weekend long!