by Erick Pressman

Ah yes, its the end of February. The weather is awful, the Giants are in Arizona, which means its time for the annual Noise Pop Festival! Now in its nineteenth year, Noise Pop has grown from a couple of shows around San Francisco to a week long, Bay Bridge spanning extravaganza not only featuring live music, but photography installations, poster art shows, and music documentary screenings.

Past Noise Pop artists have included national acts on their rise to infamy such as Death Cab For Cutie, the White Stripes, Rilo Kiley, Wolfmother, The Shins, The Flaming Lips, and Bright Eyes, and has been a champion of highlighting local Bay Area bands such as Wallpaper, The Morning Benders, Saviours, Greg Ashley, and Rogue Wave.

This year’s line up is shaping up to be killer, and we’re here to help you navigate through a schedule crammed full of a multi-media blitz of live bands, art, and movies to help carry you through this final stretch of Bay Area winter and into spring.

Before we get started, in order to catch any Noise Pop fest, you will need a festival badge. While tickets are available for all shows, and some of their events are free, the general public tickets can and often do sell out. There are also fewer tickets available at venues in order to accommodate pass holders. Considering all the options that come with a pass, they are well worth the money, and well, no one wants to miss out on something sold out when they don’t have to, right? If you are looking for how to get festival passes, head over to 2011.noisepop.com and get you and yours fitted for this week of fun. Now onto where you will find us all week: