Next year’s pilgrimage to Manchester, TN has been confirmed for 6/10-6/13. Tix go on sale 11/27. (And for what it’s worth, Pavement seem to be free that weekend.) Meanwhile, the future of Morrison, CO’s Monolith Fest is “looking very grim.” Lend a hand (of cash) at Kickstarter.

While we were rocking the Catskills, enjoying what Wayne Coyne said was “the greatest collection of underground music ever assembled,” dozens of other great indie bands (and a few hip-hop luminaries) put on a much larger mountain festival in Morrison, Colorado. In its third year Monolith delivered rain from the get-go, but that only served to boost attendance at the smaller indoor stages for performances by Cymbals Eat Guitars, the Antlers, and HEALTH. Neon Indian was a draw too; it was the Alan Palomo project’s third ever live show, which explains why his band needed lyric sheets. MSTRKRFT cancelled due to illness, so Phoenix took their spot, upgrading to the main Esurance Music Stage, which also hosted headliners Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Mars Volta. Photographer David Hutchinson took it all in and delivered these pics.

Now in its third year, Denver’s Monolith Festival has laid out its plan to lure the mountain west region’s indie minded music fans to Red Rocks for a noteworthy weekend of bloggable bands. Headlining the two-day festival are Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Mars Volta, with undercard notables including Girl Talk, of Montreal, M. Ward, DOOM, The Walkmen, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Frightened Rabbit, the Antlers, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Phoenix, Passion Pit, the Thermals, HEALTH, the Twilight Sad, Method Man & Red Man, Neon Indian, and others. One benefit of its relatively small size: there’s nothing on Friday, which means less days off work or bands to feel guilty about missing. And one benefit of its location: This all takes place at the picturesque and sonically resonant Red Rocks Ampitheatre. Dates are 9/12 and 9/13, single day passes are $52, two day passes run $95, and are on sale now at monolithfestival.com. Here’s the full line-up:

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Coloradans thinking of heading to Austin City Limits this fall are encouraged to stay home and roll out the guest bed. Reader Ricardo writes that, the same weekend as ACL (September 14th and 15th), a bevy of indie rockers descend upon the picturesque Red Rocks ampitheater for an event designed to save Mountain Westerners the inter-regional trip in pursuit of festival fun. From the creators of the South Park Music Festival and the Midweset Music Summit comes the inaugural Monolith Festival, offering “50+ bands” over two nights and four (or five) stages. The Denver Post offers a first glimpse at the partial lineup:

The Flaming Lips
The Decemberists
Spoon
Kings of Leon
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Brian Jonestown Massacre
Cake
Cloud Cult
Ghostland Observatory
Flosstradamus with Kid Sister
Das Efx
Earl Greyhound
Juliette & The Licks
YACHT
Ra Ra Riot
Bob Log III
Lords of the Underground
Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
Autovaughn
Otis Gibbs

The festival site will go live in 45, and we’ll update with the full lineup then. For now, note the overlap with ACL (Spoon, the Decemberists, Clap, GLO), so Spoon groupies sould plan accordingly.

UPDATE: More of the Monlith lineup after the jump.

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