MACROCK

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title: "MACROCK" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["recurring-events-established-in-1997", "james-madison-university", "music-conferences", "1997-establishments-in-virginia", "conferences-in-the-united-states"] topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MACROCK" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox organization"]

Field	Value
image	Antonia Begonia accordion MACRoCk 2009 Little Grill Collective Harrisonburg VA April 2009.jpg
alt
caption	Antonia Begonia on accordion at Little Grill Collective in Harrisonburg VA
MACRoCk 2009
map
formation
extinction
type	Not-for-profit
status
purpose	give underground, indie, punk, and metal exposure and publicity
headquarters	Harrisonburg, Virginia, U.S.
coords
language	English
leader_title	head coordinator
leader_name	Chelsea Goodspeed
main_organ	committee
parent_organization	originally organized by 88.7FM WXJM
affiliations	formerly James Madison University
name	MACROCK
size
msize
malt
mcaption
abbreviation	MACROCK
region_served	Virginia
num_volunteers	10
website	macrockva.org
::

| image = Antonia Begonia accordion MACRoCk 2009 Little Grill Collective Harrisonburg VA April 2009.jpg | alt = | caption = Antonia Begonia on accordion at Little Grill Collective in Harrisonburg VA MACRoCk 2009 | map = | motto = | formation = | founders = | extinction = | type = Not-for-profit | status = | purpose = give underground, indie, punk, and metal exposure and publicity | headquarters = Harrisonburg, Virginia, U.S. | coords = | language = English | leader_title = head coordinator | leader_name = Chelsea Goodspeed | main_organ = committee | parent_organization = originally organized by 88.7FM WXJM | affiliations = formerly James Madison University | budget = | remarks = | name = MACROCK | image_border = | size = | msize = | malt = | mcaption = | abbreviation = MACROCK | region_served = Virginia | membership = | num_staff = | num_volunteers = 10 | website = macrockva.org MACROCK, formerly known as The Mid-Atlantic College Radio Conference (or MACRoCk), is an annual music conference held in the downtown area of Harrisonburg, Virginia the first weekend of April annually since 1997. It features local, regional, national, and occasionally international musical acts as well as a music label exposition and panels addressing issues of the media, music, DIY projects, and the independent music scene.

Purpose

MACROCK gives underground, indie, punk, and metal bands a chance to gain exposure and publicity by showcasing them during two days of performances around the city of Harrisonburg, Virginia. The event gives bands a much wider audience than would occur during a normal show.

Formation

The festival was organized by 88.7FM WXJM, the James Madison University student-run radio station in 1997, taking up the reins from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia where the concept originated in 1993. It became independent from the university in 2006, dropping the original acronym. “The relationship between the university and the festival became adversarial and the event lost compatibility with the campus,” recalled Andy Perrine, the event's faculty advisor during its peak in the early 2000s. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Mid-Atlantic_College_Radio_Conference_Poster_2006.jpg" caption="Festival Poster from MACRoCK 2006" alt="Poster for MACRoCK 2006 Harrisonburg, VA"] ::

Festival organizers "skipped" 2007 festival as they reorganized, hosting an event again in 2008. Cutting its ties with JMU and incorporating as a not-for-profit, the festival moved from the university campus to downtown Harrisonburg. Now, an annually changing committee of around 10 volunteers organizes MACROCK, with the festival day help of many volunteers, most of which are still found at WXJM.

With a lineup of 75 bands in 2019, the festival draws between 700 and 800 attendees annually. Acts perform in locally-popular venues such as Little Grill Collective and Artful Dodger.

MACROCK XXI was held April 6 and 7, 2018. The 2020 festival, with a full lineup of musical acts, was cancelled due to COVID-19.

Acts

The organizing committee selects musical acts annual on a “blind listening” basis where members listen to audio submissions and give each a score prior to viewing festival appearance applications. The committee also reaches out to certain bands that interest them.

Notable bands to perform at MACROCK have included Animal Collective, Archers of Loaf, Dismemberment Plan, Sufjan Stevens, Mates of State, Converge, Give up the ghost, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Of Montreal, Norma Jean, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Poison the Well, Bane, Superchunk, Elliott Smith (1997), An Albatross, Coheed and Cambria, Fugazi (2002), Best Coast, The War on Drugs (band), Screaming Females, S. Carey, The Bouncing Souls, Diarrhea Planet, Priests (band), Shana Falana, Drook, Mal Devisa, New England Patriots, Ono, Dogs on Acid, Crown Larks, Abdu Ali, Horrendous, Container, Buck Gooter, Dodomeki, Plattenbau, and Waxahatchee.

References

References

1. (2018-04-06). "The history of MACROCK".
2. Necci, Marilyn Drew. (2014-03-13). "MACRoCk Is Still Awesome, And It's Happening In Harrisonburg In Three Weeks".
3. Knupp, Jeremiah. (2013-04-02). "MACRoCk Festival: The re-birth of Harrisonburg's best music festival".
4. "MACROCK".
5. "Bands".
6. Mertens, Shelby. (2019-03-30). "MACROCK Enters 22nd Year".
7. Lambert, Jeff. (2006-04-10). "MACrock 'n' roll". [[American University]].
8. Bredimus, Kate. (2002-04-09). "The MACRoCk Diaries". [[Richmond.com]].
9. "MACRocK 2010 - Urban Outfitters - Blog".
10. Breihan, Tom. "Festivals in Brief: Super Mon Amour Festival, MACRoCk, Middle of the Map Fest, Dazed Live".
11. "WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2 Raleigh blog".

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