Barbes in the Woods

This Summer, we’re celebrating the iconic Brooklyn bar Barbès in the woods and glens of Montague, MA. It’s going to be the quintessential backyard festival — the sort of thing you’ve always wanted in the middle of your summer — on a pristine tract of historic farmland in Western Massachusetts.

Barbès was once a Park Slope laundromat until two Frenchmen turned it into a bar. That bar had a back room for music. And that back room soon became Brooklyn’s favorite hang for omnivorous, authentic, non-commercial and international performances. Its been called “a cultural phenomenon” by the Christian Science Monitor and “…the vanguard of the new Brooklyn jazz scene” by the New York Times. The tiny venue hosts more than 700 performances a year.

The point is: this is no ordinary bar. And this will not be any ordinary festival.