Sylvan Esso is bringing back its hometown festival Good Moon this fall, expanding the event into a multi-venue takeover of downtown Durham, N.C., after a year’s hiatus. Organized alongside the duo’s Psychic Hotline collective and label, the biennial festival returns Oct. 8–10 with performances spread across four venues and anchored by three nights at Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC).
Two evenings will be headlined by Sylvan Esso itself, while Tyler Childers tops the third bill. The festival will also host a free daytime concert Oct. 10 at the Amphitheater at American Tobacco Campus featuring MJ Lenderman and Woke County Speedway, alongside the North Carolina debut of William Tyler’s Time Indefinite music film. Additional performers include Meshell Ndegeocello, aja monet and Silvana Estrada.
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Since launching in 2024, Good Moon has evolved from a one-site gathering at Durham Bulls Athletic Park into a broader community-focused event that reflects Sylvan Esso’s increasingly collaborative orbit. As previously reported, the duo of Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn have spent the last several years expanding Psychic Hotline beyond a traditional label structure, using it as a platform for experimental releases, multimedia projects and artist-driven events.
This year’s edition leans even further into that vibe. Following the DPAC performances, afterparties and late-night sets will spread across venues including the Pinhook, Bay 7 and Boom Club in partnership with NO VISA. The lineup for these includes Rodrigo Amarante, Leenalchi, Tash LC, Tyler and fellow guitarist Yasmin Williams, Jacques Greene, Annie & the Caldwells, Circuit des Yeux, Kumo 99, Derrick Gee’s “Radio Hour,” GRRL x Made of Oak, Weirs, Babe Haven and Hex Files.
“This Good Moon is our biggest and fullest yet, featuring so many of our favorite artists,” Meath and Sanborn say. “It is a joy to bring them to our home in Durham, N.C.” Click here for tickets, which go on sale later this week.
Ahead of the event, Sylvan Esso will stage a sold-out June 15-20 residency at Los Angeles’ Sid the Cat Auditorium, where it will rehearse with a live band, workshop new material, and preview unreleased songs in an intimate setting. Quizzed last year by SPIN on the sound of the fresh material, Meath reported, “we’ve been really delving into late ’90s breakbeat music. Lots of Boards of Canada, Beck’s Odelay and Madonna’s Ray of Light. A huge influence for me is Soul Coughing, who are wizards of sampling. We’re essentially creating those samples for ourselves and sampling ourselves on our own record.”
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