Boomjam music festival back for second year, this time on Spokane Convention Center promenade

As Boomjam returns to bring live music to downtown Spokane, event director Tucker Miller knows he must roll with the punches.

Last September, the music festival held its inaugural event at what was essentially an abandoned warehouse and parking lot near the Gonzaga University campus. A week of removing waist-high weeds and two stages later, Boomjam brought an array of local and national performers before a solid turnout.

The decision to move Boomjam downtown, on the promenade right behind the Spokane Convention Center and the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, comes from a relatively simple line of reasoning – the old location wasn’t available.

“Our timeline would’ve looked a lot, lot, lot different,” Miller said. “Everything really does just hinge upon when you have a venue.”

Although the need for a location change, alongside other potential venues falling through, may have set Miller and Boomjam back longer than anticipated, he now sees it as a blessing in disguise.

For one, Miller has thoroughly enjoyed working with the Spokane Public Facilities District (who run the site) and now sees them as an extension of the Boomjam team more than anything else. Second, bringing a music festival to downtown Spokane, right alongside the river, has been Miller’s long-term goal since the beginning.

Eventually, Miller hopes Boomjam can become the type of event that could take over Riverfront Park and bring major headliners to the city. He’ll be the first to tell you just how much time, patience and capital will be needed to accomplish such a goal, but to be downtown by Year 2 isn’t a bad start.

“If you scale too quickly, the business model is sure to collapse,” Miller said. “The Spokane market is tricky from a music perspective, and if you try to go too big too quickly, historically it does not go very well.”

This year’s lineup, much like the last, supplies an array of local artists as well as plenty from out of town. For example, hip-hop and R&B artist BLK Odyssy will be fresh off a new single, “Waves,” and recently performed at Lollapalooza Paris as well as Lollapalooza Chicago.

“They graciously agreed to come hang out in Spokane to play for us,” Miller said. “That’s going to be world class. They’re literally touring worldwide.”

Oxis, a solo multi-instrumentalist who uses loop pedals to perform, has amassed an online following with millions of views. Oxis is also opening on tour with Magdalena Bay, which means she will be performing with them in San Francisco on Thursday, flying up to Spokane to perform at Boomjam on Saturday and returning to California to play in San Diego on Monday.

Miller is especially excited about St. Augustine (Jackie Giroux), who has only released one song that happens to be with BLK Odyssy, “Gemini.” Miller describes her as “mysterious” with an absolutely powerhouse voice, one that he’s willing to bet will have the masses talking sooner rather than later.

“I can’t say too much about what all exists there, but what I can say is that she is one of the most incredible vocalists that I have ever had the pleasure of listening to and that this one’s a treat,” Miller said. “This one is going to be something where folks are going to watch this in Spokane pretty much first, like they’re getting a sneak peek at something that is going to be exploding in the next few years.”

Local acts will include Timeworm, Pancho, Dairybaby and Vika, who is returning for a second year at Boomjam as she comes off tour and a recently released album, “Like A Spade.”

“Vika is a person who is prolific in the Spokane community,” Miller said. “This full, new project is kind of a reimagining of her sound, a reimagining of where she wants to go, and it is awesome.”

This year’s vendors will include diverse cuisine from the nonprofit Feast World Kitchen, flash tattoos and permanent jewelry by Mom’s Tattoo and Body Piercing, a mobile record store bus and more.

Boomjam may not be sprawling across Riverfront Park just yet, but with time and due diligence, Miller confident the festival is not only here to stay, but here to make a citywide impact as well.

“We just have to have a low and slow growth model so that we can add team members, so that we can continue to scale progressively, and continue to give something impactful to the Spokane community,” Miller said.