Another summer, another Fort Reno in the books. Our images from this year's finale, including a look at the many, many faces of Ian MacKaye. more ›

With tonight being the Night of 1000 Cakes and all, we thought it might be appropriate to highlight some of our Flickr feed's standout images from this year's Fort Reno festival. We can't help if they're all radiating sunshine and good vibes. more ›

The District got a brief taste of the severe storms which brought Chicago to its knees yesterday, and as clouds rolled in, this editor's first thoughts turned to those who had congregated at Fort Reno. more ›

Fort Reno is nearly upon us, and we relish that time as an opportunity to discover new bands and new sounds. However, Beasts of No Nation, one of the three bands opening the Fort Reno season, comes to us with a very familiar sound. more ›

Icy treats! Picnic blankets! Rock! DCist's frantic refreshing of the 2010 Fort Reno website finally paid off! We now know which of our upcoming summer evenings will be filled with friends and music on as the sun sets over the District's favorite Civil War battlefield. 13 shows are on this year's docket -- one more than last year. Shows begin promptly at 7 p.m. and end promptly at 9:30, and, of course, the standard rules still apply. more ›

Fear not, local music lovers. Fort Reno's 2010 season is more than just a distant dream at this point. The first show of the season has at last been scheduled, for Monday, June 28. The rest of the schedule is still TBA, but a start date is something. Something I can hang my hopes of popsicles and rock 'n' roll and blankets on the grass at dusk on. more ›

The Vinyl District and Fort Reno are joining forces for a benefit show at St. Stephen's Church a week from Saturday. Olivia Mancini, Paul Michel, Tone, and New Rock Church of Fire will play on April 17 for Record Store Day -- a holiday that sees all record worshipers make a pilgrimage to their local houses of vinyl. Tickets for the all-ages, booze-free show go for $10 and all proceeds go toward the Fort Reno summer concert series. more ›

Local bands, prepare your jiffy envelopes! Though this winter seems impenetrable and endless, nothing is quite so warm a reminder that there are sunnier times ahead than the promise of the Fort Reno summer concert series. Amanda MacKaye and her cohorts are now accepting submissions for consideration in the 2010 lineup. If you'd like to participate in one of this city's greatest traditions, get your demo in by March 16 to: more ›

Flickr user Matt.Dunn has a swell portrait series from the park. My favorite part is always seeing the kids wearing band t-shirts that I used to wear when I was a kid (keeps me young). Do check out DCist's photoset, too. more ›

Written by DCist Contributor Matthew Siblo more ›

It's here! It's here! We got a taste of what this summer had in store earlier this week, but now the fine folks behind Fort Reno have divulged the full schedule on their snazzy new website. more ›

Fort Reno really let it get down to the wire before announcing the start of its season this year. The unveiling of the schedule is a time-honored tradition, and everybody knows that the free concert series on Monday and Thursday nights in Fort Reno park marks the official start to a good D.C. summer. So it is with great anticipation that we've kept an eye on fortreno.com these past several weeks, to no avail. As it turns out, the site has had some technical bugs, so organizers Amanda MacKaye & co. have been using their Facebook group to relay the lineups for the first two shows. And lucky for us, we don't have to wait long -- the series kicks off next Monday night, June 22. more ›

If anybody out there tried to pay a visit to the Fort Reno web site this week, you were probably met with a scary error message telling you that your browser deemed it unsafe and that you should click far far away in the other direction as fast as you possibly could. Apparently some cranky hacker just doesn't like free outdoor music in the summertime. Festival organizer Amanda MacKaye tells DCist that the site has since been cleaned of the problematic code and is now safe to visit. She's also continuing to work on lingering issues (the site doesn't seem to want to load right now, for one), which the Fort Reno staff hopes to have remedied as soon as possible. In the meantime, you can also visit Fort Reno on Facebook if the regular site is still proving problematic for you. And when the online donation tool is available, make sure to give what you can! more ›

Did this weekend's taste of summer weather make you start thinking of things like barbecues and picnics? The fine folks behind Fort Reno apparently felt the same way. The call for submissions has officially opened for 2009's Fort Reno Summer Concert Series in Tenleytown. If you're a local band with a yen for playing outdoors, all you need to know is available on the Fort Reno web site. Here's the gist: more ›

It's hard to believe that just a few short months ago we were questioning whether or not this season of Fort Reno would even happen. Drastically cooler temperatures and Halloween candy on the shelves in drug stores tell us that the lazy days of sitting on blankets and catching shows under the stars are drawing to a close. Tonight is the last announced Fort Reno show of the summer (there's still one surprise line up left on Thursday; DC Rock Club says that it'll be Yell Country, The Jet Age and Title Tracks), though we haven't been able to confirm that just yet (we'll let you know when we hear). more ›

Let the joyous news be spread, the wicked old arsenic is finally dead. It's been a trying year for Fort Reno's summer concert series; from the initial panic to the slow realization that there was nothing actually to worry about, it's time to "dust off the arsenic," as Fort Reno's organizer Amanda MacKaye put it. The 2008 schedule has been officially announced, and it's looking like a great summer. more ›

On the heels of a press conference with Mayor Fenty this afternoon, NBC4 is reporting that Fort Reno Park in Northwest D.C. is now open after soil samples found that arsenic levels were "well within safety limits." Previously, satellite imagery analyzed by geographer Dr. Terry Slonecker appeared to show that arsenic levels in the park were very high, causing the National Park Service to close the park. About a week later, soil tests showed the levels were safe, and Ward 3 Council member Mary Cheh and Mayor Fenty vowed to reopen the park. more ›

Things continue to look up for the future of the Fort Reno Summer Concert Series, as well as for general safety concerns in the neighborhood surrounding Fort Reno Park. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released official soil sampling results today which confirmed preliminary results that show arsenic levels in the park are well below what is considered safe. more ›

WTOP has the scoop on the latest from the Fort Reno Park arsenic saga. Officials have said that early testing from 13 soil samples at Fort Reno Park, Wilson High School and Alice Deal Middle School show a reading of 10 parts per million -- far below the up to 1,100 parts per million a U.S. Geological Survey finding that closed the park last week. Safe levels of arsenic are listed as 43 parts per million by the Environmental Protection Agency. more ›

Potentially terrible news for local music fans: The Going Out Gurus are reporting that Fort Reno Park, the site of D.C.'s beloved outdoor summer concert series, has been closed indefinitely after United States Geological Survey satellite imaging reports found high levels of arsenic in the soil there. We've since heard from readers who said they saw the park service today in the process of putting a fence around the entire park to ensure no one enters it. more ›

With yesterday's unseasonably warm weather, thoughts of summer time danced in our heads -- and apparently, in the heads of Amanda MacKaye and the other fine folks behind Fort Reno. The free outdoor concerts hosted at Fort Reno are the best part of D.C. summers. If your band wants to play one of the most quintessential local venues, now's your chance. MacKaye and company are accepting demos for the 2008 season from February 11 through March 17. Fortreno.com has been updated for the upcoming season, and has submission details. We can't wait to see who'll be providing the soundtrack to those humid summer nights this year. more ›

We don't understand why Benjy Ferree is not a big star. The Three Stars alum plays roosty indie gems and has great stage presence — he's a funny and engaging and a strong performer. He's toured with Spoon and The New Pornographers and is signed to Domino Records (Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, etc). And his band is basically a D.C. supergroup, with Laura Harris of The Aquarium, Amy Domingues and Jonah Takagi from Garland of Hours, and Drew Mills from Blood Feather. And the new disc, Leaving the Nest, is great. But he doesn't seem to get much notice. more ›

Last night the sun set on another summer at Fort Reno, which always makes us a little wistful. We never make it out to quite as many shows as we want to at the beginning of the summer, and now it's all gone until next year. It also means that parents' options for taking their kids out to see cool music is once again limited. One of our favorite aspects of Fort Reno is... more ›

>> Sigh. It's the last night of Fort Reno, which means summer is officially ending soon. Hopefully it'll dry out in time to make this a great final concert -- scheduled to play are drag-rocker Edie Sedgwick, Sentai, and the adorable Eyeball Skeleton, a Maryland band featuring brothers age 8 and 10 (plus their dad) who are known to sing the lyric "eyeball skeleton" over and over again in what sound almost like fake... more ›

>> It's the last night of Screen on the Green, which would guarantee the National Mall will be packed with folks who have been meaning to catch one all summer on its own -- but tonight's selection is also Casablanca, perhaps the most beloved film of all time, so get there early, kids. Films start around 8 p.m. >> Fort Reno should be similarly packed as they count down their final couple of dates,... more ›

MONDAY >> Fiending for some good ol' bluegrass and Americana? San Francisco's The Pine Box Boys will be delivering just that at the Red and the Black tonight. With two drinks tonight, you'll also be served free beans and rice. We suggest some whiskey to wash it all down. Or, The Whale and Revival open. 9:30 p.m., $8. >>Enjoy the slightly cooler weather by taking in Georgie James, Perfect Souvenir and Brandon Butler at Fort... more ›

Like a beach-side romance, several local bands are coming to an end this summer. The Sentiment (pictured), who we profiled in a Three Stars piece last summer, said farewell last night at Fort Reno. Let's French (***) are "being exiled" and are playing their last show on August 17 at the Black Cat. The Hard Tomorrows, who graced the stage of our second Unbuckled show, just called it quits last month. Say it ain't so!... more ›