Between Sept. 26 and 27, 42 bands played across five stages in the relatively secluded West Potomac Park along the banks of the Potomac River. Ten percent of the event’s proceeds benefited the Trust for the National Mall, the nonprofit set up to preserve and restore the federal land called America’s front lawn. With more than $750 million in backlogged repair work needed — and 39 years since the park’s last major renovation — the National Mall could use the help.

But the festival didn’t escape criticism in the lead-up to last weekend: a Washington Post article raised questions about whether public land should be given over to a private commercial event, particularly one with VIP tickets in the thousands of dollars. Not that the controversy appeared to dampen the spirits of 20-somethings who forked over their wages to see headliner Drake and the fireworks he brought with him Saturday night. (The Canadian emcee was one act Bandwidth didn’t get a chance to photograph; he only approved a handful of media outlets. See images at the Post or Fuse.)

Those with plebeian-level tickets (from $105 to $175) experienced a smoothly running festival — notable for any major concert’s inaugural year — with bands running largely on schedule both days. Attendees wandered freely between the stages to catch their favorite acts, with conflicts seemingly kept to a minimum, with only two or three bands playing at any given time.

But the vending operation was another matter. If Landmark returns for another year, it will need to get its food and beverage service in line. Food stands from local restaurants offered tasty variety, and there was plenty of beer to go around — but lines became unbearable Saturday as the day went on. Other reviews mention difficult parking, scarce toilet paper and sound bleed between stages.

Below, what Bandwidth spotted at Landmark Music Festival — in alphabetical order, and without the long lines.

All photos by Matt Condon

Ace Cosgrove

Albert Hammond Jr.

alt-J

Avers

Ben Howard

Chromeo

Chvrches

Empresarios

Ex Hex

Hiss Golden Messenger

Manchester Orchestra

Miguel

Rhiannon Giddens

The Joy Formidable

The London Souls

The Strokes

The War On Drugs

Twin Shadow

U.S. Royalty

Vandaveer

Wale

Listen to Hiss Golden Messenger’s 2009 debut, Country Hai East Cotton, and you’ll find it sounds a lot like The Court and Spark. Actually, so do all the band’s records, with their deeply Southern soul and meditative simmer. But Hiss Golden Messenger has gotten more attention than Taylor and Hirsch’s old outfit, and I can only guess why. Is it because the singles sound meatier? Hooks stickier? Or is it the forces at work in the background — like Merge Records, the weighty indie that released the band’s phenomenal fifth LP, Lateness of Dancers, last year?

Whatever its cause, the notice seems earned for a gifted band that works hard to do what it loves: As I write this, Hiss Golden Messenger is in Berlin, en route to Scandinavia, then back to the States to play a string of dates through the South and Midwest. And three weeks ago the group was here in D.C., on the edge of a snowstorm, hauling a mountain of gear into WAMU’s studio before it blew our hair back with two tremendous live performances.

For the quintet’s Bandwidth session, it played a jaunty take on “Blue Country Mystic” — one of Taylor’s best songs about fatherhood, originally released on Poor Moon — and “He Wrote the Book,” which officially arrived this year on the Southern Grammar EP. The band played both songs with more force than may be obvious in our videos — I’m told the drums bled through three studio doors and worked their way into a DJ’s live show (sorry!) — but the skill and heart that went into both songs is impossible to overlook.

Watch Hiss Golden Messenger play “He Wrote the Book,” above, and “Blue Country Mystic,” below. Bandwidth recorded both live at WAMU on a snowy January afternoon, hours before the band took the stage for a second night at 9:30 Club.

Subscribe to Bandwidth’s channel on YouTube, and don’t miss our awesome playlist of every Bandwidth session to date.

Photos by Rhiannon Newman for WAMU’s Bandwidth

Last night Taylor returned to DC9 with a full band, a lineup that included Mountain Man member Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, who also opened the show. Here’s what Bandwidth saw through its lens.

Alexandra Saser-Monnig:

Hiss Golden Messenger: