Berfest is originally a Boston music festival for friends by friends. It all started in 2005 when two rock & roll babes wanted to have a kick ass birthday party. They took over the basement of their friends’ apartment (The Pratt Ratts) and asked friends from all over the country to bring their guitars and shred the night away. Friends were united, memories (or lack there of) were created, and beers were annihilated.

Berfest 05' was such a success that by the time White Mountain had played Dusty's it was already decided to make it an annual celebration.

By 2006 the festival creators (those two rockin' babes) moved into the original Berfest venue (Pratt Street). This meant they were able to party in their own home and make more of a mess. Some of the original bands returned to wish Ber a badass birthday while new bands joined the scene to help continue the peace, love, and chaos that is BERfest.

2007 was a difficult year for the annual party, as a proper basement was in short supply due to the evacuation of the legendary Pratt Street house. But hey, the rock must go on, and so it did. That is until the Gestapo decided to break up the fun with their angry faces and jealous hearts. Using the excuse of a "noise complaint" the show was stopped short and the festival rockers were left to finish their Pabst to pre-recorded tunes, turning their creative festival land into a low key gathering of frustrated artists.

2008 was a glittery disaster but largest success yet at the Middle East.

2009 the babes rented out the Heirloom Arts Theatre, moving the fest further south to CT, where the stampede of faithful followers came and rocked on.

Berfest 2010 moved back close to it's hometown in Somerville, MA at the infamous StarLab Studio, where, to everyone's surprise, there was no heat. But to no avail, everyone raged and rocked on harder than ever until the riffs warmed the air and no one could feel their toes anymore. And had wine in their boots.

Berfest 2011 was the first year the festival expanded to 2 nights – both Boston (O’Brien’s) and New York (Trash Bar); brought together by the good old faithful Fung-Wah. Both nights were a huge success including 12 bands and hundreds of fans from across the US. http://digboston.com/tag/berfest/