This is a special time of year for many music enthusiasts around the country. Thousands of people are making their annual pilgrimage to Gainesville, Florida for this year’s Fest. Being one of the last major stops between DC and Atlanta has placed Richmond in the enviable position of being a major tour stop, as bands work their way down I-95 to the year’s biggest underground music event.
The two weeks on either side of The Fest are a busy time in Richmond, with many of our own bands playing kickoff shows as they begin their tours to Gainesville. But on any given night of the week you are likely to find one or two shows around town featuring five to six touring bands playing without local support. This is a golden opportunity for music lovers to see old friends, find new bands, and settle in for the long winter ahead, a time when shows tend to slow down from the summertime frenzy. I’d like to think of the weeks around The Fest as a pleasant aftershock to the thunderous quake that is Best Friends’ Day (or, if you are attending The Fest, a precursor to more destruction). The bands roll in and out and the best you can do is hold on tight and try to take it all in.
Great bands have already come and gone this week: Iron Chic, Sister Kisser, Static Radio, The Arteries, Spraynard, Break the Habit, 1994!, Big Kids, Calvinball, Arms Aloft, and The Transgressions have all played in the last two days. If you missed any of these great shows, tonight is a good chance to start making up for it.
Cheap Girls, Laura Stevenson and the Cans, and others will be playing a matinee show at the Tight House (ask a friend if you need to know where that is. These kids would prefer not to deal with the police). After that, head over to Gallery 5 for Shitty Halloween with Night Birds, No Friends (top image), Dead to Me, Southside Stranglers, and Grown Ass Men.(ed. note - this happened last night)
Tomorrow night is Strike Anywhere, A Wilhelm Scream, The Flatliners, and Mouthbreather at Strange Matter. Obviously, this is not a show you want to miss. Strike Anywhere don’t play venues as small as Strange Matter often, and a chance to see them do so in their hometown is not one to be passed up. Get there early, because there’s no way this show won’t sell out.
On the other side of the Fest is a slurry of house shows for your enjoyment. On November 2nd at the Tight House, you’ll be able to see 90s influenced alt rock from Buffalo’s Failures’ Union with their English friends Bedford Falls. That show also features New York’s Big Eyes, who keep things in the 90s vein, though with more of a dirty pop punk vibe than Failures’ Union or Bedford Falls. Locals The Two Funerals and Little Master round up this very enticing line-up.
Two days later, on November 4th at The Library (once again, ask a friend) you’ll be able to see Grown Ups (check them out if you missed them earlier this week!), Philadelphia emo group Boyfriends, Unfun, and new Richmond band Sports Bar. Lots of great stuff that is a little bit under the normal radar on this show.
The next night (November 5th, for those keeping track) you can head back to the Tight House for a solid lineup of East Coast punk rock, featuring Timeshares from New York, and familiar faces The Measure [sa] from New Jersey. Timeshares have made several stops in Richmond, if you haven’t seen them under this name you may remember a band called the Knockdown – this is the same group with a new name. The Measure have a new record out and their infectious New Brunswick pop-punk is too good to miss. Worn in Red provide local support, and Richmond ex-pats Sexy Crimes will also join the fun. Go see some old friends and make some new ones.
Do you see what I’m getting at? FUN SHIT is happening in this city nearly every night for the next two weeks. Despite my best efforts to include everything, I’m sure there are plenty of other great shows happening in this time that I’m not remembering right now. Get out of your house, get involved, have fun, see some great music, and take care of one another. This is a time for decadent bar tabs, all night sing-a-longs, bad decisions, and all night porch sessions with old friends. This is what music fans live for. This should be fun.