Image courtesy of Summer and Music.
The Downtown Long Beach Associates (DLBA)’s loved and lauded Buskerfest will wrap-up what has been another Summer and Music (SAM) festival for the books. Head on over to the East Village in downtown Long Beach on Saturday, September 3 from 5:00PM to 11:00PM to hear your favorite local and regional bands play at 1st and Linden.
Set to headline the event is Grammy-winning folk artist Joseph Arthur, the Kingston Ska Collective, Long Beach’s Greater California, Janie and Rafferty, whose song Apple Pie was featured in Apple’s iPhone 6S campaign in 2015.
“The layout for Buskerfest has always been important because we want attendees to be able to see as much as possible—while at the same time we want to pack as many bands as possible into a relatively short program.” said SAM co-founder Rand Foster in a statement. “A larger footprint allows us to increase our band count while minimizing the bleed when bands overlap, which should provide a more better experience for both the bands and the attendees.”
Buskerfest will now sport an even better set up, where four stages will give attendees a chance to hear as many of their favorite artists as possible, according to the DLBA.
Past performers include Rival Sons, Cold War Kids, Delta Spirit, Everest, Beachwood Sparks, Avi Buffalo, Tijuana Panthers, Chicano Batman, Sam Outlaw and others, according to the DLBA’s release.
The bands gearing up to gain attendees’ wooden nickels, where the winner with the most will receive a package designed to further their musical careers, are as follows:
Queen Califia, composed of the dynamic duo Kelsey Landazuri and Loryn Ruiz-Mendoza, who just recently released their 10 Feet Tall EP in June, which you can listen to here.
King Kang‘s most recent local show took place at The Prospector last weekend. You can listen to their live performance at Harvelle’s last year on Bandcamp, here.
Bearwulf and their soulful rock and roll may just put viewers in a nickel-giving trance this year. Have a listen to their soulful sound here.
Leather Tramp, the upbeat indie and folk rock outfit of over 10 members playing a multitude of instruments will have a large presence on the stage this year. You can listen to their music here.
Betty Rose’s one-woman show is a sultry, skillful operation in singing her attendees into a bluesy stupor. Check out the award-winning guitar player’s music here.
Dave Williams & MBT (MajicBulletTheory) will bring their funky jazz and hip hop to Buskerfest. Listen to their first studio album, Paradigm Shift, work here.
Dancing Tongues’ Los Angeles-based trio creates a post punk sound you can dance to. Check out their EP, Conception, here.
Rick Shelley is a singer/songwriter who became a solo artist two years ago after playing with two different bands, RagTag and Woodshed, and raising a family for 10 years. He’s now working on 1909 Miles, which you can listen to here.
Minimall, a five-person band founded last year, brings “memetic harmonics [to] the whole wide world” and will bring their self-described kitsch pop to downtown. You can hear them harmonize here.
For more information about Buskerfest, visit the event page here.
This report was updated at 11:43AM on 08/26/16.