Now in its seventh year, the annual Starlabfest Music & Arts Festival continues to deliver one of the best DIY festivals in the Boston area. A combination of music, comedy, commerce, and some old-fashioned grillin' and chillin', it is, at its core, a celebration of Somerville's Starlab Studios, a full-service multimedia production facility located on Somerville Ave just outside Union Square.
This year, Starlabfest takes over Labor Day weekend with perhaps its best lineup yet, a September 3 gathering at 10 Poplar St. in Somerville, a space that organizers say is the future home of the Somerville Arts Councilʼs ARTfarm project. The all-day party is headlined by New Jersey guitar-rock band Screaming Females and Montreal's one-man-gang Bloodshot BILL, but the local undercard is just as stellar, with appearances by dream-pop trio Mini Dresses, hardcore punk pummelers Ascend/Descend, indie rock dudes Animal Flag (maybe the best live band in Boston right now?), Providence party rock crew GYMSHORTS, and others. UPDATE 8:46 p.m.: Brooklyn punk band the So So Glos have been added to the bill.
In addition to the bands, there's also comedy from Nick Chambers, Emily Ruskowski, Sam Ike, and others, a pop-up video arcade from Salem's Bit Bar, and a clothing and vinyl records flea market curated by High Energy Vintage. Scott Brothers New American Meat Company will be on the grill serving meats and veggie options.
This all sounds a bit like a commercial, but fuck it -- Starlabfest is consistently awesome, so we're just getting all the details mentioned. Score advance tickets here, and preview most of the participating bands below.
