From Fuzzstival to Boston En Masse, the Middle East in Cambridge has been a home base over the past few years for DIY music festivals with a strong local and Northeast focus. The tradition continues later this month with the second-annual Coach Fest, the brainchild of the Central Square venue’s latest booking agent, Alex Pickert, of Coach & Sons Olde Time Family Booking.
UPDATE: November 18 — Check out the full run of set times below.
This year, Pickert has assembled 18 bands and artists to perform throughout the day and night come Saturday, November 19. The all-ages fest in the Middle East’s Downstairs room features a handful of locals, including Bat House, Save Ends (pictured up top), Lilith, and Dæphne, as well as several bands beyond our borders, like New York’s Prince Daddy & The Hyena, England’s Holy Pinto, and California’s Just Friends.
The first 12 bands were announced last month, and Vanyaland is proud to reveal the remaining six bands via the slider below, which serves as a preview for all the performing artists.
Pickert tells us that the overall goal of Coach Fest is to “showcase bands that Coach & Sons has been working with for the past few years that deserve to play on stage the likes of the Middle East Downstairs… Coach Fest is all ages, which is something that most other fests in Boston can’t say, which is extremely important for me.”
And the bands were selected by Pickert, with a lineup pulled together based around his experiences with certain bands and his determination to match certain bands up with each other, providing a coherent festival that showcases a variety of sounds and styles but that also has a commonality.
“Honestly, I just picked the bands that I want to see on my ideal festival: bands I’ve worked with in the past that I’ve always wanted to play back to back,” he adds. “This is my first real attempt at a fest, and I’m extremely stoked to say that all the bands are hard working, DIY bands who I back 100%.”
Get advance tickets here, and get more info via the flyer below.
