C2SV Music Festival Offers Look Into Future, Past

If you love nothing more than discovering your new favorite band before the rest of the world, then the organizers of the C2SV Technology Festival have something you won’t want to miss. The music festival is spread over four nights, September 26-29 with the lion’s share of the bands appearing on Friday and Saturday, September 27-28.

The festival offers a look at the future of music, as well as what could be the final show ever for one of the most influential pioneers in rock history. Throw in a show by one of Campbell's own and you have three reasons to get a $90 wristband, which gets you into the whole sha-bang.

While many unknown or little known bands are playing small clubs and halls, the Festival’s showcase event is an Iggy And The Stooges show in Saint James Park Saturday Evening. This is the last concert on the Stooges tour, and with time finally taking its toll on rock and roll, this might be the Stooges final show ever. Opening for that nostalgia act is the one-year-old Bosnian Raninbows, the alternative grab bag put together by members of The Mars Volta, KRS-ONE, and At The Drive-in.

But the killer app of this festival is having a chance to scurry through downtown San Jose catching so many great new acts and some old bands as well. You have Oakland rapper Boots Riley's danceable punk band The Coup recalling the soaring funk of Sly And The Family Stone. Campbell’s own The limousines throw in their infectious keyboard pop in to the mix, on the heels of releasing their lush sounding album Hush. 90's train wreck Evan Dando will bring a new version of his psychedelic pop band The Lemonheads, and the list goes on.

All this without having to brave huge crowds in sun blasted fields using porta-potties and eating overpriced hamburgers at any of the trendy massive three-day festivals springing up around America. With C2SV you can catch 10 bands in a day and sleep in your own bed and have a shower before doing it all over again. You also get to see and hear these bands in small venues, with crowds in the hundreds instead of the tens of thousands.

That new bike rental service in the city might come in handy trying to get from Cafe Stritch after getting down to the dark funky dance groove of the Dirty Ghosts, to catch some black metal shoegaze at the San Jose Rock Shop from the very intense Deafheaven, then zipping on over to The Blank Club to catch the frantic punk rock of The Flames, before blasting back to Cafe Stritch to witness the super heavy pre-Nirvana grunge that is the excellent Claw Hammer.

All this mayhem takes place in two hours on Friday night. What about Saturday you ask? Well, Cafe Stritch is a great place to shake off the cobwebs from the night before with three bands including local energetic rock outfit Curious Quail, before heading to the park to take in Bosnian Rainbows, Thee Oh Sees, and the Stooges.

So you will need to do some planning, but the website for the festival has a detailed schedule with set times for all the bands. (http://c2sv.com/) This really could be legendary. While the Stooges and Claw Hammer have decades of music in their portfolio, there are an insane amount of new acts; surely one or two will be your new favorite band.