Earth Day fests, Chili Cookoff, STS9, Former Champions

Saturday, the festivals start in force with three festivals to choose from including two Earth Day Festivals. The first Earth Day festival is the RVA Earth Day Festival & Celebration put on by Style Weekly. It'll run from noon until 7 PM in the Manchester section of town, just across the 14th St. Bridge. Besides all the Earth Day activities, the band schedule is this:

• 12:00 –1:00 - The Garbers
• 1:30 - 2:30 – Farm Vegas
• 3:00 - 4:00 – No BS! Brass Band
• 4:30 - 5:30 – The Southern Belles
• 6:00 - 7:00 – White Laces

Within walking distance of that fest, is the Richmond Earth Day Festival run by Enrichmond Foundation at the 17th St. Farmer's Market. That will go from 11 AM to 5 PM. They don't have a band schedule up but the web site says performers will include Andy Vaughan and The Driveline, Susan Greenbaum (12:30 PM), Upper East Side Big Band, and Sons of Zebedee.

Both of the Earth Day fests are FREE!

Over at Richmond International Raceway, it's XL102's Chili Cookoff. Tix are $15 in advance, and $30 at the gate. There will be lots of chili and beer. This one has a number of national acts, with the highlights being indie-folk rock group Churchill at 1:10 PM and alt-metal group Flyleaf at 4:20 PM. Here's the full band lineup:

• 7:00pm: Three Days Grace
• 5:40pm: Matt & Kim
• 4:20pm: Flyleaf
• 3:15pm: Twenty One Pilots
• 1:55pm: Eve 6
• 1:10pm: Churchill
• 12:25pm: Breaking Laces
• 11:35am: Against Grace
• 11:00am: If It Takes Forever, Rock Off RVA Winner

Gates open at 10:30 AM and it'll go until 8 PM or whenever Three Days Grace get done. Here's Churchill's video for their song, "Change":

If you are still up for rockin' after all the festing, head to The Camel for jamtronica dance band Former Champions and their party celebrating the release of their new album, "Special FX Machine". You can download the new album for FREE HERE. The band Segway will start the night off around 9 PM and it's $8 to get in. Here's a video promoting their tour back in January, but it'll give you a nice sample of their music:



More jamtronica, this time from national act STS9 at The National on Sunday night. Tix are $25 in advance, $30 at the door. Door open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Eliot Lipp. Here's STS9 doing "Unquestionable Supremacy of Nature" at a show in Oakland in March:



Have a great Earth Day weekend!

Tony Jordan