I Have A Dream Pop Fest at Neptunes Parlour

If the State Fair isn't your scene, Raleigh has a quieter, fuzzier alternative this weekend. The I Have A Dream Pop Fest takes over Neptunes Parlour on Friday, October 16 and Saturday, October 17, for two days of shoegaze and dream pop. It's presented by the Raleigh band The Veldt in collaboration with Raleigh Arts, and it's the kind of weekend that rewards staying put rather than fighting the fair crowds.

Neptunes Parlour sits at 14 W. Martin Street downtown, a ground-floor club tucked beneath Kings, and it's an intimate room with a capacity of 90. A few house rules are worth knowing before you go: the venue is 21+, though live shows are generally 18+ with a $5 surcharge for anyone under 21, who must stay with a parent or guardian. After 10:00 PM every night, it goes strictly 21+. Tickets are $30 in advance and $45 at the door, and buying in cash at the door saves you the service fee. If you're hunting for merchandise, it's set up upstairs at Le Dive, the sister bar directly above.

Friday is the shorter night, with doors at 7:00 PM and music starting at 8:00 PM. The bill runs through Applefield from Durham, Nicole Yun, also known as Sonic Yun, and DJ Polar Bear Ride. Saturday is the marathon, with doors opening at 12:30 PM and shows starting at 1:00 PM. Cigarettes for Breakfast comes in from Philadelphia, Blood Family Reunion and Muhnday from Washington, D.C., and the rest of the bill is pulled from across the Triangle and beyond: Snowblinder and Janius from Raleigh, Day & Dream from Asheville, Harlem Insect Laws from Durham, and Jupiter 2 from Chapel Hill. The Veldt closes the festival as the headliner.

Knowing who's behind the booking adds a bit of history to the room. The Veldt, led by twin brothers Daniel and Danny Chavis, is a 60-year-old shoegaze band that started 40 years ago as a group of Black musicians and released its long-form album Afrodisiac on Mercury Records more than 30 years ago. The term "Dream Pop" itself was coined by the late cultural critic Greg Tate. This festival is one of several curatorial projects the band has put together, alongside the North Carolina Festival of Psychedelia, which launched in 2016, Holiday Love Inn, and Noir Bizarre. The I Have A Dream Pop Fest is also touring New York City and Richmond, Va. this month, so the Raleigh stop is part of a wider run.

It's a small, curated weekend rather than a sprawling festival, which is exactly why it works as the counter-programming to the 158th Annual N.C. State Fair running October 15 to 25. If you'd rather spend your Friday and Saturday in a 90-capacity room with a wall of sound than in a fairground crowd, this is the place to be. Doors at 7:00 PM on Friday, 12:30 PM on Saturday, and a full day of shoegaze in between.