I Have A Dream Pop Fest

The Veldt are hosting the I Have A Dream Pop Fest at Neptunes Parlour on Friday, October 16 and Saturday, October 17. The festival is organized by the Chavis brothers, Daniel and Danny, the twin brothers who front The Veldt. They're a Raleigh band that emerged 40 years ago as Black musicians playing shoegaze, a style more closely associated with English bands than the American Southeast. A descendant of 1960s psychedelic rock, shoegaze gets its name from the way bands tend to gaze at their shoes while playing, with high-volume distortion as its basic sound and My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins among its key names. The now 60-year-old Chavis brothers released their full-length debut LP Afrodisiac on Mercury Records more than 30 years ago and have since taken on curatorial roles, staging the North Carolina Festival of Psychedelia in 2016 and the black-centered, boho and inclusive multi-media festival Noir Bizarre. The Veldt say this festival is as much about building community as starting a festival. Dream pop's name was coined by the late cultural critic Greg Tate, whose band Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber played a Noir Bizarre event shortly before his death in 2021.

Friday, October 16 features applefield from Durham, Nicole Yun from Virginia, and DJ Polar Bear Ride. Saturday, October 17 is the larger day, with The Veldt headlining alongside Cigarettes for Breakfast from Philadelphia, Blood Family Reunion from Washington, D.C., Snowblinder from Raleigh, Day & Dream from Asheville, Muhnday from Washington, D.C., Harlem Insect Laws from Durham, Jupiter 2 from Chapel Hill, and Janius from Raleigh.

Neptunes Parlour is at 14 W. Martin St., the basement club downstairs from Kings on Martin Street. Friday doors open at 7 PM with the show starting at 8 PM; Saturday doors open at 12:30 PM. Tickets are $30 in advance and $45 on the day of the show.