Winter’s Setting Sun: SunCan Music Festival

The ochre sun was setting behind the Vegas Valley mountains while the line outside Ferguson’s Downtown stretched down Fremont. As temperatures have steadily risen with the late arrival of spring, people have become eager for scene events.

On April 15th, Black Sheep Booking and Arrlo organized the SunCan music festival. In addition to entertaining the Las Vegas community with an incredible lineup featuring local talent and over twenty small businesses, the all-ages festival was in part a benefit event accepting canned food donations (Sun“CAN”) to help those in need and bringing awareness to social issues.

From the music acts, to the vendors, to the location, each piece of the festival evoked the aura of the rapidly growing art scene. SunCan drew in a diverse crowd, once your wristbands were snapped on there was one thing that every attendee had in common: smiles all around. A beverage stand was available for guests to purchase drinks along with Bar and Peyote opening their doors to the 21+ crowd. Families, artists, and everyone in-between had more than just the music to look forward to.

The vendors of the night were sundry, from artists, crocheters, and of course, Astr0mag. A duo of tattoo artists sitting next to the stage gave insight on their work: Sei (@clownchowda) described their style as “neo-tattoo, black and gray wash, with Japanese influence,” while Audrey (@soggylimb) decoded their unique approach as “medium-lined. I tend to do a lot of darker-themed or cartoon-themed [tattoos]. There is no in-between.” Evelyn (@venusinflux) exhibited stunning graphic design work and G!ANNA (@giaaaaaanna) showcased sublime ballpoint pen art.

Rock band, White Noise, kicked off the festival with a bang! Their contagious energy riled up the audience as they stepped off the stage and played among the crowd. Savino hosted the event and delighted attendees with jokes and banter in-between sets as DJ Psychedelic played hit songs that created an irresistible charm to dance and sing along to. Mosh pits broke out during performances and crowd-surfing was a must. Pure Sport played an invigorating set in which a festival-goer was injured. Lead singer, Jared Scott, asked the crowd to disperse and put the show on hold until medics arrived at the scene to safely attend to the guest. The band dedicated their last song to the injured party exclaiming, “Shout out to Daisy for going too hard!” Project Cody concluded the night by delivering bold rap verses, an intimate interaction with the audience, and a dynamic stage presence.

The crowd itself was a character of SunCan. With some punk-adjacent fashion, mid-aughts-inspired styles, and even wildly colorful dekora-reminscent looks, the audience was a mix of fashion subcultures. Again, proving that the rise in events such as SunCan is successful in bringing together the motley that is the Las Vegas music scene.

Sam, Post NC’s guitarist, was impressed by the attraction to SunCan, especially by the impressive turnout for a premiering event. “SunCan is amazing. It’s a lot more than I expected. A lot more people, which is fantastic. We need to stay together, especially in Vegas with how small it is. This [SunCan] is just proof that it can work.”

Article By Vlada Stark and Karla Mendoza

Photos By: Astro