A free concert Sunday evening will showcase Bloomington musicians in their debut performance. The “Band in a Hat” concert features performers who were grouped into bands two months ago. They wrote and rehearsed two to four songs to perform at the event.
The performances showcase the adventurous spirit of the band members, organizer Em Beck says.
“You’re really putting yourself out there when you sign up for this,” they said. “You don’t know who you’re going to get put with. You don’t know if you’re going to get along or not. You just really don’t know what’s going to happen. And it’s really brave, I think, to take that chance.”
This is the first year the event has been funded with a grant from the Bloomington Arts Commission. Other sponsors include Girls Rock Bloomington, which is lending gear for the bands, and WFHB Community Radio.
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About 50 people signed up this year, with ages ranging from 19 to 55. Beck said there was a good variety of instrumentation. Each band was able to have a drummer this year. There was also a good selection of guitar, bass, keyboard, and vocals. A few ukulele players also signed up this year.
Once grouped together, each band gets to pick out their own style and genre.
While this is the event’s third-consecutive year, Band in a Hat is not a new concept. Its origins trace back to the city’s punk music scene, where new bands perform one-night-only sets at word-of-mouth house shows.
“It’s fleeting, and it’s cool to think about it as a public art project,” they said.
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Last year, the concert was held at the Banneker Center and about 75 people attended, Beck estimated. While they hope for a similar turnout this year, they said the event is more about fostering connections and community.
“Ideally, people would stay together,” they said, “or they would maybe, like, splinter off with people that they vibed really well with and create a new band or something.” Beck said one band that performed last year, Band-Ties, went on to play at a fundraising event called “Buffy Prom” that Beck held in February.
Debuting bands this weekend: The Lizard Kings, Kid Kranium, Cloud City Reception Committee, Golden Solstice, Universal Public Friend, Magical Space Wizards From Outer Space, Passenger Cadet, Doll Shards and an unnamed ninth band.
The concert is free and open to all ages. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets. Performances start at 5 Sunday afternoon at the Third Street Park Amphitheater.
