Pittsburgh’s best music to fill the air at Earth Day ‘Go Green at Market Square’ music and community festival
A SNEAK PEEK AT THE BANDS READY TO ROCK
by Michael Machosky
APRIL 11, 2022
Celebrate Earth Day in Downtown Pittsburgh with "Go Green at Market Square" next Friday, April 22, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
It will feature live music, along with eco-friendly activity booths for all ages, a corner showcasing alternative energy and transportation, and a green wellness area.
The performances include some of Pittsburgh's best up-and-coming musicians:
12 p.m. | Kelsey Friday & The Weekenders
The 90s...were a long time ago. Like 20-30 years — ! Before the Internet made everything too easy, I used to go out to shows on the weekends, and there were a few bands that were on like every bill. Charismatic lead singer Kelsey Friday somehow soared above the din of clinking Iron City bottles and the general mayhem of Carson Street on the South Side to make an impression. Then, well, life happened. Problems shifted from shady promoters to the absolute disaster that is the vast majority of "children's music" out there. So, she decided to do something about it and started Kelsey Friday & The Weekenders, to make music that kids would like, but adults could tolerate, too. This is harder than it sounds.
1 p.m. | Elias Khouri
Though rock and roll might seem like something dusty, remote and antiquated to the TikTok generation — belonging to, say, museums in Cleveland and the distant past — somehow, it finds a way to seep through the cracks in pop culture to find new audiences. Elias Khouri got his first guitar at age 13 when he won a bet with his dad, that he couldn't learn Eddie Van Halen's solo on Michael Jackson's "Beat It." He learned it. Now, several years into a music career that focuses more on his voice than his predilection for Van Halen and Hendrix solos, he's playing guitar for a living like the Rock Gods of old intended.
2 p.m. | Starling My Darling
It's hard to find much about this band online...but I can only imagine the lovelorn musical melancholy is mutual when considering the Starling-shaped hole in our hearts, after the benighted Buccos traded away outfielder Starling Marte. If all their songs aren't about Starling Marte, I will be disappointed... but I'll understand.
3 p.m. | Wave Trails
Psychedelic power-pop from the decidedly non-Technicolor environs of Pittsburgh (we usually make do with a palette of swirling greens and muddy browns). But the psyche scene keeps growing year after year, here and elsewhere, and these guys show promise.
4 p.m. | Evan Dean Band
Straightforward blues-based rock, sung by a long-haired guy with a gravelly voice, used to be the sonic backdrop for, like, every bar in Pittsburgh. But now it's kind of...different. It's like ordering provolone sticks instead of short rib tacos or whatever, and being like, "I made the right choice." Evan Dean is a pro's pro, and gives this music what it deserves — total commitment.
5 p.m. | Bindley Hardware Co.
"Rustbelt Americana" is a neat way to describe an attempt to square a circle — that hearing "country" (and country-adjacent) music coming out of clubs in urban Bloomfield and Lawrenceville not only makes perfect sense, it's a perfectly natural place for it to go. Though there's lots of competition in this space, these guys focus on writing sharp original songs, coming from a specific place — hey, "Down the Run" even mentions Big Jim's in Greenfield — with accuracy and candor.
6 p.m. | Clinton Clegg Trio
Rock/soul singer Clinton Clegg has fronted The Commonheart, one of Pittsburgh's most popular bands, for many years now, so he's got a following. The Clinton Clegg Trio sounds pretty similar, perhaps leaving just a tiny bit more space for Clegg's expansive, sweat-drenched vocals than usual.
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