RVA Shows You Must See This Week: August 20 – August 26
FEATURED SHOW
Saturday, August 23, 7 PM
Chandler, Lex Bratcher, Billy Marchiafava, O-Z, music by TuffLuckKid & Fellaair @ The Broadberry – $22.26 (order tickets HERE)
It’s been a minute, huh? Back in 2023 and 2024, Chandler was one of the hottest rising stars Richmond had to offer. His bouncy, braggodocious brand of hip hop caught a lot of attention both on the local scene and virally on the internet, and things were reaching a real fever pitch as 2024 rolled over into 2025. Unfortunately for our local scene, Chandler ended up heading for bigger towns and greener pastures, settling in NYC after playing a huge farewell show at the Broadberry back in February. The past six months have been a little weird — when a guy who was dominating the local hip hop scene suddenly picks up stakes and leave town, the gap in the local music community is immediately obvious. And Richmond’s been a slightly less fun city without the frequent live extravaganzas Chandler had been throwing on a nearly monthly basis up until his departure. So the news that he’s coming back through town after being gone for half a year, and that he’s gonna throw yet another huge blowoff shindig at The Broadberry to celebrate his temporary return, is some of the biggest news to hit Richmond hip hop in 2025.
And listen, just because Chandler hasn’t been hanging out in Richmond for the past half year doesn’t mean that the man’s been slacking off. He’s been making new tracks at a rate equal to or greater than his hit rate back when he was still here, and while at this point I’ve given up on nagging the man to collect the best ones and put out an LP (I guess if it ain’t broke, why fix it?), all you’d have to do is compile a playlist of the dozen singles he’s released since leaving Richmond, and you’d have the equivalent of an LP anyway. So yeah, expect quite a few new tracks to grace the setlist when Chandler hits the stage this Saturday night. He’ll be joined on the gig by his most frequent production partners, TuffLuckKid and Fellaair, so you know the beats are gonna hit hard as fuck, and you know everybody in the place is gonna be shaking their ass with a big grin on their face. For at least an hour or so, it’ll be like Chan never left town in the first place.
Chandler will be accompanied on his temporary return to his adoring hometown by two artists he has previously toured with on this past summer’s Middle Of Mayhem Tour: Billy Marchiafava and Lex Bratcher. Both of these rappers have a style that makes them a good fit with Chandler — sardonic lyrics, killer flow, and banging beats is the recipe for success here. Billy Marchiafava is probably most familiar to local Chandler fans as Chan’s duet partner on the early 2025 single “Big Body Brothers,” which later appeared on Marchiafava’s latest LP Mainstream Meme 2. However, he’s got a ton of incredible tunes that don’t involve familiar names, and his cocky delivery sells them all with total self-assurance. All that plus a goofy streak that makes me think of MC Paul Barman if he hadn’t been a nerdy dweeb. Billy Marchiafava is a world-class talent. Check him out. As for Lex Bratcher, she moves between Chandler-style hard-hitting smooth-flowing hip hop tunes and more mellow, melodic R&B tracks. She’s got versatility and style, and her tracks always hit — don’t miss a second of her set. Local rapper O-Z, who previously collaborated with Chandler on 2024 single “Good Show,” has plenty of excellent tracks of his own, and will get this evening started on a major high note. Show up on time, grab yourself a drink, and get in the mood. This evening is going to be the kind of party that makes you forget that Chandler doesn’t actually live here anymore — at least for a few hours.
Wednesday, August 20, 7 PM
Michael Cera Palin, Newgrounds Death Rugby, Kerosene Heights @ The Camel – $26.79 in advance, $32.31 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Look, let’s just start out by getting this out in the open so we can finish with it quickly and move on: Michael Cera Palin sounds like a fake emo band name someone writing an instantly dated teen comedy movie in 2010 would have come up with. It’s cheesy, in a manner too flagrant to have been unintentional. And with that in mind, I’m guessing these guys went full circle with it: loved the emo revival movement of a decade ago, came up with a name that sounded like a parody of that whole era, and then decided that was actually the best band name possible. I hope so, because there’s something I can really respect about committing to the bit that hard, to the point where you come around to realizing that the cheesiest name possible is also the most sincere and heartfelt thing you could possibly apply to yourself. I mean, I don’t know, I’m probably overthinking it, but then again, what could be more emo than that?
Michael Cera Palin’s set at The Camel tonight will be pretty goddamn emo, that’s for sure. Their new record, We Could Be Brave, has the perfect mix of tangled guitar leads, heartfelt pining vocals, and gritty punk foundations to make it a delightful listen for all the kids who need something to soothe their wounded hearts… but need it not to be too soft or schmaltzy. This band definitely brings the crunchy guitars and driving musical crescendos to keep you rocking even if you start to get a tear in your eye. As for South Carolinians Newgrounds Death Rugby, their band name makes me feel like I’m about to play a flash online video game in the year 2001, but their music, while admittedly having a little of that gamer energy, retains some of the emo melodic sense while digging deeper into straight-up punk. Expect catchy anthems full of six-string crunch from these folks. Kerosene Heights, who come from Asheville, NC, but sound like they’re named after a freshly gentrified town in the middle of an industrial cleanup zone. Musically speaking, they’re not nearly as dirty and toxic as all that, leading with catchy melodies and upbeat tempos that feel like a reason to smile — even if the emo quotient makes me think that their lyrics are probably pretty sad. Regardless, you won’t be sad while they’re playing, or while any of these bands are playing. You’ll be dancing around with a big smile on your face. Doesn’t that sound like a lovely way to spend your evening? Of course it does! So head over to the Camel already.
Thursday, August 21, 7 PM
Sweet Touch, False Nectar, Painted World @ Gallery 5 – $14.64 (order tickets HERE)
It’s been really nice in recent months to see quite a few bands from the first post-pandemic generation of the Richmond scene come into their own, spread their wings, and really take off. And this Thursday night show at Gallery 5 is yet another beautiful case of exactly that, as Sweet Touch celebrates the release of their debut album, Good Girl. This electronic duo, made up of Delilah Truck (FLKL) and Mike Sneed (The Octavias), has made a strong impression on the local scene with the release of half a dozen or so excellent singles over the past year or so. “Horny Robot” was the real attention-grabber, and not just due to its titillating title, either. This single, and really all their singles, show that a project that might fade into the general morass of contemporary electronic music has enough personality and creativity behind it to stand out, and enough musical talent and ability to mark it as something far more than just a couple of people standing behind computers and pressing play on pre-assembled beats.
So yeah, when Sweet Touch hits the Gallery 5 stage Thursday night, you can expect real, memorable music — music that will not only make you dance but stick in your head long enough to be humming them the next morning. At which time, your purchase of their debut album at the merch table will look like brilliant foresight. If you don’t already have it, you’ll definitely feel brilliant in the days that follow this show if you pick up a copy of False Nectar’s latest album, Unlimited Things To Do Forever, while you’re hitting up the merch table. This sibling act finds bassist, frontman and chief songwriter Harrison Wilson backed up by his sister Kayla (who you may know from local psychedelic alt-rock heroes Ten Pound Snail) on lead guitar, as well as a Bass VI player, just to liven things up. The overall impression is of driving shoegaze-infused rock n’ roll action, turned up to 11 with an extra dose of epic mixed into it all. Which is to say, it’s fucking awesome. The bill for the evening is rounded out by Painted World, which as far as I can tell is a side project from one of the guys from Knifing Around. I know very little beyond that, but that alone is enough to make me want to show up on time for this one, and it should do the same for you. Hit it up.
Friday, August 22, 7 PM
Freezing Cold, Sports Bar, Memory Hole, Carnivorous Flower @ Another Round Bar & Grill – $10
There was a time in my life when I was really invested in the world of melodic yet gruff and driving pop-punk — you know, all the post-Dillinger 4/Hot Water Music bands that came out of the northeast or Florida and played the Fest every year and somehow always managed to achieve emotional profundity and musical catharsis despite coming at things with a fundamentally goofy attitude. Richmond veterans will surely remember a time when the local version of that scene was exemplified by the yearly Stay Sweet Fest, which featured everyone from Jeff Rosenstock to Dopamines to Algernon Cadwallader. A lot of those bands were really great, but I’ve heard less from them in recent years, and kind of lost track of that scene as a whole. Therefore it was kind of nice to hear about this show, and see that some of the musicians from those days are still out here making music. Freezing Cold, our headliners on this bill, hail from New York, and are a trio featuring former members of Bridge And Tunnel and Aye Nako, among others. While their new album, the moody yet catchy Treasure Pool, is the first release I’ve heard by them, they’ve apparently been going for nearly a decade, so clearly my attention wandered by mistake. I’m glad I was alerted to this one, because this band’s introspective take on the melodic punk sound is intriguing and previously unheard, mixing in postpunk textures and darker moods that change the whole vibe. It bears closer listening, more focused attention.
Giving Freezing Cold’s set on Friday at Another Round exactly that sort of attention will be rewarding to all comers — make sure you’re one of them. This show will also feature a rare set from Sports Bar, the longest-running project from slacker-pop geniuses Kemper Blair and Stuart Holt. who these days more often appear in the guise of bass-drum duo Camo Face. Who will fill the guitar position in this latest incarnation of Sports Bar? Whoever it is, they’re sure to bring out the best in that band’s extensive catalog of great tunes. Local newcomers Memory Hole play a scrappy version of punk rock full of tension, energy, and nerves, making me think of obscure-in-2025 bands like Science of Yabra and Trapdoor Fucking Exit. If you get these references, you definitely want to catch their set. And everyone in the house should definitely catch the opening set from Carnivorous Flower, a trio that came together to celebrate the legacy of late, great J Church founder Lance Hahn. The band features former J Church bassist Ben Snakepit (perhaps better known here in Richmond for his time with local bands like Ultimate Dragons) as well as Lou Hannan (Caves) and David Wuttke (Drunken Boat). The three originally came together to play the songs of Lance Hahn, but ended up beginning to write material of their own, which will soon be released on a new album, Going To Die. It’s no-frills, uptempo, melodic yet scrappy punk rock with amazing singalong choruses — the same sort of thing Lance Hahn built his brilliant and extensive career around. Come out to this one and learn of the many things still happening in the world of rough-edged, anthemic pop-punk. It’ll be well worth your time.
Saturday, August 23, 7 PM
Romperayo @ Reveler Experiences – $25 (order tickets HERE)
It’s a point of pride to me to keep this column diverse. If all I wrote about, week after week, was metal, emo, punk, hardcore, and a hip hop show every once in a while, I feel like this whole thing would get way too predictable, and we’d all lose interest. So I try to cover as many genres as possible, and always be aware of things around town that are outside my wheelhouse but interesting and cool. The problem with that approach is that sometimes I’m writing about an artist whose work and genre may be as unfamiliar to me as they are to you. That’s the situation with Romperayo, an ensemble from Bogota, Colombia who mix classic Latin percussion and rhythm with instruments like accordion and synth to create a musical melange of danceable grooves that just scream “Afro-Latino tropical party music” to me. There’s a strong element of psychedelic trippiness mixed into the band’s sound on 2024 LP Insurgentes Carismaticos as well, which takes things into a decidedly different headspace than you might expect.
I don’t know too much about cumbia, the genre Romperayo play. But I can tell you that moments within their music sometimes make me think of Ray Barretto’s Afro-Latino salsa sound, especially on his landmark album Acid. At other times, I find myself thinking of the dub reggae “versions” that came out of Lee “Scratch” Perry’s Black Ark studio. There are even moments that bring to mind the folk music of the Eastern European Jewish diaspora known as klezmer. What all of these styles of music have in common is a strong devotion to the rhythm, the beat, before all else — as well as a strong creative spirit that keeps things always moving forward in more delightful, more productive directions. The fact that Romperayo was put together by Colombian drummer extraordinaire Pedro Ojeda, who has played with groups like Los Pirañas and Frente Cumbiero, probably has something to do with this, as does the lineup of incredibly talented musicians Ojeda has brought into Romperayo to create alongside him. This group represents some of the best that the Colombian music scene has to offer, and they’re sure to teach us all a thing or two about exactly what their sound is all about. Not to mention the fact that they’ll keep us all dancing all night, which is a good enough reason to be there all by itself.
Sunday, August 24, 3 PM
Sunday Soundtracks, feat. Dave Watkins, Tag Cloud, Scott Clark @ Reveler Experiences – Pay what you can (order tickets HERE)
There’s always something interesting going on over at Reveler Experiences, and whether it’s a Saturday night show featuring music from a genre I know very little about, or a Sunday afternoon matinee featuring musicians I’m mostly familiar with, it’s never going to be an entirely straightforward performance featuring no surprises. Which is good, right? After all, when you can predict everything that’s gonna happen at a show, why go at all? We go to shows to see something we haven’t seen before, something unexpected, something real that breaks through the morass and changes our day. You’ll certainly experience some changes in your Sunday afternoon if you head to Reveler at around 3 PM this Sunday, as Johnathan Rickman and Robert Salsbury join together once again to create another of their monthly showcases for electronic music known as Sunday Soundtracks.
This month’s showcase features a double shot of artists folks who follow local experimental music should already be very familiar with. However, for the uninitiated, I’ll explain. Dave Watkins is an experimental guitar player who uses electronics to expand his musical palette and generates huge improvised walls of guitar sound that often become indistinguishable from electronic textures. He sometimes assembles groups to perform under the name The Colloquial Orchestra, but whether he’s at the head of a large ensemble or all by himself, you’ll hear the same sort of improvised ambient transcendence. Washington DC’s Tag Cloud are in town for this performance, and this project, which is led by musician Chris Videll, uses modular synths to create a wall of ambient textures that have a decidedly tactile feel. This set will creep into your ears and massage your brain. The bill is completed by Scott Clark, a Richmond legend in his own right, who will hear step away from his crucial role as percussionist in a variety of experimental jazz ensembles (including his own) and give all comers a rare solo percussion performance. Whether any elements of it will be electronic or not, you’ll definitely want to see what he comes up with. Best part about this show — not only is it pay what you can, so you can still attend even if you’re flat broke; you’ll also have plenty of time to go grab dinner afterwards.
Monday, August 25, 6:30 PM
Fishface, Godz On Trial, Torment, Athera, Regret @ Bandito’s – $15
It’s been really interesting over the past couple of years, as a middle-aged hardcore kid, to watch the time of mosh metal come back around once again. 25 years ago when Shattered Realm and On Broken Wings were getting a ton of hype, it seemed revolutionary to hear these bands who put so much power and brutality into their incredibly sludgy breakdowns, and who even during their uptempo moments kept the mosh going without a second’s pause. People called it beatdown hardcore, and if that makes it sound kind of thuggish and meatheaded, well, sometimes it was like that. But the bands who are reinventing the sound for the modern era weren’t around back then, and while they know the riffs and are able to give us intriguing new twists on them, they don’t retain that same sense of messageless violence. Instead, our headliners for this Monday night throwdown at Bandito’s, Central Massachusetts band Fishface, bring a strong message of resilience and empowerment, standing up for yourself and not taking any shit. For a sound that can be rather relentlessly downbeat, it’s a bit of a surprise to find a band actually sounding kinda… positive? But I’m sure not going to complain about it.
Fishface are joined on this jaunt through Richmond by fellow Central Massachusetts band Godz On Trial, who have a similar midtempo mosh sound to their music, but vocally alternate between furious screams and a more hip hop approach to vocals. The combination weirdly reminds me of the mid-90s Swedish hardcore band Doughnuts, though Godz On Trial are definitely heavier and more beatdown-focused than Doughnuts ever were. And of course, where local representation of modern beatdown brutality is concerned, Torment is on this bill to let everyone know that Richmond can do extremely heavy mosh metal as well or better than any other city in these here United States. Mosh hard for these folks, because they’re definitely gonna bring the pain. Richmond-based newcomers Athera are bringing a more emotional sound, featuring dual vocalists — one of whom sings oh so prettily and the other of whom screams their fucking head off. The chunky riffs with an undercurrent of melody, mixed with the multi-textured vocals, makes me think of the early days of North Carolina phenoms Code Seven, with maybe a little bit of the early 90s DC band Ashes. This one will offer an intriguing contrast on a bill like this. There’s one more band on the bill; they’re called Regret, and the flyer tells me they’re only ever planning to play this one show. So by the time anyone knows what they sound like, they’ll already be over. Sounds like there’s a high potential for chaos with this one — and you’ve gotta love that.
Tuesday, August 26, 7 PM
DAMAG3, Zuri, Figgy Baby, $leazy EZ, Shno Xavier, K-Presto @ The Camel – $19.66 (order tickets HERE)
DIY music is just queer as fuck these days, y’all, and I am here for it. I checked this Tuesday night hip hop show at The Camel out without even expecting any queerness — honestly, what got me interested in DAMAG3 initially was that she had a song called “Put A Landlord In A Landfill” and Chandler (see above) did a guest verse on it. Then I listened to her new EP, GOD iMAG3, and realized that she’s a trans woman rapping defiantly about turning her back on her homophobic Christian background to take estrogen and fight against Project 2025. And of course, that’s fucking awesome — but if she couldn’t rap or had terrible beats, that’d only get you so far. Meanwhile, her rhymes are godlike, her production is incredible, and her raging in-your-face delivery will knock you back on your heels. I fully expect DAMAG3’s set to be harsh, confrontational, and fucking godlike in its mastery of every aspect of hip hop. Get ready to fucking rage.
And of course, get ready for some killer openers too, because this is DAMAG3’s Blind Tour and she’s bringing a trio of talented queer rappers into town with her. Figgy Baby is the first of these; this non-binary Mexican rapper from Los Angeles has a more melodic, introspective sound, in contrast to the harsher, more confrontational approach of DAMAG3. $leazy EZ lays down a confrontational verse of their own on “Put A Landlord In A Landfill,” but that’s just the tip of the iceberg — their recent LP, Ghetto Migration, has smooth beats and fly rhymes that are generally coming from more of a lover’s perspective than a fighter’s. That said, the fighter is definitely still there — you’ll see both onstage this Tuesday night. The final member of the Blind Tour crew playing on this bill is Shno Xavier, whose new EP, Self Sabotage, finds him rapping energetically over more contemplative beats, for a study in intriguing contrasts. And of course, I shouldn’t neglect to mention K-Presto, who will be along with the Blind Tour crew providing music and doing some of her own electronic sounds as part of the show. The bill will be rounded out by assertive Richmond rapper Zuri, who’ll represent the local scene to perfection. The whole thing should be hella raging and queer as fuck. Who doesn’t love that?
Email me if you’ve got any tips for me about upcoming shows (that take place after the week this column covers -– this week’s column has obviously already been written): rvamustseeshows@gmail.com
Please consider supporting my Patreon, where I’m writing crazy fiction on semi-regular schedules (currently serializing a novel — one new chapter per week). patreon.com/marilyndrewnecci
